Farm Bill Vote

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This is the week!

After a lot of political wrangling, it looks like this really is the week for a vote on the Farm Bill in the U.S. House of Representatives!

As we alerted you last week, there are a lot of problems with the Farm Bill.  This vote offers the chance to fix a few of them (and potentially create new ones).

Over 100 amendments have been filed.  Among them are several that would help our farmers and ranchers:

1. An amendment to incorporate the PRIME Act, providing greater access to local processing for small farmers, and thus better access to local meats for many consumers
2. An amendment to remove the FDA’s ban on the interstate transport of raw milk.
3. An amendment to reform the Checkoff programs so that the farmers’ tax dollars don’t fund Big Agribusiness lobbying groups.

Even if you have taken action before, it’s important that you call again this week!

TAKE ACTION: Call your U.S. Representative

You can find out who represents you by going to house.gov or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

Please be sure to personalize your message – just a sentence or two about who you are and why you care increases the impact of your message!

Hi, I’m ______ from ___ [city].   I am a  __________ [farmer, local food consumer, chef.]

As a constituent, I urge Representative ___ to vote yes on three important amendments to the Farm Bill:

1. The Massie Amendment No. 29, which would give states the freedom to permit the intra-state distribution of custom-slaughtered meat.  This amendment addresses the severe shortage of processing facilities for small-scale producers in many areas of this country, providing more options for livestock farmers and the consumers who want locally raised meat.
2. The Massie-Rohrabacher-Polis Amendment No. 30, which removes the FDA’s ban on the interstate transport of raw milk.  Raw milk is legal to sell in a majority of states, yet the FDA’s rules make it illegal for a farmer to cross state lines with his or her product – even if it’s legal in both the state the farmer produced it in and the state they’re taking it to!
3. The Brat-Blumenauer Amendment No. 71, which would reform the Checkoff Programs so that the money doesn’t serve as backdoor funding for lobbying groups, and which provides some protections against the misuse of the money.

Please let me know where the Representative stands on these issues.  My phone number is ______. Thank you.

TAKE ACTION – BONUS

IMPORTANT ONLY IF YOUR REPRESENTATIVE IS ON THE COMMITTEE

The House Rules Committee will meet this Wednesday to decide which of the 100+ amendments that have been filed will be debated and voted on by the full House of Representatives.

If you are a constituent of one the Committee members, it’s vital that you call before Wednesday afternoon, when the Committee meets!  And ask your family members and neighbors who are within the district to also call. See the list of Committee members below.

Please do not call if you are not a constituent – calls from people in other areas will simply annoy the Committee members and make them less inclined to look favorably on our amendments.

You can find out who represents you by going to house.gov or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

Pete Sessions, Texas’s 32nd, Chair

Tom Cole, Oklahoma’s 4th, Vice Chair

Bradley Byrne, Alabama’s 1st

Norma Torres, California’s 35th

Ken Buck, Colorado’s 4th

Jared Polis, Colorado’s 2nd, Vice Ranking Member

Alcee Hastings, Florida’s 20th

Doug Collins, Georgia’s 9th

Rob Woodall, Georgia’s 7th

Jim McGovern, Massachusetts’s 2nd, Ranking Member

Michael C. Burgess, Texas’s 26th

Dan Newhouse, Washington’s 4th

Liz Cheney, Wyoming’s at-large

MORE INFORMATION

Don’t try to cover all of this in your calls with your legislators! Choose one or two points for each issue that you want to focus on.

LOCAL MEAT PRODUCTION AND THE PRIME ACT

Lack of inspected slaughterhouses is one of the biggest barriers for small-scale livestock producers. The lack of reasonable access to a slaughterhouse keeps some farmers from selling their meat at all. For many more, the distance they must travel to the slaughterhouse means significantly increased costs, as well as stress on the animal and lost time on the farm – all of which means less supply and higher prices for consumers.

Current federal law prohibits the sale of meat from “custom” slaughterhouses, which are regulated by the states independently of USDA regulations.

Massie Amendment No. 29, the PRIME Act, would empower states to not only set their own standards for custom slaughterhouses, as they already do, but to allow the sale within their state of custom-slaughtered beef, pork, lamb, and goat to consumers, restaurants, and grocery stores.

Adding the PRIME Act to the Farm Bill would open opportunities for small farmers and improve consumer access to locally raised meats

RAW MILK AND THE FDA

The Massie-Rohrabacher-Polis Amendment No. 30 would legalize the interstate shipment of raw milk and raw milk products for human consumption between states in which the sale or distribution is legal, reversing the FDA’s current regulations that prohibit the interstate transport of raw milk for human consumption.

Some form of distribution of raw milk – whether through sales or cow shares – is legal in the vast majority of states. But there are still many areas where access to raw milk is severely limited, and consumers would be better able to get this nutritious food if they could buy from a producer in a neighboring state.

The FDA has harassed raw milk farmers and buying clubs across the country under its current regulations, for example through its one-year undercover sting operation of an Amish farmer. Growing numbers of consumers are crossing state lines to obtain raw milk and raw milk products. It is time to recognize that the federal ban is an unjust, unworkable law. 

CHECKOFFS AND TAXES ON FARMERS

Under federal law, farmers of certain commodities (including pork, eggs, beef, and milk) are required to pay a portion of their sales into Checkoff funds. These mandatory fees are intended to be used to research and promote demand for those products. Campaigns such as “Got Milk?” and “Pork, the other white meat” are paid for by these taxes on farmers.  Checkoff programs collect tens of millions of dollars from America’s farmers and ranchers every year.

Nothing in the Checkoffs promotes local, organic, or sustainable production. To the contrary, the basic message is that all the foods are interchangeable commodities; conventional CAFO beef, imported beef, and the grass-fed beef from the farmer in your town are all rolled into “Beef, it’s what for dinner.”

Even worse, the dairy checkoff has used its funds for public ad campaigns and “educational programs” for dieticians that actively oppose raw milk access.  It’s not just the CDC and FDA working to convince Americans that raw milk is dangerous – it’s also Big Dairy, using our own farmers’ money to try to kill their businesses!

Moreover, these funds often wind up in the pockets of industrialized agriculture trade organizations. While they can’t use the money directly for lobbying, the funding helps them grow by underwriting their overhead, travel costs, etc. – and then they are free to use their other funds to lobby against the interests of family farmers, such as by opposing country of origin labeling.

While the best solution would be to make the Checkoffs voluntary, the Brat-Blumenauer Amendment No. 71 is a very important step in reforming these programs. The amendment incorporates the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act, S. 741/ H.R. 1753, to prohibit lobbying, rein in conflicts of interest, and stop anti-competitive activities that harm other commodities and consumers.

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