Agriculture and Food

SEE ALSO: GMO
SEE ALSO: Animal Welfare

​We support a complete re-examination of the agricultural and food manufacturing systems throughout the United States.
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We agree with the 2014 Vermont Progressive Party Platform:
"A diverse variety of small scale agricultural operations, such as family farms, orchards and woodlots, are essential to ... food security, economy and cultural heritage, while large scale agriculture tends to threaten our environment, has dubious effects on our health, and promotes a debt based economy.

We will work to:
• Support fair trade pricing for ... family farms, and develop farm and community based food hubs, processing centers, and other infrastructure needed to broaden the market for ... agricultural products, and to make locally produced food more readily available statewide.
• Promote and enforce agricultural regulations that will protect food safety and the environment from the risks associated with factory farms, without becoming onerous burdens to small producers.
• Promote agricultural regulations, which allow small producers to offer products that are unavailable otherwise, such as raw milk and farm slaughtered meat.
• Support efforts to transition to sustainable, organic farming practices such as changing the laws so compost can be considered a tax exempt agricultural product and ensuring that those planting GMOs are held accountable for any damages caused by those crops or the methods needed to grow them." 
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​An average of more than 2 pounds of herbicides are applied to every planted acre in America.

USDA-NASS AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL USE SURVEY DATA. IMAGE SOURCE: DR. ANDREW KNISS.

​The video clips below
are from the documentary
​"Food Inc."
CLICK HERE
to watch the entire movie.

   

   

  

  

​We agree with the Peace and Freedom Party Platform of 2014:
"We want an agricultural system that ensures enough food and other farm products to meet human needs, guarantees a high standard of living to farmers and farm workers, protects humans and the ecosystem from environmental degradation and encourages organic farming. To that end, we call for:"

• "An end to subsidies and tax breaks for corporations.
• Food distribution by farm and consumer cooperatives.
• Extension of all labor rights to farm workers, including wage and hour regulations.
• An end to cruel methods of animal husbandry.
• No use of recombinant bovine growth hormone (RBGH) in meat or dairy cattle.
• No genetically engineered organisms in food production.
• A ban on "terminator" seeds.
• No export of chemicals banned in the U.S. or import of agricultural products treated with them."

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We agree with the 2016 Republican Party Platform:
"Agricultural production and exports are central to ... jobs, growth, expanded trade, and prosperity. The United States does not depend on foreign imports for sustenance. Americans spend a smaller percentage of their income on food than any other nation. On average, one American farm produces enough food to feed 155 people. We have good reason to celebrate our domestic security in food."
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"We are the largest agricultural exporter in the world, and our exports are vital for other sectors of our economy. That is why we remain committed to expanding trade opportunities and opening new markets for agriculture."
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​We agree with the 2016 Green Party Platform:
"Re-localize the food system: Our national industrial food system is overwhelmingly dependent upon oil and natural gas for farm-equipment fuel, fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, and the transport. New farming methods, new farmers, and a re-localization of production and distribution are needed. These will require land reform, an investment in revitalizing rural areas and the creation of local food processing plants and storage centers. Laws and incentives affecting the food system (including food safety laws and farm subsidies) will need to be rewritten to provide preferential support for small-scale, local, low-input producers."

"We encourage legislation that assists new farmers and ranchers, that promotes widespread ownership to small and medium-sized farms and ranches, and that revitalizes and repopulates rural communities and promotes sustainable development and stewardship."

"We support new farming and growing opportunities and urge the inclusion of non-traditional crops and foods in farm programs."

"We support the highest organic standards (California Organic Certification Standards, for example)."
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"We oppose monopolistic production of high-tech hybrid seeds. This is the basis of monoculture where agribusiness relies on non-sustainable methods such as single crop varieties bred with industrial traits and grown with high input of energy, chemicals, and pesticides. This has led to a massive loss of biodiversity, displacing traditional varieties and seed stocks."

"We encourage the use of diverse natural seed varieties passed down over many generations. Crops can be grown with the best plants’ seeds being saved season to season."

"We encourage, and support public access to, seed banks and seed collections that emphasize traditional and heirloom seeds." 
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​We agree with the For a People's Party Platform:
"We now know that farm animals feel a wide range of emotions: pleasure and sadness, excitement and resentment, depression, fear and pain. They are far more aware and intelligent than we imagined. Yet factory farms condemn animals to a life of agonizing pain in order to squeeze more profit out of them. Animals spend their whole lives in cages so small they cannot turn around and often are not able or allowed to sleep. The animals try so hard to escape that they give themselves physical deformities. End the barbaric practice of factory farming and switch to free range animal farming."

1. "Encourage local food production and sustainable farming practices.
2. Eliminate food deserts and ensure the universal availability of nutritious food to everyone.
3. Ban the use of carcinogenic food colorings, additives and hormones.
4. Eliminate agricultural subsidies that amount to corporate welfare for big agribusiness.
5. Promote vertical farming, which eliminates the need for fertilizers, pesticides and the expensive and polluting transportation of food to cities. 
6. Promote new farmers and farming opportunities.
7. Encourage equitable access to healthy, preferably organic food.
8. Protect the bee population by cutting down on pesticides
9. Encourage crop rotation and other practices that avoid the desertification of arable lands.
10. Ensure that genetic plant varieties remain in the public domain following the expiration of plant breeders’ rights.
11. Work with the USDA, growers, processors, colleges and universities to develop a food innovation center to make changes in the processing, packaging and marketing of U.S. food products." 

   

Regenerative
Agricultural
Practices
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We agree with the 2016 Green Party Platform:
​"Regenerative Agriculture

1. End industrialized agriculture methods, including mono-cropping, reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and the use of confined animal operations, all of which are high-order contributors to atmospheric greenhouse gases.
   
2. Convert our food producing systems to small-scale organic, regenerative agriculture (agroecology) systems to restore soil health, sequester carbon, foster biodiversity, discourage the currently unsustainable level of meat consumption, and secure robust ecosystem services for a sustainable future.
   
3. Replace subsidization of industrially produced agricultural products with support for small producers employing organic, regenerative agricultural methods. Localize food distribution systems to minimize waste, build rural communities, and eliminate reliance on fossil fuels."

   

   

  

   

  

   

We agree with the 2018 New Mexico Democratic Party Platform:

1. Support funding and prioritization of “local farming” over “regional farming;” 
2. Encourage community-supported agriculture (CSAs) to foster local farming; 
3. Support stronger agricultural worker protections including, but not limited to, regulation of work hours, unfair wages, elimination of child labor, ensuring adequate housing for migrant workers, and sanitary facilities in the field; 
4. Support legislation that legalizes and promotes an industrial hemp industry; 
5. Support incentives for sustainable agricultural practices, agricultural water conservation, and retention of lands of agricultural production and ranching; 
6. Ban the use of neonicotinoid pesticides which is critical to the survival of bees and pollinators on which we depend for our food supply; 
7. Support efforts to preserve and protect New Mexico’s traditional heritage livestock and varieties of heirloom seeds; 
8. Support individual property owners’ ability to control their farm lands and local water rights;
9. Support protecting farmers from lawsuits by companies who produce patented genetically modified seeds, when the local farmers’ crops are corrupted or cross-pollinated from nearby company fields; 
10. Support individuals and communities in developing yard and community gardens through supportive land-use policies and zoning;
11. Remove the minimum wage exemption for farm workers; 
12. Support growing legal cannabis.

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CONTROL:
Large agri-businesses that monopolize the industry should be broken up to increase competition. Pesticides and herbicides should be taxed and the revenues should be redirected to a Universal Basic Income.

FREEDOM:
The government should NOT subsidize large agri-businesses and small farmers should be free to use more natural, organic and biodynamic methods without government hindrance.

CHANGE:
Unfortunately, for the last century, "progress" has unfortunately taken the form of increased use of petrochemicals, herbicides, pesticides and genetically modified organisms. These changes have not been improvements. Farm subsidies should be re-evaluated and either eliminated or re-directed.

TRADITION:
Agriculture and Food literally needs to go back to its roots by working with Mother Nature rather than attempting to conquer nature. We need to conserve our resources, replenish our soils and return to heirloom plants and the variety offered by smaller farms and ranches.

   

CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES:

https://www.congress.gov/committee/house-agriculture/hsag00

https://www.congress.gov/committee/senate-agriculture-nutrition-and-forestry/ssaf00

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

http://www.FixFood.org/

Resources for further information on Regenerative Agriculture include:

http://regenerationinternational.org/
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http://www.csuchico.edu/sustainablefuture/aginitiative/

https://www.iatp.org/blog/201309/new-un-report-calls-for-transformation-in-agriculture

https://permaculturenews.org/2014/09/26/un-small-farmers-agroecology-can-feed-world/

https://www.crs.org/our-work-overseas/program-areas/regenerative-agriculture

  

ORGANIZATIONS:

​Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)
Works to improve the safety and nutritional quality of the food supply.

Center for Food Safety (CFS)
Challenges harmful food production technologies and promotes sustainable alternatives using litigation and legal petitions for rulemaking, legal support for various sustainable agriculture and food safety constituencies, as well as public education, grassroots organizing, and media outreach.

Stop Foodborne Illness
Works to prevent unnecessary illness and loss of life from pathogenic foodborne illness by assisting victims, educating the public, and advocating for safe food and public health policies.

Council for Responsible Genetics (CRG)
Fosters public debate about the social, ethical, and environmental implications of genetic technologies and biotechnology.

Organic Consumers Association (OCA)
Campaigns for health, justice, and sustainability by addressing crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, corporate accountability, and environmental sustainability.
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Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF)
Sponsors research related to organic farming practices, disseminates research results to organic farmers and to growers interested in adopting organic production systems, and educates the public and decision-makers about organic farming issues.