Increase in Regulatory Inspections at Farmer's Markets

[fasttense]

http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/News/article.php?ID=79376

The link is a story about a Farmer's Market at a nearby town enforcing stricter regulatory requirements on the local farmer's market vendors.

It has all the Farmer's Markets in the area very leary. I was wondering if there has been an uptick in enforcement? Are Farmer's Markets cutting into profits of big agra businesses so that they are putting pressure on regulatory agencies to reduce the size or eliminate Farmer's Markets? Is Wal-Mart annoyed by the competition?

TN has some very restrictive policies and costs associated with everything from weights and measures of vegetables to facility inspections for cottage industries, to educational requirements. Most inspectors were leaving the Farmer's Markets alone until recently. I wonder if other areas have been noticing a crack down?

[izquierdista]

1. And that would be a problem for??

Vendors who have "heavy" scales? People trying to sell rotten vegetables? Typhoid Mary?

[fasttense]

2. Farmers who make minimal profits

from farmer's markets average sales are about $15,000 a year (that's sales NOT profits).

The "regulations" are as expensive as requiring farmers to build an entire building just to wash 3 dozen eggs a week and may cost as much as $300 a year (not including costs to meet inspection requirements) just for permit fees and inspection costs. Considering that sales at Farmer's markets are far from the profits Wal-Mart sees from Chinese, Indian, and Mexican produce, this will drive many small farmers to poverty or to working at Wal-Mart.

Considering that almost ALL the produce contaminations have come from big agri-businesses, forcing small farmers who have not poisoned anyone, like Wal-Mart has, to work at McDonald just so they don't compete with the corporations who are poisoning our food and providing leftover swill to our school children is pretty stupid policy.

TN should do what Michigan and numerous other states have done (with no contamination problems)and exempt Farmer's markets from these elaborate and expensive regulations.

But if you want to continue to eat un-inspected foods from big corporations (95 of 2,500 corporate food imports were inspected) with a much greater risk of getting sick, go right ahead.