The Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute would like to inform all Farmers’ Market supporters about their chance to comment on proposed regulations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that could seriously and possibly negatively affect small agricultural producers. We echo the concern of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, which has published an extensive analysis on their website, that the proposed regulations would impose costly and cumbersome requirements that would greatly impact farmers’ businesses. These rules are still in draft form and have not yet been enacted. In fact, the FDA is inviting comments from farmers and the general public.
The FDA has been charged with developing specific regulations to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which became law in 2011. The rules give FDA broad new powers to prevent food safety problems and to detect and respond to food safety issues. Specifically, the FSMA mandates the establishment of new regulations for farmers and some facilities that process food.
Some examples of how we believe the proposed rules might be overly restrictive: the proposed regulations directly conflict with the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Organic Program standards around using manure and compost, making it difficult for farmers to use manure and even creating barriers to the use of compost. The regulations also include seemingly burdensome standards for irrigation water, including frequent, costly water testing and treatment requirements. These standards would particularly affect farmers whose water is supplied by our traditional acequia systems.
We urge every Farmers Market consumer to become informed about these proposed regulations and how they may impact availability of healthy local food and the businesses of our farmers that provide that food. Consumers are offered the opportunity to comment before the deadline of November 15. Go to: http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5735/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=9861#consumers.
In the “Get Informed” section, you can educate yourself on the issues involved, and in the “Take Action” section, you can sign a petition and there are specific instructions on how to submit your comments. We have also been working with our vendors to help inform them of these proposed regulations and assisting them to submit their input to the FDA. For more information, contact Institute Program Director, Sam Baca at (505) 983-7726 or email sam@oldsffmi.designbystudiox.com.