The House Agriculture Committee is working on the Farm Bill, and we need your help!

After over a year of waiting, the House Agriculture Committee Chair is saying that he plans to release the draft language very soon.  The Committee will then debate the bill and possible changes, in what is anticipated to be a highly partisan committee hearing.

We’ve seen a major decline in independent producers in the latest Agriculture Census, and that is directly due to government policies that support massive, consolidated operations and hamper small ones.  We can’t change all of that in this one Farm Bill, but with your help, we CAN make important strides towards changing the status quo.

Over the next two weeks, we will send you multiple alerts, asking you to call your U.S. Representative on a slate of reforms.

This first alert focuses on meat processing. Our current system, under which a few massive corporations control the vast majority of our meat supply, is bad for farmers, consumers, workers, and the environment … everyone and everything except the companies’ profits!  After failing to ensure a secure food supply through COVID-19, the companies then proceeded to gauge consumers with inflationary prices that far outstripped their increased costs – even as livestock farmers continued to get squeezed and go out of business.

Small farmers selling to their local communities provide an alternative to this unjust model.  But they can’t do it without realistic, affordable options for processing the animals … something that is not available for thousands of farmers across the country.

So we are calling on Congress to include two reforms to help small-scale farmers have more options for meat processing – and thus provide more options for consumers!

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

The second is the Livestock Owned by Communities to Advance Local (LOCAL) Foods Act.  It has not been filed yet, but we have legislators working to include it in the draft.   The LOCAL Foods Act allows individuals to buy a share of live animals and then hire someone as their agent to do the processing on-farm.  The bill also reins in USDA’s abuses of state meat inspection programs, stopping USDA from harassing the states based on the agency’s informal policies or staff opinions.

Can you help by calling your U.S. Representative today? 

You can look up your U.S. Representative contact information by clicking HERE.

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!

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As a constituent, I urge Representative _____ to support vital reforms to support small-scale livestock producers in the Farm Bill:

1. The PRIME Act, H.R. 2814, which allows small farmers to use custom-exempt slaughterhouses to process their animals and then sell meat by the cut within their state.
2. The LOCAL Foods Act of 2024, which allows consumers to buy a share of a live animal and then choose to have it slaughtered on-farm by a person of their choice.

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.

The PRIME Act uses custom slaughterhouses as the answer, which 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 at present 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.

The LOCAL Foods Act addresses those farmers operating on an even smaller scale, working with local consumers who wish to buy shares of their live animals and have them processed on-farm. This extremely small-scale, transparent approach to local meat is happening in multiple states already, but is under threat by unreasonable USDA action. The bill continues to hold the states to the federal statutory and regulatory requirements, while simultaneously stopping USDA from harassing the states based on the agency’s informal policies or staff opinions.

Please support your constituents, consumers, and small farmers by including the PRIME Act and the LOCAL Foods Act 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

These bills help local farmers and consumers at different scales. The LOCAL Foods Act helps the very smallest producers get their products to consumers who desire them, and it helps those consumers who want to buy meat in fairly large quantities at a time through animal shares, allowing them to do so without government oversight or regulation. The PRIME Act helps the next level of small farmers – those who want to sell meat by the individual cut to consumers at local farmers markets and other outlets; the Act will enable them to use licensed slaughterhouses with more scale-appropriate regulation. This sort of tiered approach is what we need to build a resilient and diversified food system!

Almost a year ago, a House hearing titled: "Where is the Beef? Regulatory Barriers to Entry and Competition in Meat Processing," provided testimony that explained the need for both these bills, from the lack of accessible small-scale slaughterhouses to USDA’s abuse of its discretion. You can watch the hearing recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jky4-J-Tsc0.

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.

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. Yet like custom slaughterhouses, most types of processing facilities are inspected in this same way. And according to a Freedom of Information Act response from the USDA, there are no records of any foodborne illnesses resulting from meat processed at custom slaughterhouses since 2012. They have an excellent track record for food safety.

You can read our fact sheet at farmandranchfreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Fact-sheet-PRIME-Act.pdf

WHAT IS THE LOCAL FOODS ACT?

Under federal law, individuals can process their own animals for meat without government regulation under the “personal exemption.” In 2018, the USDA provided guidance that stated that the exemption didn’t just cover farmers who had raised the animals, but anyone who owned the live animal at the time of slaughter. Based on that guidance, 27 states allow livestock owners to designate an agent to assist in the on-farm slaughter or transportation of their livestock, and to use that meat without state or federal inspection.

But guidance documents don’t bind the USDA! Agency officials have pressured states to stop allowing people to use itinerant slaughterers, or face the loss of federal approval of state meat-inspection programs – something that would have devastating consequences for the farmers who use state-inspected processors. And since the USDA can change the guidance document at any time, we need Congress to (1) clarify the federal law to allow people to hire agents to process their animals under the personal exemption, and (2) rein in USDA’s abusive actions.

You can read the fact sheet at our coalition partner’s website: https://nffc.net/clarify-on-farm-slaughter-factsheet/

Thank you for your support!