Thanks for the info! Personally im a little paranoid that phone calls, e-mails, letters, etc no longer work. We will continue to grow our own despite how the bill goes and God help them to try and stop us.

It makes about as much sense as stopping folks from having woodburning stoves. They scream about lessening our dependence on fossil fuels, so when we burn wood to stay warm , they want to regulate and stop it.

Government wants and is leaning for total control and lessening out freedom through our "given" rights. Folks aren't going to stand for it and it could get a little scary out there!

Even with my opinion that contacting doesn't get heard, it's very important to state our cases to those that will give ear and who have a voice in all levels of government...local, state, and federal because hopefully im wrong and it will get heard.

They'd never get down my driveway.

They will pry my vine ripened tomato from my cold, dead hands!

Mike

thanks for the post,and the phone number. i'm having problems with gun barrel tx. city code enforcement, because they don't understand that tires are used for growing potatoes etc., black nursery buckets, I recently took off the plastic of my greenhouse and they said i should put a cover of tarp on it, which is the ugliest thing in the world. We have to suffer because of their ignorance. bill

Ah, some fine legislation sponsored by a couple of democommies. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).

Thank you very much, Ohio and Connecticut voters.

I just skimmed the legislation, but it appears to move us away from the "close to the source" idea that many of us feel is important to restoring a healthy diet for our communities...so it would be a bad idea.

Tdscpa: democommies? go away.

I just gave HR875 a quick read through. According to Sec. 3 paragraphs (13 & (14), any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility or confined animal-feeding operation is excluded. I don't think big brother will be coming after our tomatoes or anything. Not to say it won't get twisted into that in the future.

Hmmm, thatÂs what it looks like to me, too. Section 3, paragraph 13 says "EXCLUSIONS- For the purposes of registration, the term 'food establishment' does not include a food production facility as defined in paragraph (14), restaurant, other retail food establishment, nonprofit food establishment in which food is prepared for or served directly to the consumer, or fishing vessel..."

And, as mentioned above, paragraph 14 defines food production facilities: "The term 'food production facility' means any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation."

In trying to sort this out, I also found this article, if itÂs helpful: The Truth about HR875 This is a puzzling issue, since there is such a lot of information against this bill on the internet, and many folks donÂt seem to agree on what it means. (I may need to do more reading.)

Even if this particular bill doesn't affect our greenhouses and home gardens, I agree legislation like this can be twisted to cause problems if the scope isnÂt carefully watched by "regular folks." It reminds me a lot of the crazy Consumer Protection Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) that was overwhelmingly passed last August, and was to go into effect Feb. 10. It required ridiculously expensive tests for lead by government labs for every component (and every color) of any item manufactured for children. Sounds good, but as written, it would have put many small businesses, craftspeople, publishers, and kidÂs resale (thrift) stores out of business. Because of public outcry, it has now been delayed for one year, so that gives craftspeople and others more time to try to affect the outcome.

Generally IÂm happy to see discussions like this. Too much legislation is passed without any understanding of how it will impact the lives of real people, and the only way to apply the brakes is for regular folks to pay attention and get vocal.

1.) I am glad orchids are not edible (minus vanilla)

2.) I am worried about the 2 acre farmer who sells great fresh produce at reasonable prices, I want to take my future kids apple-picking one day.

More interesting now that Michelle Obama has put in an organic garden at the White House with a plan to give what they grow to soup kitchens. So, I would think she would be an influential opponent to the bill if it appears it would do some of the things we fear.

I think it's reasonable to question any piece of legislation, particularly in the early stages when it's still evolving. Like most proposed bills, this one may need some refining to avoid unintended consequences, and I expect that will happen. However, I can't go along with the conspiracy theories and dire predictions: I think this bill is trying to fix a real food safety problem and does not mask a hidden agenda. There's a lot of anxiety about the economy and country right now, and that makes people look for villains, even when none are involved.

I did some online research on this bill, and it took some sorting out to get an unbiased assessment. Part of the reason is that a Google search on this bill turns up quite a few links to sketchy web sites and blogs that contain some pretty weird rants and biases... and it looks like they are spreading the gloom-and-doom virus amongst themselves. Right now, people in government are busy scrambling on the economic crisis, and I don't think they have the energy to devote to hunting down my 40 rogue tomato plants. I've been accused of being paranoid, but for once I don't think they're after me...