Congress is working on the Farm Bill, and we need your help!

Many small- and mid-scale farmers are unable to easily raise and sell meat from their farms to you, the consumer.

If you care about your food (we know you do!) and the right to healthy food produced by local farmers and ranchers -- and ultimately an abundant, resilient food system – then we need your help now to help us get the PRIME Act into the Farm Bill!

WHAT IS THE PRIME ACT?

The PRIME Act simply allows farmers to use custom slaughterhouses (just as they are being used by hunters and homesteaders) and, subsequently, sell the processed meat within their own state, either direct to consumers or to restaurants and retailers. This means transparent, accountable meat sources to supply our local communities.

The PRIME Act supports local food production and small businesses, while also reducing vehicle miles traveled with livestock trailers, and helping to meet the consumer demand for locally raised meat.

TAKE ACTION:

Call your U.S Representative as well as BOTH of your U.S. Senators and urge them to sign on to H.R. 2814/S.907.

Getting new co-sponsors this month gives us a better chance to get this important bill included in the Farm Bill.  By giving just 5 minutes of your time, you are taking significant steps to ensure small, family farmers are able to sell their meat to the consumers who want it!

You can look up your U.S. Representative and Senators’ contact information here: Find Your Legislators

Calls are the most effective option, followed by a personalized email.

Below is a sample message to use for your call or email but please, to make the most impact, create a personalized message that shares your story about why this matters to you!

As a constituent, I urge Senator (or Representative) _____ to co-sponsor H.R. 2814/S.907, the PRIME Act and to work to get it included in the Farm Bill.  I care about a resilient local food system and hope you do as well.

The COVID-19 pandemic shone a spotlight on the severe problems with our consolidated meat industry. We need more small-scale farmers and independent processors, but the one-size-fits-all USDA regulations stand in the way.

Custom slaughterhouses represent a smarter, scale-sensitive approach to regulation. They must meet federal and state standards, but without some of the aspects that are unduly expensive and burdensome for small-scale operations. A typical custom slaughterhouse processes fewer animals in an entire year than a typical large plant does in a single day. Custom slaughterhouses have shown that scale-sensitive regulations work well – the USDA has no records of any foodborne illness traced to any custom slaughterhouse since 2012.

This would provide immediate relief for many farmers who must wait up to two years to get their animals processed at an inspected plant. And in the long-term, it creates greater opportunities for new small-scale custom slaughterhouses to open, building the infrastructure we need for a more resilient, robust food system – without spending more tax dollars.

Please support your constituents, vital consumers and small farmers by signing on to H.R. 2814/S.907 now and supporting its inclusion in the Farm Bill.

Thank you for taking action!  Just a few minutes of your time truly makes a difference as we work to change the food system to support small farmers.

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MORE INFORMATION

Last month, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust held a hearing titled: "Where is the Beef?  Regulatory Barriers to Entry and Competition in Meat Processing," which included a strong focus on the PRIME Act.  You can watch the hearing recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jky4-J-Tsc0.

The long-standing problem, which was brought to light during COVID, is the lack of accessible, small-scale meat processing facilities for independent and family-scale farmers and ranchers.

Although the meat shortages during COVID have subsided, not much has really improved for many livestock farmers and ranchers. While consumers are paying record prices at the grocery store, the profits are going to large corporations and most livestock farmers are losing money.

And what about those farmers who want to sell directly to consumers instead of the corporations?

Sadly, many of these fantastic local food sources are currently hamstrung. In order to sell meat, even at farmers markets, independent farmers must use a slaughterhouse that meets expensive USDA requirements and has an inspector on-site during processing.

Due to the lack of such facilities, small- and mid-scale farmers nationwide often have to haul their animals several hours, which increases the farmers’ expenses and consumer prices, not to mention the unnecessary stress on the animals. Additionally, the wait list to get in can be many months, or even more than a year.

The PRIME Act allows farmers to use "custom" slaughterhouses.  These facilities are already widespread, operating legally across the country and providing food for thousands of Americans.  Custom slaughterhouses are regulated and inspected, but are not referred to as “inspected facilities” because they do not have an inspector on-site during processing. But even though they have an excellent track record for safety, small farmers cannot use them to process meat to sell even at their local farmers' market.

The PRIME Act will allow small farmers to use the hundreds of existing custom slaughterhouses across the country to provide meat for their local communities.  Thank you for taking action to support it today!

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Never has our work been more important than now! More and more people are awakening to the fact that our food systems are broken. There is no better time to change the rules that favor Big Agribusiness and Big Food over small-scale, local producers.

Your support for our work TODAY can make an enormous – and long-lasting – difference!  Please consider joining or making a donation to FARFA and protect a healthy and productive food supply for everyone.

Also, you can make sure we have your correct zip code so we can provide you with alerts that are specific to your state or legislative district. And when we send out email alerts to contact your legislators, a simple click on a link in that email will show you the names and contact info for YOUR specific legislators ... all because we have your zip code. Just go to our Self-Service Portal to check your contact record.