The Word in the House 5/1/2014 - GMOs, Raw Milk, Medical Mj, Telemedicine

The pressure is on in the legislature to tie up loose ends and move bills to the floor for final passage before we adjourn.  Bills that originated in the Senate are now reaching the House floor for a vote.  Some House bills have been sent back from the Senate with changes that have to be approved by the House before proceeding to the Governor’s desk.  Several significant bills were passed last week, and these are a few of them.

The bill that got the most media coverage was H.112, which requires foods that contain genetically engineered ingredients (also known as GMOs), to be labeled as such by producers.  As reported in the 4/27/14 issue of the Burlington Free Press, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that 93% of soybeans and 88% of corn grown in the U.S. are genetically modified and are ingredients in more than 70% of food products on store shelves today.  The biotechnology industry as well as the Grocery Manufacturers Association opposed the bill, but the Vermont public, including 76% of Charlotte respondents to the Doyle Poll, overwhelmingly supports the right to know what is in their food.  The bill passed overwhelmingly in both the Senate and House.

The House also passed the Raw Milk bill, S.70, which will allow farmers producing up to 280 gallons per week to deliver their product to existing customers at farmers' markets. The raw milk regulations that have been in place for five years are rigorous and prescribe the good practices that producers must follow to ensure public health and safety.  Vermont raw milk dairies have consistently produced a high quality and safe product. The provisions in this bill will ensure that consumers can pick up fresh, safe milk from farmers with whom they have an established relationship at more convenient times and locations.

Changes were also made to the regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries with the passage of S.247 by the House.  The bill eliminates the 6 month waiting period for patients with a terminal illness, with cancer which has metastasized, or with AIDS.  It also adds naturopathic physicians with a special license to prescribe, dispense, and administer prescriptions to the list of medical professionals who can provide a medical verification form to a patient for marijuana therapy.  Recent news reports have profiled children that suffer from intractable seizures and their successful treatment in Colorado with a special marijuana extract called "Charlotte's Web".  Unfortunately, federal law prohibits the extract from being transported outside of Colorado, so another provision in S.247 allows the development of such a product in Vermont to treat these young patients. 

Other bills deserving mention that passed include S.234, which authorizes Medicaid coverage for remote monitoring of data via the internet related to a patient’s health in conjunction with a home health plan of care, and H.356 which prohibits littering on the waters of the state.  The latter bill also establishes September as River Green Up Month, similar to Green Up Day which we are celebrating this weekend. 

Save Our Dairy Farmers

CREDO Action offers an opportunity to request the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the large dairy processors under the antitrust laws for price-fixing at the expense of small dairy farmers.  Using CREDO's website, I sent the following email to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Dear Attorney General Holder,

I am greatly concerned about the lack of competition in the food and agricultural sectors and how this negatively impacts America's family farmers and consumers as they work to feed their families food that is safe, healthy and nutritious.

For too long, agribusiness corporations have been allowed to consolidate. Now their market power has created unfair prices that farmers are paid for their goods, the ever-increasing prices that they pay for inputs and the price that consumers pay at the grocery store. Excessive market concentration has also created an overly centralized food system that is prone to massive food safety outbreaks and has empowered mega agribusiness corporations that continue to demonstrate a blatant disregard for environmental and labor laws.

While I am encouraged by the recent Department of Justice suits filed against Dean Foods investigating their excessive market concentration in the dairy industry, these investigations are long overdue. For the past 18 months dairy farmers in America have faced their worst crisis since the Great Depression as the price they are paid for their milk has dropped more than 50% since December 2008. At the same time, giant dairy processors and co-ops have raked in record profits while dairy farmers are losing their farms and struggling to make ends meet just to feed their families.

I encourage you to enforce U.S. antitrust laws to return a fair and level playing field in the food and agricultural sectors and break up corporations that have violated these laws.

As a Vermonter I have many friends and neighbors who are small dairy farmers. A Vermont dairy farm is lost on the average of one per week because the price farmers are paid is only a fraction of the cost to produce it. While the milk processors squeeze farmers with low prices, the retail cost of milk increases. It’s time to pay dairy farmers a fair price for their product!

America's farmers, specifically our dairy farmers, deserve justice, before it's too late.

Sincerely,

Michael I. Yantachka
393 Natures Way
Charlotte, VT 05445

You can add your name to this petition here.

Agriculture

Agriculture is a significant part of Vermont's economy, culture and tradition, and dairy farming, which comprises 85% of Vermont agriculture, is probably the most iconic form.  As such it is a large component of tourism, another driver of Vermont's economy.  I am not a farmer, so I have a lot to learn about this aspect of Vermont; however, I know that dairy farmers in Vermont are in crisis. 

I attended the Dairy Farming Town Meeting organized by Senator Bernie Sanders on February 13th.  Farmers from around the northeast, including Maine, New Hampshire and New York, as well as from Vermont, attended the meeting.  It is no secret that the price farmers get for milk is well below the cost of producing that milk.  What I learned at the meeting is that This unsustainable situation has led to the the loss of more than one Vermont dairy farm per month on average during the last 2 years.

The price farmers get for milk is driven primarily by milk processors with the federal government regulating minimum wholesale prices.  This system puts small farmers at a disadvantage, and the challenge is to leverage their influence through cooperative agreements.  After talking to several local farmers, I learned that another way to increase the value of milk production is by processing some of the milk locally.

The state of Vermont can support family farming by facilitating regional partnerships spanning state borders to counter the leverage enjoyed by major milk processors, and by providing low cost loans for local value-add production facilities. 

Apart from dairy farming, the "locavore" movement has created opportunities to supply locally grown high-quality produce to consumers, thereby reducing the carbon-footprint of food consumption.  State government departments with food purchase requirements, e.g. prisons, schools, cafeterias, should be encouraged, if not required, to obtain a reasonable percentage of that food from local producers. 

I am open to comments about my ideas as well as suggestions for improvements or additions to the ideas stated above.