Sunday, November 21, 2010

Episode 3 "S.510" is here--on time, mind you!

As miraculous as it might seem, we actually made the deadline that we set only a few days ago. We promised to have Episode 3 up before the end of the weekend, and by golly we did it! Sure, we cut it kind of tight, but hey--at least we pulled it off. You can listen to or download Episode 3 by visiting our web page at www.foodfightpodcast.com.

Anyhoo, Episode 3 focuses on S.510, the Food Safety and Modernization Act, which is currently being batted around the Senate floor. It now looks as if a vote will not occur on this tyrannical food legislation until after Thanksgiving, so stay tuned. Please call and write your senators and ask them to vote no; however, if it looks as if they will vote yes, then please encourage them to do so only with the Tester Amendment added.

The links for Episode 3 are below.

John McCain and Friends Don't Want to Know Their Farmers!
Those silly senators think Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food is biased and may harm their agribiz cronies. Check out the article at Change.org's Sustainable Food Blog and the letter they sent to the USDA, which is available as a PDF linked within that article. Another short article is on the Brownfield Ag News for America website.

Challenge of the Day/Action Alert!
Take action against the Food Safety and Modernization Act (S.510) by calling your senators or visiting the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance. Urge them to vote "NO" on this tyrannical food legislation. If they are inclined to vote "yes," encourage them to do so only with the Tester Amendment added. Stop S.510!

S.510
Just punch that into your favorite search engine and you'll find no shortage of information. It gets crazier every day!

Egg Recalls
Not so egg-cellent. DO NOT buy eggs from these farms! Ever! Need to learn more about who to trust when buying eggs? Check out the Cornucopia Institute's new report and organic egg scorecard.

Are you a farmer who has been raided?
Need legal assistance? Or are you a farmer that wants to prepare yourself in the event of a farm raid? Check out the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund's farm raid page. They have some great online resources as well as some signage that you can print and post around your farm to prevent trespassing (including FDA trespassing).

Thanks for listening!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Put Your Hands Up and Back Away from the Cheese!!

Today you will see many blog posts, tweets and the like with the phrases "Save Morningland Dairy" and "Stop FDA tyranny against dairy farms," and probably many more. Those of us in the food and farming blogging/podcasting community decided to make today a day of action to raise awareness about the horrific abuse and unfair attacks that the FDA is carrying out against small family farms all over the country. The recent state of affairs is pathetic and nothing short of tyrannical. Don't believe me? Check out our featured farms that have been persecuted beyond any punishment ever levied against a Perdue, Cargill, ADM, etc. processing plant.

Morningland Dairy is one of the farms under attack currently. The FDA has decided that they must dispose of a vast quantity of milk and cheese based on lab samples that did NOT follow proper chain of custody protocols. Additionally, none of Morningland's products have EVER made anyone sick, nor have they ever been linked to any contamination. The situation is nothing short of absurd. Learn more at http://uncheeseparty.wordpress.com.

Estrella Family Creamery is having the same problem with the FDA: http://estrellacheese.wordpress.com/.

Because these are small family-owned and -operated farms, they are on the brink of losing everything. After you have learned more about them, if you are so inclined you may donate to literally save their farms at:

Morningland Dairy

Estrella Family Creamery

Times are tough, we all know that, so if you are unable to donate (but remember that even a few bucks will help them) please participate today in our "Google bombing" effort. All you have to do is search the terms “save morningland dairy" and “stop FDA tyranny against dairy farms” as those are the two key search terms we've identified in order to draw attention to and raise awareness of this ridiculous state of affairs, courtesy of the completely misguided FDA. How will this help, you ask? Google has an option for viewers to search the most-entered terms. If we and you and everyone continually search these terms, they will be at the top of the list and viewers will then search the terms and learn the truth. Simple! Be sure to ask your friends and family to do the same. Who knew that activism could be so easy?

In Podcast 3, available this weekend, we will be exploring both of these victimized farms in more detail and will be giving you additional info re: raids on dairies and other small farmers. We will also be focusing on the most tyrannical piece of legislation related to food and farming to hit the Senate floor EVER, S. 510, which is actually on the verge of passing--unbelievable! We will be discussing this and I will tell you all about my email war with California Senator Barbara Boxer's inbox as well as the fight I had with her voicemail system.

Also be sure to check out the trailer for "Farmageddon," an incredible new documentary that is focusing on this very issue. We will be featuring some audio of this in one of the upcoming episodes so be sure to check it out.