Two interesting stories to share with you. In the first I had a meeting with the chairperson of the Iowa House Agricultural Committee, Annette Sweeney, who I took to task last year over the "Farm FIlming Bill" she authored. In short it would have made it a felony to get a job at an Iowa Farm and then take secret video of the operation including animal agriculture. Here is that post. And, here is the post from the Insight on Business News Hour. (Sorry about the tin foil hat....)
My argument, which caused some in the ag community to doubt my judgement, was it was a bad bill that would give folks, who already have an agenda, to point to Iowa Agriculture and say, "See! We told you they were doing horrible things and now they have put in place a law to cover up their crimes." (I'm telling you...that would be the rally call.) My proposal was to change the bill and make it a crime only IF the person filming what he/she considered to be abuse failed to, in a reasonable amount of time, turn the footage or photo over to law enforcement so they could follow up on the complaint. After all, IF the point of the complaint is the protection and welfare of critters and humans shouldn't it run through the correct channels?
That's exactly what this bill now does. Congratulations to Representative Sweeney for making those subtle changes. Next? (And, it was great catching up with you!)
Sustainable Local/Regional Farm Programs
I like this. The Environmental Working Group for Agriculture recently posted this piece regarding the 2012 Farm Bill and, what they say, is a way to support small family farming operations that produce local/regional food. It's worth a read and, judging from the overwhelming support "Buy Fresh/Buy Local" has had on consumers seems like a sound idea. Your thoughts?
Thanks for coming by! On Twitter it's @RuralLifeRadio or you can comment here. - Michael Libbie
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