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CAFF Urges Senator Feinstein to Rescind Proposed Farm Bill Amendment to Regulate Leafy Greens

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Industry-Driven Food Safety Approach Threatens Local Food Movement

Davis, Calif. (November 13, 2007)—The Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) today
urged Senator Dianne Feinstein to rescind her recently proposed Leafy Greens Amendment (No.
3505) to the 2007 Farm Bill. Feinstein’s amendment, introduced on November 6, would make it
possible to regulate all leafy green vegetable production in the United States, and could
negatively impact thousands of traditional leafy green farmers, effectively eliminating access to
local leafy greens nationwide.

Feinstein introduced this amendment without consulting family and organic farmers who are the
pioneers in the local food movement, according to CAFF, a California organization that includes
thousands of organic and sustainable farms statewide, as well as consumers supporting local and
sustainable agriculture. Instead, the amendment was vetted solely with the Western Growers
Association, which helped to create the recently-developed and industry-sponsored California
Leafy Green Marketing Agreement (LGMA) guidelines. The LGMA was crafted in reaction to the
tragic 2006 bagged salad E. coli 0157:H7 outbreaks, which resulted in more than 200 illnesses
and three deaths.

“The LGMA is not appropriate for traditional leafy green farmers in California and similar federal
regulations would devastate the local farm economy, not only of this state, but nationwide,” said
CAFF Board President Judith Redmond. “CAFF recommends that alternative rules for practical
and environmentally-sound food safety be developed for all farms, including those that grow
traditional leafy greens. Feinstein’s amendment is an inappropriate approach to solving a
processed-industry problem.”

CAFF believes that the pre-cut salad processing industry (which industry calls “fresh cut”) has
unique food safety risks that need to be addressed. However, Feinstein’s proposed marketing
order approach allows the industry to dictate the scope and rules to every farmer in the country,
including producers of traditional whole leafy green vegetables who have not been shown to have
a food safety problem.

The experience of the LGMA in California this year has demonstrated the problems with
Feinstein’s approach:

• No distinction is made between fresh-cut produce and traditional whole greens. Data
provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and compiled by CAFF, shows that
since 1999, 98.5 percent of E. coli 0157:H7 illnesses from leafy greens in California have
been traced to “fresh-cut” (processed, bagged) salad.

• The LGMA is controlled by the largest grower-shippers and processors. Small distributors
and farmers have no representation.

• The rules created for the large farms of the fresh-cut processing industry are deemed
appropriate for all producers of leafy greens, even though they would not be feasible for
small farmers or most organic growers.

"A national marketing order is not the way to regulate food safety. If this approach is extended to
other crops, it will become nearly impossible for small farmers to comply with the impractical
regulations being proposed,” said Kira Pascoe, CAFF Family Farm Food Safety Coordinator.
The industry has used the LGMA rules as a precedent to strike against the heart of biological
agriculture, calling for sterile zones on farms, fences to keep wildlife out, cancellation of
conservation projects and removal of grassed waterways. The Resource Conservation District of
Monterey County’s A Growers Survey documents that 89 percent of the growers who responded
to the survey indicated that they have adopted at least one measure to actively discourage or
eliminate wildlife from cropped areas.

“In addition to threatening farmers nationwide, most of the rules that require degrading the
environment for safe food are not scientifically proven,” Pascoe added. “The choice should not be
between food safety and the environment, especially when research shows that practices like
wetlands and microbial diversity in soil may actually reduce pathogens.”

The USDA is currently accepting public comment on whether it should enact or invoke a federal
Marketing Agreement. The public comment period closes on December 3.

"We buy from over 340 farmers and growers and have hundreds of customers, most of whom are
located in California" said Bu Nygrens, co-owner of Veritable Vegetable, America’s oldest
distributor of organic produce, and one of many produce handlers who oppose the LGMA and
Feinstein’s amendment. "If made mandatory, the LGMA and Feinstein's amendment would have
the practical effect of making it impossible for small and medium sized growers to reach
independent retail markets.”

CAFF maintains that if a compulsory approach is necessary, it should be confined to the pre-cut
salad processing industry and its suppliers. CAFF and the farmers it represents acknowledge that
all farms face potential food safety problems. It is working with local produce distributors, the
University of California, and other government agencies to create a more rational, less costly
approach to food safety that diversified farmers growing for the traditional market could
implement.

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Community Alliance with Family Farmers is a statewide non-profit whose membership includes family farmers and urban residents, working to build a movement of rural and urban people to foster family-scale agriculture that cares for the land, sustains local economies and promotes social justice. Growers Collaborative LLC, is wholly owned by CAFF, and part of CAFF’s Community Food Systems program.