Our federal lawmakers and regulatory agencies are making important decisions about food safety that could make or break the livelihood of Ohio’s farmers, their families, and the consumers who count on them.

While ensuring a clean, safe food supply for consumers is paramount, new food safety regulations could have the effect of squeezing out small farms by creating new layers of bureaucracy for Ohio’s small farmers, including burdensome paperwork, onerous fees, and impractical and prescriptive “one size fits all” production practices.

In Spring 2011, the USDA announced that it would be moving forward with the creation of a National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (NLGMA), a marketplace agreement which would outline production and handling regulations for a long list of leafy green vegetables.

The agreement would establish a governance structure which would allow the largest leafy green produce handlers to develop safety rules governing the growing and handling practices for leafy green vegetables. The USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) would decide whether or not to approve the industry-written standards, after receiving public comment, although the AMS has no authority over produce food safety, and little expertise on the subject.

The proposed agreement is based on a proposal made by the nation's largest produce marketers, and is mirrored on a similar agreement already in place in California, which was initially conceived after the spinach scare of 2006, and has had devastating effects on small farmers in California. The California agreement is biased against the use of non-synthetic, natural nutrient sources commonly used in organic production, in favor of chemical fertilizers. In addition, the California agreement has provided strong incentive for farmers to remove wildlife habitat bordering growing areas, in stark contract to federal organic standards, which require organic farmers to promote biodiversity on their farm.

Proponents of the proposed NLGMA have stated that the agreement is voluntary, implying that small and organic farmers may just "opt out." However, the agreement is only voluntary to the handlers, not to the growers that supply those handlers.

OEFFA has been opposed to the NLGMA since as early as October 2009, when OEFFA Executive Director Carol Goland provided testimony opposing the marketing agreement at a USDA hearing in Columbus.

As an alternative to the NLGMA, OEFFA and other organizations have worked to develop a proposed Ohio Fresh Produce Marketing Agreement (OFPMA), an Ohio-specific produce safety standard. The OFPMA includes a set of standards related to four areas of concern: the use of compost and manure, water, worker hygiene, and produce traceability.

This Ohio-based standard is designed as a three tier system, although farmers and sellers at all tiers would have to receive training from OSU on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and on the core standards. Tier 1 is designed for farmers who direct market at roadside farm markets, farmer’s markets, and CSAs. Compliance is voluntary and inspections are random. Tier 2 is designed for intra-state sellers of produce like produce auctions. Compliance is mandatory and inspections are scheduled. Tier 3 is designed for inter-state sellers. Inspections would be mandatory and unannounced.

On top of this, in November 2010 the U.S. Senate passed Senate Bill 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act. On December 21, 2010, the House voted to pass the Senate version of the bill, which was signed into law by President Obama later that month.

The Food Safety Modernization Act significantly increase federal jurisdiction of food by giving the FDA the power to quarantine the movement of food within a state without judicial oversight, levy fines against food producers for reasons unrelated to food safety, require extensive food traceability systems, expand the Department of Homeland Security’s authority to include food, and require farms to prepare Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) plans.

Sustainable agriculture groups succeeded in winning several improvements to S. 510, making it significantly better than the companion bill passed by the House of Representatives (HR 2749). The following pro-sustainable agriculture amendments were a part of the final bill:

• Senator Sanders' (D-VT) amendment requires the FDA to write regulations to determine low risk on-farm processing activities that can be exempt from regulatory requirement;
• Senator Bennet's (D-CO) amendment reduces unnecessary paperwork and streamlines requirements for farmers and small processors;
• Senator Stabenow's (D-MI) amendment creates a USDA-delivered competitive grants program for farmer food safety training;
• Senator Boxer's (D-CA) amendment eliminates anti-wildlife habitat language from the bill; and
• Senator Brown's (D-OH) amendment on traceability requirements include exemptions for direct marketing and farm identify-perserved marekting.
• Senator Jon Tester's (D-MT) exempts small farm and small food processing facilities as well as small and mid-sized farmers who primarily direct market their products to consumers, stores, or restaurants.

Donate — With so much on the line, OEFFA is working to demand policies that work in the interest of the small- and mid-sized family farmers who produce some of the country’s safest, freshest, and healthiest food. Make a donation now to help OEFFA make sure that any new food safety regulations protect consumers and Ohio’s small farms and local food systems.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has deregulated genetically engineered (GE) corn, soybean, cotton, sugar beets, and alfalfa, opening the door for tens of thousands of acres to be planted with these crops. Once released into the environment, GE seed can contaminate non-GE and organic seed. Despite this, Monsanto zealously enforces its patents, investigating and suing farmers for patent infringement when their crop is contaminated. OEFFA is working to ensure legal protection for farmers if their fields become contaminated by Monsanto’s GE seed, and protect consumer choice to safe, healthy food.

Big Ag spent $4 million campaigning for a Livestock Care Standards Board with the authority to regulate all livestock producers in the state. OEFFA is working to make sure that animal care standards protect diversified livestock producers and backyard farmers.

In 2008, the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) placed a gag order on the free speech of dairies and processors by issuing a rule to prohibit labeling dairy products as “artificial hormone free.” Since then, OEFFA worked to overturn this controversial and restrictive dairy labeling rule and in 2011 won a major victory for consumer choice and transparency when the ODA agreed to withdraw the rule.

The toxic algae problems at Lake Erie, Grand Lake St. Mary’s, and a growing number of the state’s other lakes are being caused by manure and phosphorus fertilizers washing off conventional farm fields and into our waterways. OEFFA is working to transition more farmers to sustainable and organic production methods so that we can protect Ohio’s lakes for future generations.