Generally speaking, the population that bothers to shop at Farmer's Markets are intelligent enough to wash their produce and cook their meat. The government inspectors may or may not be and they have no interest doing so. I trust the farmers and the population a lot more.

Here is an example of big farm guality.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44760879/

To say nothing of the fact that anyone who puts their entire hope and trust in the FDA or any governmental agency to protect us from food born problems....put your head in the sand or up your A*** and believe you'll be safe??????

The odds are a lot better trusting ONE farmer to know how to handle his own crop than a whole stream of non-farmers in the factory food chain. And the food tastes better.

I feel safer with our local farmaers. Our government has farmed out so much to countries like China & we have had nothing but problems. Even Mexican fruit & vegetables has had some problem. Our government wants to control all our stuff. That means we are no longer in the land of the free.

"As farmers markets thrive, so do concerns"

Concerns by who, exactly? It's not the consumers who are worried, it's not the FDA. This looks like a fluff piece in favor of large scale GMF producers.

To the author, take a look at the last 10 foodbourne disease outbreaks. They were all from mass-production farms. Their practices are sloppier and their farmers are less caring.

Well they produce more food. If you compare the number of people who get sick to the number of people buying and eating the food, it's miniscule. Equivalent to 1 or 2 people catching something from the farmer's market, which happens every now and again. People bash the FDA, but they have no idea how not safe our food could/would be without it.

All in all tho, I don't mind locally grown and sold food being inspected at the local level. No need for federal involvement if the produce isn't crossing state lines.

There was an article yesterday on MSN stating that only 2% of the imported food is screened by the FDA.

I'd rather take my chances eating unapproved FDA food than imported from China FDA approved food.

All in all tho, I don't mind locally grown and sold food being inspected at the local level

I agree, I inspect all of the food I buy. If however you are suggesting that we should all pay a little extra so someone else can inspect the food for me I'll pass.

Well said.

And the dismal track record of the FDA speaks for itself. I do not trust anything from the FDA. They are all about the money!

I got so pissed every time the "author" of this article says "not supported by science" that I could hardly finish it. What about the science that DOES PROVE LARGE OUTBREAKS COME FROM HUGE FOOD FACTORIES???

That "food modernization act" tried to ban people from having farmers markets saying that no one was inspecting the food, the acts biggest supporters, supermarkets and big agricultural food packers. Look up Monsanto and H.R. 2749 and wonder who is signing this authors paycheck.

Again, it makes me furious that this writer has the gall to say that the claim "getting food from small growers is safer" has no scientific basis. When a huge vegetable packing plant has an e-coli breakout, the contaminate reaches millions of people in a matter of days. More people have died from big food distributors than all the farmers markets combined, how is that not scientific proof?

Who, exactly is "concerned" Ms. Snyder? Big agriculture? The supermarkets? The one proven fact in this matter is that THE PEOPLE aren't concerned!! They are turning out in record numbers!

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and I'm sure folks will attack my post simply because my opinion is different than theirs, for those folks, research Monsanto and the other backers of H.R. 2749. I cant put up enough information to explain why your article scares the hell out of me.

Here's a start.

Most people who buy at farmers markets are SMART ENOUGH to properly wash and cook their food, unlike the folks who expect their government to make sure their food is good for them no matter what...

The real concern is that farmers' markets and local, family farmers are once again becoming a mainstay in the diets of many of us. Cargill, Monsanto, ConAgra, ad nauseum cannot bear the thought of losing 1 nickle.

E.COLI and FOOD BORN ILLNESS in today's food supply is FAR more likely in large FARM FACTORIES.

Guess what, ECOLI comes from ANIMALS... not plants and can only contaminate plants when brought into direct contact which usually happens at the large farm factories or in transport with the same.

This is nothing but a big agriculture hit piece to get the government to shut down big agriculture's competition.

There is no better example and no more clear a case of CORPORATISM in the USA than the Agriculture industry.

This is how CORPORATISM works folks. Big companies get the "regulators" to write NEW LAWS to shut down or limit competition in the name of SAFETY.

Because you know only the government keeps us safe right?

It bothers me to no end, when you read how only 2% of the imported food is inspected by the FDA, yet, they are doing their best to shut down food markets that are stocked and supplied by our own farmers "because of concerns". What a fricking joke. Gee FDA, what about your not inspecting the imported food like you should be doing, how about that "concern"? 2% of it? What about the other 98%? Or doesn't that matter? I gather trying to justify your jobs to the people, by shutting down local markets is easier than doing a 100% complete inspection of the imports.

So, does this mean, if someone eats imported food, and gets very sick, that the FDA could be held accountable for not fully inspecting the imports? All I can say is, they had better pray that it doesn't happen, and go back to fully inspecting the imported food.

I have been drinking raw milk all my life and never had a problem. Same with local produce. That is REAL food, not the look-alike stuff that is cranked out on an industrial scale and sold in supermarkets.

Local food sellers set their own safety rules — and have less federal and local oversight

OMG... WHOever heard of such things!!!? ?? People making their own rules and taking responsibility for their own safety?!?!?!?

Hurry quick.. SEND in FDA-ATF police and arrest these people.

Better yet, how about a couple of drone strikes on these food terrorists!

I shop at farmers markets all over the place. Here is the beauty of it..

If something is wrong you can talk directly to the farmer within days.

Many even have a business card to go and visit the farm and buy the veggies or meat directly. THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO LAY OFF THE SMALL FARMERS

OTHERWISE THE STOCK MARKET WILL BUY UP ALL OF THE FARMS SHUT THEM DOWN AND CREATE A SHORTAGE AND DRIVE THE FOOD PRICES UP..

THE FARMERS ARE FIGHTING SO CORP CONGLOMERATES DON'T BUY UP THE ONLY SURE PROFIT COMMODITY PRODUCT LEFT

FOOD

These Farmers don't have the problems big farms have because the farms are smaller. Lets keep it local and lets keep the rules in the jurisdiction of our own communities.

Farmers markets bring down the prices of local produce in the grocery store THEY CREATE american competition...And from what I see, All AMERICAN CITIZENS AT THE FAMERS MARKET NOT ILLEGALS..THE FARMERS ARE PROUD TO SELL THERE PRODUCT TO THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

ITS BIG FARMS THAT REQUIRE ILLEGALS FOR THE BUSINESS LOCAL FARMERS ARE HIRING PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY TO HELP WITH HARVEST ..

Now I am not saying get rid of the FDA it is definetly needed to inspect big farmers and meat packing/food processing plants..Or are we forgetting about the early 1900's in this country ? I sure don't want to go back to that..For many years my older relatives would never trust store bought sausage (they made it themselves)and would only buy koshier hotdogs..

FDA needs to focus on Food Imports, After traveling to some different places around the globe, There are certain places that do not have the same food safety concerns as America and thats why this whole idea about free trade is a joke..It doesn't work when you have diverse nations and different ideas on what constitutes CLEAN..

We have less regulation on incoming food products because of these so called free trade agreements..If we get rid of the FDA China will basically be able to wrap up dog poop and put it in a fancy box and call it chocolate..And if they could make a dollars off of us and do it they would..

FDA FOR FOREING IMPORTS AND LARGE MANUFACTURING

LOCAL HEALTH DEPARTMENTS FOR THE SMALL BUSINESS MAN

LETS STOP HAVING EXTREMES AND GO BACK TO NORMAL SOLUTIONS

Most of our problems are brought on by ourselves. We've sanitized and antibiotic'd ourselves into submission.

I just got back from a 3 week trip through Europe.

Two things related to food I noticed.

1 - The only place anyone gets their food from in Spain and France is the local farmers market on the street corner. The produce is fresh and the fish/meats are fantastic. There are no "Salsa con Queso" jars of crap, no Slim Jims, no TV dinners

2 - There are extremely few fat people in these places. Coincidence?? No. In fact, when we got lost and wanted to speak with someone who knew English, we'd look for the fat people, they were either American or British, we got a good laugh out of it.

If you really want to play it safe, look for farmers market that allow "Locally-Grown" only products. My brother manages a local market and constantly battles with marketers who want to set and sell imported produce that they claim is local. Since he requires a profile for any vendor, he can verify whether or not they truly raise local crops.

My opinion is that this contains the products to a smaller base of quality conscious vendors rather than the micro-commercial profiteers.

The only 'concerns' the government agencies have is how to add job-killing regulations to AMERICAN farmers who actually take pride in what they grow and sell...and how to make money off the hard working local farmers.....I prefer 'locally grown' to reading a'country of origin' sticker on my fresh produce at Wally world.......American farmers are almost the last bastion of American-Made products left....lets not over-regulate,or tax them out of existence.....last year the IRS decided to shut down a group of local farmers who scraped money together and purchased the American-made equipment to make thier own Bio-deisel.....Talk about going green........IRS said they should pay tax on every gallon they make....even if it wasn't for road use........People try to survive,and make a living......Big government says no.............U.S.Army Disabled Veteran

That's great P.O., more power to your brother.

When you go to the local farmer's market, just ask the guy if he only uses FDA approved herbicides and pesticides as directed on the product label on his farm. Look them square in the eye when they answer and decide for yourself whether or not you want to eat that particular farmers produce.

You might also want to ask anyone claiming to be organic, what their definition of organic is. Again, just watch the eyes.

Small business has always been the "backbone" of America!!

Somewhere in our greed we seem to have forgotten that!!

The Big Agri-business is using propaganda masqueraded as journalism to scare people from farmers markets. The small farmers grow vegetables and livestock just as safe and safer than the corporate farmers.

Big Agri-business is sponsoring these food scare news as more Americans are either growing their own food or buying better and fresher food from the family owned independent farmers. As with many government regulations pushed by Big Business it is always sold as for the public good and safety, but never about lining corporate pockets.

At this rate, government regulations will soon ban all home vegetable gardening.

Exactly what I thought when reading this article FatCat.

justwonderin - Absolutely agreed.

As the granddaughter of a small family farmer (way back before the FDA got its nose into things and before agricorp food), I do what I can to support my local farmer's markets, etc. Apples are in season here in VA now, so I went off to my favorite orchard for apples yesterday (also found real sweet potatoes), honey, oooo, and homemade ice cream. It would seem that we are living in a society where fear is what guides us rather than common sense. I will continue to support locally grown foods and hope that others will do the research and move in this direction as well.

This is the best way to combat rising food costs. Support local growers so they don't need to raise the cost of their produce, there is less transportation cost factored into the final cost and you know that you're helping your neighbor prosper. I have been part of a CSA (community supported agriculture) for 4 years now and the cost per year hasn't risen a cent while the supermarket produce in some places has risen 17%.

Only time I will hit a famers market is if I need something specific and right now. Organic does not mean anything to me. It does not have much meaning in general.

Simply put

Fu kuk you FDA. I will grow my own garden. I will sell my excess vegtables. Go back to that 98% of CRAP coming in from China and investigate it.

This is nothing more than the big farming groups (Carghil or whomever) crying they have to meet guidelines and others do not. F you and the horse you rode in on. Ate vegetables out of my garden for 35 years now and not a single issue.

D.Man
Concerns by who, exactly? It's not the consumers who are worried, it's not the FDA. This looks like a fluff piece in favor of large scale GMF producers.

Yes. Yes. Yes. This was my thought exactly.

Tiredofsilly

Educate yourself or is that mission impossible? Organic does have meaning to

many people- it means pesticides that are dangerous to humans were not used in the production of those foods. Our country is going to hell because of people like you. Dumb and you seem to like it that way.

Farmer's markets can never provide the bulk of food needed for national subsistence without turning into conglomerates themselves. The business will peak soon if it hasn't already.

kaff I think you're missing the point entirely. Farmers markets don't need to provide bulk food for national subsistance. That's counter-intuitive to the farmers markets core inititive; providing local food for local consumers. If each community adopts this systems we won't need conglomerates who provide GMO'd, mass produced factory food.

The biggest problem I see with local farmers markets is the off season. You cannot preserve all of the foods (well you could, it would be difficult). So what is the solution there?

But the rise in popularity is accompanied by a parallel rise in concerns about how best to keep these local consumers safe from the same pathogens responsible for nationwide outbreaks of salmonella, listeria and E. coli in commercially produced foods.

In other words, they have to figure out how to get their cut of the farmers' market profits, which is what they're really concerned about.

This is total fabrication on the part of the Media/Pharma/Big Farma. I was in Vietnam during the War, open air Produce Markets were the norm; in Da Nang, Open air fish markets. I bought and ate from them all the time. Open air (farmer's markets are the norm in many counties). They are self regulating, if you are a dumbie, don't buy from any street vendor, anywhere. We don't not want Big Brother in the kitchen, bedroom, or for that matter, anywhere.

kaff,
You are probably right in that local farmer's markets can't provide all the
food needed for the country. However, it can provide food for those of us who
have local markets and who choose to buy their produce, honey, hand-made soap, pork, chicken, beef, and many other items.

If we support our local farmers, we will encourage the small farmers to continue,
and others to start new small farms. In our community of 2,700, I have seen our
farmer's market double in the 10 years I've lived here. Why? Because we believe
in buying local. That's just not for farmer's markets, but for all products. We
buy local whenever we can.

While there is a Wal-Mart 11 miles away, we have a small grocery owned and operated by locals, and we do patronize it. This is not to say we don't use the other store, too, but having a local grocery is wonderful. Same with the pharmacy at WM. We have two wonderful, locally owned pharmacies, and they give you very
personalized care. At my pharmacy, when you walk in, they call ALL their
customers by name. They seem to know what prescriptions we take, so if we pick
up an OTC product that might conflict, they'll check on it right away. I've
seen this happen several times--not just to me, but also to other customers.
This is not the pharmacist I'm talking about, but everyone who works there.

Our local farms and other stores will never turn into conglomerates. And they won't be able to provide produce for the entire country or world (but they can
provide food for the locals). However, I support them, because they are local. Their products are delicious and useful (i.e., the hand-made soaps).

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FARMER'S MARKET!

Samuel, I lived in Mexico City for 3 years, and yes, we shopped at open air markets all year. And yes, of course we had to disinfect the veggies 20 minutes and anything that wasn't being peeled. I even washed things like cucumbers in disinfected water, to be sure I wasn't just moving the bad from the water and skin into the peeled cucumbers.

Each night I'd prepare a HUGE pot of water. It took 40 minutes to get it to a boil, and then 20 minutes to boil. Then I'd put an air-tight lid on it, and let it cool overnight. In the morning I made ice cubes with this water, cleaned the fruits and veggies we'd just gotten from the market, and put the rest of it into the fridge in several pitchers (6 or 8 large ones). I had plenty of water for the day for every purpose and usually had some leftover. I thought it was great fun! Such a wonderful time of my life.

Ah, I'm rambling--sorry! The point is, yes, it doesn't hurt to thoroughly clean and disinfect your fruits and veggies here, either. Anything that is being peeled is supposedly exempt, but remember that what you're cutting with the knife includes the outside skin, which is not disinfected. You don't want to transfer that to your food!

Want to know how safe the food is? Is the farmer feeding it to his family? Best indicator I know of. Most of the farmers I know, would sell a crop they wouldn't feed to their family. Sad fact is, the FDA doesn't think foreign farmers should feel that way.

Another example of the mainstream corporate media shilling for the other corporations. Grocery stores have garbage food and the "official" food inspection system is a sham. I meet the farmers at the farmer's markets and they are good Americans who are helping their community and totally dedicated to growing tasty, healthy food. Of course somewhere sometime a farmer's market seller may sell something bad. But I trust these people more than I will ever trust the corporate food industry or its shills in media.

I think most Americans can see this as another BIG LIE, but for the folks that can't - Wake Up!

The US food distribution system is HUGE business. And who has an interest in keeping the status quo? That's right - corporate agribusiness and the Internal Revenue Service (i.e., the federal government), and other tax collecting entities (state and local governments).

Farmers' Markets pose a threat to corporate agribusiness and tax revenue. So how can corporate agribusiness and the IRS shut down Farmers' Markets? That right - by unleashing their vicious "junkyard dog", the FDA, on the Farmers' Markets, in a woefully transparent attempt to SCARE people. "Hey, this food is DEADLY, don't eat that stuff - You'll DIE!"

It's a LIE. A LIE! A big fat LIE! The food from the Farmers' Market is wholesome and safe. Farmer's Markets, or Fresh Markets, or Wet Markets, or whatever you want to call them, are how the rest of the people around the world get their food. The system works, and the food is BETTER. It is fresher, it tastes better, and it's better for you.

Wake up America! The government is supposed to work for YOU, for EVERY American - not just big business!

"Want to know how safe the food is? Is the farmer feeding it to his family? Best indicator I know of. Most of the farmers I know, would sell a crop they wouldn't feed to their family."

Most farmers you know? How many is that? 1 or 2? So I gather you believe farmers grows this food, then buy what they eat from a store? Wow, you are so informed there Jim. Nice try, but you can't fool someone who was born and raised on a farm.

AuroraF1, I know this is late but I have to say:

You are not going to replace our food distribution system with neighborhood farms. And the evil corporations who run them employ a ton of people like truck drivers, the people who sell the fertilizer & chemicals, applicators, tractor parts sales and repairmen. The list goes on and on. We can have both and need both. The big agribusiness grows good healthy and safe food. I agree to keep the FDA away from the farmers markets and I love farmers markets, but don't spread your own kind of scare about the food we buy from a grocery store.

JoJo, it's never too late, thanks for replying.

I never said anything about replacing our food distribution system with neighborhood farms. I agree with you that you can have both. I'll take your word that you need farmers markets; I can see how they may be needed by people without easy access to a supermarket.

And I never said that big agribusiness didn't grow good healthy and safe food. I believe the food to be good, healthy, and exceptionally safe. What "scare" are you talking about?

I guess I misunderstood when you said farmers markets are wholesome and safe that was a reference that agribusiness grown food isn't . Sorry.

One last thing: Draconian regulations at the federal, state, and local level are geared more toward protecting the monopoly of Big Agra than they are at protecting consumers.

And having regulations doesnt mean they're enforced.

And having regulations doesnt mean they're enforced

Yeah. That is the salient point.

There are already all kinds of regulations for commercially produced food and still only 1-3% of it is inspected via random sampling, occasional (say yearly) site inspections, and complaint processing.

Requiring local, small farms to comply with those regulations would increase their costs, but probably would not protect us more than we are now.

Personally, I like my locally available products and I pretty much want the Feds to keep their grubby, tainted hands off. The unfortunate part is since the local farms are taking a larger and larger chunk of the agricultural sales pie, someone is bound to see it to their advantage to mess with a system that currently works just fine.

Post 1, 2 and 2.1 make it very clear, and right to the point. Good job and well said, thanks.

Where does the word "Con" come from in the massive corporation "Conagra?" At the very least they are up-front about it.

They act like these farmers markets are something new, as they do with "organic gardening." No they are not. I am amazed that the Feds consider a small farm to be one that grosses $500,000 or less. The families running the real small farms perhaps wish they were able to generate that kind of money from all of their labor.

I believe the important thing is to eat foods that are "indigenous." Local markets allow for this, as well as very fresh goods; cut the morning or night before going to market.

I am thinking back in the 1930s. Even in the cities most folks had a garden going. Every day when the season was right, the "vegetable-man" would come around in his flat bed truck and bell ringing. He carried baskets of fresh produce. There was also the knife sharpening man who came around from time to time and to the delight of children young and old came the popsicle man. He rode a bike with a box unit mounted on the front. The popsicles were kept frozen with a chunk of dry ice. A nickel paid for the best banana popsicle in the world.

Cities all over our country had Saturday morning farm markets. People would bring their foods and meats and preserves to market. It was a veritable happening. Home made peanut butter and such, we were eating like kings without having to pay out such a large part of our weekly income.

I suspect today that the local grocery stores are all colluding and price fixing. A buck for an apple, cabbage at 69 cents a pound, a half rotten cucumber selling for 99 cents. How in the hell can a family afford to eat good food? A few local grocery stores, in recent years have made it a big deal that they are selling locally grown produce, for which we get to pay and added surcharge. This makes no sense to me as I was told time and again that the high price of food is directly related to the high cost of shipping,( gasoline prices).

The government needs to keep their noses away from my food. If they want to play a role, they can enforce the laws already on the books; the anti-trust laws, monopolies, price-fixing and more. In our country, with some its vast growing land from sea to shining sea, 50% of our corn is being grown for ethanol. The federalises are subsidizing this as they do too many other things in the farming industry.

Maybe I should write a book about this as I seem to be doing right here; sorry folks. I am passionate about my food as I was about the food that we raised our children on.

Please read some about "fish farming" and the various methods. Please read about certain species of fish and the worms they are full of. You may want to reconsider your choice in sushi. There are some very good books on organic growing circa 1920-1940. Forget about the green lawn and the one next door as you consider digging it up in preparation for your spring planting.

Bon Appetite.

People concerned about farmers' markets need to remember something:

For an industrial operation, an outbreak of tainted food is just a small loss, something they can budget for and marginalize. This is why we need federal oversight to impose stiff penalties to these corporations when they slack off in the name of the Almighty Dollar.

Local farmers are a lot more vigilant about their own practices than large-scale industrial operations. The reason is, for a local farmer, an outbreak of tainted food means losing an entire season's worth of product, not to mention ruining their local reputation. Either of these can destroy their very livelihood.

I agree that state and local regulators should be more involved, but I feel having lots of Federal regulation at the local level is ungainly and ultimately wasteful.

I agree that state and local regulators should be more involved,

Why would they need to be involved even at the local level? You just said yourself that tainted food can destroy a small farmers livelihood. How is having a local "regulator" going to provide more incentive for the farmer to produce quality product than the loss of his livelihood would? All it would do is raise his cost (you realize someone has to pay these regulators right?), which he would then pass on to us.

I'll inspect my own food, thank you very much. If I get sick, I won't buy from that guy again nor would anyone else if it was a recurring problem as word spread. Soon that farmer would no longer be at the market so problem solved with nary a regulator in sight.

So there's no confusion, the point of this post is NOT to pick on MrCool, but to observe that this is a fabulously wealthy country that can afford MrCool's vision of the good life.

The world cannot afford "organic" small farms. It just wouldn't produce enough food. Buying locally from small farmers is really nice, provided that you live near a small farm and can afford it. In the U.S., many people live near small farms and nearly all can afford to buy from them if that is their priority.

We can afford a huge government bureaucracy that makes farming more expensive for everyone. As some of the other posters have pointed out, people can actually wash their own food and cook their own meat (what a concept, eh?), but we have thousands of well-paid overseers to redundantly check who knows what all. We have OSHA to demand proper toilets in the fields. We have the FDA to demand its own private bathrooms in the meat-packing plants it oversees. This is a great country.

We are so rich and energy is so cheap that no one bothers to notice that it is energy intensive for the local farmers to truck their produce to the "local" markets rather than have a central distribution chain a la the big producers.

Not much more than one hundred years ago, more than half of the U.S. population lived on farms and were employed in farming. Now, the number is about 1%. That represents a huge wealth for our country, not to mention a food supply for the world.

Before we abuse "big farma" too much, we should at least appreciate that it makes our rich lifestyle possible.

Economan, I gather that you never heard, that where you find big farming, you find high levels of chemicals and pesticides in the drinking water? But that's ok, isn't it? Who cares if we have clean water, as long as we can stop organic farming?

"We can afford a huge government bureaucracy that makes farming more expensive for everyone."

Really? No.....really? We can afford that? I hope that your just joking? If not, you need to pull your head out of where ever you have it buried, and look around at the state this country is in fiscally and financially.

"We are so rich and energy is so cheap that no one bothers to notice that it is energy intensive for the local farmers to truck their produce to the "local" markets rather than have a central distribution chain a la the big producers."

When you say we, i gather you are talking about the corporate farmers? Your whole comment is nothing but a corporate and government con job. Get a real life, other than one selling the people a load of government BS.

OH HELLNO!!

We can't have anything Thriving in this current economy!!! Stop the presses and get the government involved. We can put a stop to this conspiracy.......!!

Every other business has left the U.S., might as well run the small farmers out too!!!

As the commercial says, "Brilliant!"

TXHorseman... Great post. My feelings exactly! Somethings going well so lets get our effing government involved to eff it up!!!

"You'd be FAR better off buying from the Mom and Pop organic farm near you"

Yes and Yes.

Ron Paul would not let this happen in a million years. It is the STATES that should be setting the bar and defining who and what. Why is the Fed gov even THINKING about putting any law on my garden. That is a STATE item. The food does not leave the state...how in gods name is this a Federal item?

Fed gov OUT OF CONTROL.

Only in America,

I'm sorry you missed the points of my post (and I stand by them).

Modern agricultural methods have increased yields that make it possible for the entire world to get enough to eat. (Yeah, there are famines, but not because there isn't enough food in the world.) For example, corn yields per acre in the U.S. are about 10 times what they were 60 years ago. That is only possible through hybrid seeds and large applications of fertilizer. Period. The large meat and poultry production in this country depends upon corn. That's what the animals are fed - there's not enough of anything/everything else to grow the meat we consume. Period.

That leads up to my point that we are incredibly rich. We have enough food for everyone and plenty to spare. Even our poor are overweight. The latest census data show that not one child out of 100 reported missing a single meal in the previous year.

GDP is down about 6% from its peak. We're back to where we were somewhere in the 1990s. It may feel like really bad times, but in absolute terms, we are the richest society ever (far better off at every level than our European counterparts, I might add).

I dislike government bureaucracies as much as just about anyone. I abhor waste and stupidity, but it is nonetheless true that we afford it quite easily. If we have to buy 50" TVs instead of 60" TVs to pay for the bureaucrats, well, it's a tough sacrifice, but I think we'll make it.

As for our drinking water, I hear the usual groups screaming Apocalypse, but I'm not hearing of public health emergencies caused by bad drinking water. What I am hearing is public health epidemics of heart disease and diabetes cause by people eating TOO MUCH, and exercising too little. The latter is just another example of how rich our country is. Think of it; the average American life is so soft and so rich that people PAY money to do absolutely worthless "work" on a treadmill at a gym.

You seem to be accusing me of being some sort of government shill. Quite the contrary. I'd like the government to scale back in nearly everything it does. And it can start at the FDA. For starters, get rid of just about every farm regulation ever written. Let farmers plant what they want, when they want. Quit subsidizing them - period. We can have reasonable laws about runoff, but let the farmers figure it out. If you really want to keep all the water everywhere pristinely clean, then YOU tell the poor people of the world that they're going to starve. Otherwise, I think you should accept something near the status quo as a reasonable compromise.

The bigger problem with contaminants getting into food is the approximation of that food to lots where animals are maintained. Soil and water being contaminated by feces and runoff is a much bigger problem than the storing and transportation of food.

The small farmer though has known for centuries to not grow his food where his animals offal could contaminate and kill him and his family. Small farms don't normally have all fields set to production at all times and they generally maintain a margin between growing food and animals.

In my community (so I would think there must be others), we already have a variety of local laws in place to keep farms from contaminating natural aquifers. It isn't like adding a layer of federal law is going change any of that. And as the article mentioned, it is in the local farmers best interest to keep food he sells clean since he is the direct face of his goods. Believe you me, since many of us purposely choose to shop local to avoid the contamination potentially available from (uninspected) goods sold at our grocery stores, we would totally shun a farmer whose goods led to the illness of anyone in our local population.

Personally, my stance on this issue is much more about supporting my local businesses (and that includes farmers) than about whether or not I will obtain contaminated food from any source. I would prefer to spend my dollars locally to help someone live their dream or do a job they love. The fact that I get good, clean, non-hormone/chemically-ladened food out of it in the process is a wonderful perk.

yvonnemari, you are correct that farmers know what is safe and what is not. However, I would like to set something straight. Properly aged cattle manure serves as an excellent fertilizer substitute. In a pasture, it's nature's way of returning nutrients to the ground so more grass can grow, be eaten, etc. Human sewage and other non-natural forms of waste are obviously not something I would want on the ground where my food is grown.

highnoon777 I wasn't suggesting that it wasn't. But here, manure must be kept in a seepless container (usually concrete; and covered) and can only be spread out on fields at certain times of the year (to avoid rain or snow melt runoff).

Personally, I would prefer that more farms get rid off excess manure by sending it to those farms that compost it and use the gas for electricity. :-)

Yv and highnoon...

You do realize that the manure you speak of is used in Big Agra not for the plants. It is the basis of feed for cattle and pigs and chickens. My professor in college created the process to use it as feed for the different animals. Might want to go read up on that and form an opinion also.

J.E. "Plant nothing but the same plant in one giant location and you are going to offer an opportunity to parasites of all sizes to explode in population..."

Farmers don't do that. Not in my neck of the woods anyway. It just doesn't work. It's called crop rotation. You need to plant crops that will replenish the soil or before long you can't grow anything.

gotcha yvonnemari, I agree a large dairy or feedlot needs a treatment process

Mark...our cattle eat grass and grain, not manure. The manure from our small "feedlot" ends up spread out on a pasture. When it comes to the manure I speak of, you clearly don't know manure. :)

How does it taste, that manure-fed beef?

Isn't this just stupid...if the Federal Government needs to get involved then leave them alone about food safety and send ICE agents to their farms to audit their employee records.

There have been more than a few prominent people that predicted the government would start going after the local farmers and eventually will tell you, you can not give your neighbor food from your garden.

They started with the raw milk farms, the Amish farmers, now the small local farmer. They need prices for food to skyrocket.

Who controls access to food controls the people and this administration WANTS this control.

Right on Devin!!! We need to start fighting back. They are also working extremely hard behind the scenes to band natural herbs and natural remedies. While we are asleep the government is quickly moving to control every aspect of our lives. Like we can trust the FDA or anything offered by our government.

FDA = Big Pharma

Exactly! I lived in Ecuador for two years, where the conditions at the local market were hardly what most Americans would call "sainitary" - but the food was healthy, delicious, and if something was contaminated, it was limited to just one small stand out of hundreds. During the time I lived there, there were thousands of TONS of beef and produce recalled in the US because of our "factory farmed" food production - which, in general, is less healthy and less safe.

But it's been approved by the federal government, so it must be ok ...

Sheesh.

Our food safety record is light years ahead of Ecuador's...so that's a silly comparison. More people died there from tainted alcohol in one outbreak than in several years of recalls in the US. That's kind of the point of recalls.

On the contrary, the entire country is fed from farmers markets just like the ones highlighted in this article, and frankly there are really hardly any problems. The Ecuadorian people are healthier than Americans, and overall, they eat better. It's a very apt comparison.

This was contaminated sanitary wipes. NOT the alcohol. Be honest

----

Capt Tripps

Our food safety record is light years ahead of Ecuador's...so that's a silly comparison. More people died there from tainted alcohol in one outbreak than in several years of recalls in the US. That's kind of the point of recalls.

• !

#6.2 - Tue Oct 4, 2011 10:40 AM EDT

Lunatic - now you sound like one, that is completely not true.

There's not enough profit in it to buy from a commercial grocery store and sell it a mile or two away. Local farmers have their name on the line if they want to stay in business. No-one who works for a commercial grocer would be worried about not finding another grocer to work for, but the farmer would be worried about saving his name in the local markets.

That's the beauty of the farmer's market. Take some time to ask questions, where did they grow it or where did it come from. If they are the farmer they will know. At the grocery store they will have no idea where their produce is from and won't care.

Hawaii isn't the ONLY place that can grow pineapples....I've grown them in my backyard in California.

Exactly! I was reading this thinking why don't they mention the latest outbreaks from huge factories? That listeria outbreak was potentially in 25 states, many people got sick or died, and millions of fruits were thrown out because they may or may not have been affected. I was fortunate to have just gotten some cantaloupe from a small farm in my neighboring state who could assure me that their fruit was in no way connected. And the food co-op that I'm part of was able to track everyone that had gotten their produce and let us know our food was not infected. Can't get that from a big factory/grocery store!

On the other hand if one person gets sick and dies from something they bought at a farmer's market, they will never track it down.

This is the wrong kind of government at work. It needs to be stopped immediately. This is the work of republicans.

Give me a break. You can accuse the republicans of a lot of things but wanting more regulation is certainly NOT one of them. Micromanagement is the realm of the liberal. Making a hoard of rules so everyone is "protected" from the evil greedy SOB's who (they want you to believe) would do anything to make a buck.

The is a billionaire down the road from me buying as much farm land as he can get his hands on. He's building his kingdom. The farms are still productive now but by his choice.

There are only a little over a thousand billionaires in the entire world and I doubt any of them are buying up farms so I'm just going to assume that is another ridiculous over statement on yourpart. Aside from that, there is a 50/50 chance that this guy (assuming he's actually millionaire) is a democrat so again, hardly an republican only issue. Your puppet-masters are using class warfare to manipulate you. Most of them are in the class they want you to hate so if you think your vitriol is going to cause some actual change you are badly misguided.

There are only a little over a thousand billionaires in the entire world and I doubt any of them are buying up farms so I'm just going to assume that is another ridiculous over statement on yourpart.

Ummm...actually that part is true. Sorry, it may be millionaires rather than billionaires, but there are people who are gambling that buying low cost property and farming it will turn an investment profit.

Here is an article from Bloomberg.com:

www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-10/being-like-soros-in-buying-farm-land-lets-investors-reap-16-annual-gains.html

Seems to me you should do a bit of Google-ing before you go and insult someone who knew exactly what he/she was talking about.

Don't forget about the rising estate, capital gains, and property taxes that certain groups advocate, are putting a large number of family farms out of business. They should be allowed to pass their farms on to future generations without heavy taxation, just like in the past.

I just want to point out, that to think this is a "Democrat/Republican" issue is very short-sighted. There is a much deeper problem here. Our government, as a whole, thinks they need to regulate or control everything, so they can better serve their own interests or the interests of the companies they serve. And when people start catching on that there might be a better alternative out there, such as local foods, they use the media to try to scare people into changing their minds. This is propaganda in it's purest form and it makes me sick to my stomach to think that our country has come to this.

Ummm...actually that part is true. Sorry, it may be millionaires rather than billionaires, but there are people who are gambling that buying low cost property and farming it will turn an investment profit

I wasn't doubting that there are people out there buying farms and incorporating them. Just that it's being done by billionaires. The word "billionaire" has become synonymouswith the word "evil" in the mind of liberals today. It's class warfare being promoted by the left in a desperateattempt to stay in power. There are just as many liberal millionaires as the are conservative so the idea that the rich guy down the road buying up farms must be a republican is ludicrous.

Now THIS would be a shocking news story to plaster on the front page!

Do you compromise your beliefs, morals, and values? You swear to uphold the Constitution and you have colleagues that insist on skirting it, you feel compromising on that is a good thing? Really?

Please stay home November 6th 2012.

Do you compromise your beliefs, morals, and values? You swear to uphold the Constitution and you have colleagues that insist on skirting it, you feel compromising on that is a good thing? Really?

Ummm...and you would suggest we solve problems that we don't agree on the solution how exactly?

Oh I know. You should just totally agree to everything I believe in and then we will live happily ever after. That works for me.

There is a reason that "plays well with others" is considered so important in our elementary schools.

I could not agree more. My wife and I buy most of our meat from a local farmer who sells free-range organic products through a buying club. We get produce, breads, jams and jellies from our local farmers market and I have never once fell ill from eating healthy food raised or produced in the area.

This garbage, manufactured article is nothing but a favor to the Monsantos of the world, which have apparently identified the local food movement as something to be contained. Too late! The people of this country are voting every weekend with their pocketbooks and their tastebuds.

I agree. And with Mercury being used in the dental industry for years we may have bigger concerns then this. But I to think while people had been making fun of farmers in movies "culture, ect" -which is sadly a declining way of life and not just some industry-they done things much better then big corps. I'm not implying we all live like the Amish-no offense, but sometimes I think when the citizens of the U.S. and Europe had real world trade skills they were much, much better off. You can't eat fashion-especially if you get fired from such a job, but things like food, shoes,tools ect will always be needed. And to think we as citizens use to make them on our own and trade for things that ensured survival.

I think with the right mind set, doing things for ourselves again and tradeing in the community can be seen as "cool" and forget the MTV, or gangsta rap, happy horse'@!$%#e stuff that has no real bearing on survival to everyday aproachable people.

hmm that last word was typed in a more polite manner but was censored anyways lol but no worries. It rhymes with right.