Hi All,
I came across a bill that was being proposed in the US. It is called S.510, I believe it has gone through several amendments and currently called HR 2751
Although it is a US piece of legislation I wonder if anything similar would ever be implemented over here.
The main thrust of it is supposed to be to improve food safety.
However it seems that if grow your own food you would not be able to give any away, or sell in farmer markets etc without going through a great deal of red tape. It would be made a criminal offence to sell your own produce if you ignored going through offical channels (numerous forms, fees etc).
There are many sites on the internet that suggest the bill would make it illegal to grow your own food, however I think this is an erroneous interpretation of the bill. Although there is a strong suggestion that the way the bill is worded it indicates that seed storing would become a criminal offence. This is quite believeable as in the US Monsanto has patented some of its seeds and regularly takes farmers to court over the storing of their seed. They have even taken farmers to court who do not use their seed, but the seeds of neighbouring farms, who use the patented seed, get blown across into their fields and start to germinate!
The bill at very least would be make it hard for organic growers who wish to sell or trade their products.
S.510 was resubmitted as HR 2751 and was passed and signed by the president on Jan 4th. Not if any details of the bill were changed on the resubmission as HR 2751.
Just some food for thought. Pun intended.
Cheers
Pulse