Debbie Stockton of the National Independent Consumers & Farmers Association (NICFA), and Tim Wightman discuss HR 875 with Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck 3/27/09

Tonight, March 27th, Glenn Beck with Deb Stockton from NICFA

WHAT: Glenn Beck show, Fox News

WHEN: Tonight, Friday March 27, 5:00 EASTERN TIME

WHERE: Your Fox News channel

WHY: To discuss HR 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009

Deborah Stockton, representing NICFA, and another yet unnamed person from the small farmer position will be on the Glenn Beck show tonight to discuss the potential ramifications of HR875.

Deborah Stockton, Executive Director

National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association (NICFA)

NAIS White Paper

The National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association (NICFA) has just released a Report (White Paper) on the National Animal Identification System to go to all members of Congress, the general public, and all interested parties.

Please read and download the Report at http://nicfa.com/documents.html

Please call your Congressman and Senators (find them at www.House.gov and www.senate.gov respectively). Ask to speak to their Aide for agricultural issues. Talk to the aide about NAIS and ask to fax or email him the Report.

We want every member of Congress to receive this Report from a constituent.

If you'd like to get a full understanding of how USDA got the foothold they have, read my book, First They Came for the Cows: An Activist's Story. Click through the link on the right side bar.

I'll be on a radio show with my good friend and fellow freedom fighter, Doreen Hannes, on Tuesday next. For the particulars click over to her blog, Truth-Farmer.blogspot.com.

Farmer's Head to Washington

Issue #19.09 :: 02/27/2007 - 03/05/2007

Farmers head to Washington Vocal locals oppose national animal I.D. system

BY MEG MCEVOY

In 2005, a law was passed that said Albemarle farmer John Coles couldn’t sell his unpasteurized goat cheese anymore. Coles now makes his living selling vegetables, grown at his farm off Route 29 about eight miles north of Fashion Square Mall, and gives away pounds of cheese on a donation-only basis. Like many small farmers, he’s opposed to more regulations on what he can and can’t do with his homegrown products. Coles is also not a fan of a law that would require all farms with livestock to register and tag animals with radio transmitters. Albemarle goat farmer John coles traveled to Washington, D.C. with other local farmers to lobby against a national animal I.D. system that would require electronically tagging all livestock. The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) (www.usda.gov/nais) has aimed to do just that. A measure supported by the agricultural industry as a way to prevent and track the spread of disease among herds, NAIS has the small farming community in an uproar. In February, local farmers brought their opposition to Washington. The Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association (VICFA) (www.vicfa.net) joined with similar groups from surrounding states at a reception and lobbying event at the Cannon House Office Building. “We had a small army of volunteers,” says Deborah Stockton, editor of the VICFA VOICE newsletter. The group faxed invitations to every member of Congress and laid out a spread of locally grown food. They had eight congressmen turn out, plus several dozen more congressional staffers and aides. Among those at the reception was Virginia’s 5th district representative Virgil Goode, who sported a VICFA button and sipped on raw milk. Though small farmers face many issues, VICFA’s main beef is with NAIS. “The reason they’re doing this is to prevent mad cow disease and avian flu,” says Coles. “But these are problems that only exist in [big] agro-business.” Originally, the federal government announced NAIS would be mandatory by 2009. Due to grassroots opposition, according to Stockton, the USDA has turned their attention to the state level, awarding grants to state departments of agriculture who require animal tagging and premises registration. The national website now emphasizes that the program is “voluntary.” Stockton says February’s event was a good start towards battling NAIS, and they’re already planning another event for next year. “The biggest problem facing us it that we are not real to [legislators],” she says. “They legislate according to industrial agriculture.”

Off to see the wizards

Going to the lobby day in DC, Farm Food Voices. We have an appointment with Senator Leahy on Wednesday. Ron Paul is going to speak as is Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm. We got booted from the original reception room for a House Ag Committee meeting but got better space in the Cannon House Office Building Caucus Room. That room looks like it ought to be in a palace.

Pray for good driving weather.