After 117 Years Farmer Calls It Quits – Stupid FDA Regulations!!!

Posted by Tina

I know a lot of people around here are in the farming business so when I read about Bessemer Farms shutting down a portion of its business it made me angry…and then of course sad. Bessemer Farms of Akron, Ohio has been in Business for 117 years. In that time they have grown a lot of corn, shipped it all over the world, and fed a lot of hungry people. They have also grown vegetables for the local markets…this is the part of their business that is under federal attack.

The FDA will soon implement new regulations that trace every vegetable from seed to market in order to “pinpoint where contamination occurs.” The regulations create new methods and inspections that spell out a daunting, expensive task for growers. It means Bessemer Farms will no longer supply local markets or sell from their road side market. Mr. Bessemer has called it quits and planted his vegetable fields in soybeans, a commodity that isn’t affected by the new rules. Unfortunately he also had to let all of his workers go:

“We don’t want to quit, we were forced out of the business. We can’t spend enough money to comply,” he said. “We’ve been farming for 117 years. I’m the third generation and we’re being put out of business by the government. We can’t comply with all of the safety laws. We haven’t poisoned anybody with an ear of corn for 117 years and we’ve shipped it all over,” he said.

“I can fight the bugs, I can fight the lack of rain, but when the guy comes with a clipboard what are you going to do?” Bessemer said.

While I applaud efforts to keep food safe for consumption I doubt very seriously that new regulations beyond what we already have in place will make enough difference to justify the nightmare and cost of these new regulations. As for Mr. Bessemer, at aged seventy he says just isn’t up to making the changes that will be required of him. It occurs to me that farms that sell organic produce may have a big shock coming their way…organic vegetables are already expensive…this could really hurt their bottom line.

This is just flat out ridiculous! The federal government shouldn’t be trying to micromanage every little thing that goes on in every business. The government has proven itself to be the most wasteful, corrupt, mismanaged operation in the country and they imagine they have the smarts to inform farmers (And other business) how best to deliver a quality product safely to market? How dare they!

It’s time to rid ourselves of these bureaucratic elitist in Washington…bunch of rats, sneaking around the granaries, eating up all the profits and destroying a lot of jobs with useless, silly, expensive busywork. The only “difference” these bureaucrats are making is the total destruction of a once great nation.

Shame on them…and enough already!