sal wrote:
>
> At 10:50 PM 11/11/97 -0500, Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> > Support your local organic market farmer, buy products bearing the
> > BuyGreen and Sustainably Grown (natural, ecological & biointensive)
> labels
> > http://sunSITE.unc.edu/InterGarden london@sunSITE.unc.edu
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >
> >---------- Forwarded message ----------
> >
> >Diane,
> > In your list of accomplishments you must have neglected to tell us
> you
> >were also a "master carpenter" because you hit ever nail
> >directly on the head.
>
> yeah sure but you did not hit a nail on the head you hit me right on
> the head. you want to take my money but not hear my views how concise
> can I be. Ok I will try again to be concise .
Sal I don't want to take your money. Our local CCOF chapter wanted a
staff person to keep track of the chapter farm files because the person
that was doing it at the time had everything in the trunk of his car and
the CHAPTER MEMBERS -- FELLOW FARMERS, didn't want this, they wanted
someone to keep track of this stuff. THEY WANTED TO HIRE A SECRETARY.
They hired me. THEIR -- THE LOCAL FARMERS -- CHOICE. So why are you
shooting at me for this??
>
> you think I am redundant I think paying all these folks every year,
> year after year after year after year after year after year after year
> after year after year etc. is redundant and down right thiefery. the
> only thing they are building is a nest egg from my sweat.
I agree that small farms such as yours shouldn't be inspected year after
year after year, etc etc ad nauseum. Everytime I sit down with one of
these reports I think about how many trees were cut down to generate the
damn forms and just how unsustainable this is. I am not on the CCOF board
of directors, I do not know what the solution is to this, but I do see
that for small operations it is a capital waste of time, energy and
materials to go over this same stuff year after year. Do you have any
ideas of how to change this? I think part of the problem is our whole
society and the huge distrust that permeates EVERYTHING. I mean,
everytime I go to the post office and write a check for stamps, the clerk
has to write down my drivers license number. I've been going to that post
office for 11 years. They all know me. The "powers that be" have their
rules that must be obeyed. Again a waste of time, and it all comes back
to distrust. I don't know what the answer is. I'm not "organic elite" -
I'm a worker bee, that was hired to do a job that the farmers said they
wanted.
>
> >
> >
> >Diane Cooner wrote:
> >>
> >> So how do I fit into the loop? I have served as certification
> coordinator
> >> for the North Coast CCOF chapter for 5 1/2 years. I have been CCOF
> and
> >> IOIA inspector-trained, have been in the field accompanying
> inspectors,
> >> and have edited and published the IOIA newsletter, The Inspectors'
> >> Report, since 1994.
>
> Yes Diane you are right in the loop. one of the organic elite making a
> living off the organic movement . My hat is off to you and thank you
> for adding the weight of even another layer of bureaucrats that I have
> to pay off. I would think with 5 1/2 years if inspections and being
> the certification coordinator that if I paid you to see that I am
> organic that would be enough but nooooo I have to pay the state for
> the same dam thing. Maybe you can tell me how many pencil pushers do I
> have to pay off to testify to my honesty year after year.
I see that you and others like you are the same, year after year. What am
I supposed to do about it?
We have an INSPECTOR that just recommended to the CCOF board that we stop
doing "2 inspections before certification" for small operations that
don't need it. Imagine that. An inspector recommending that we drop the
number of inspections done on a small operation because it's not
necessary. A waste of time, energy, money for the farmer. Unneeded. From
an inspector. Wow. Maybe your blanket statements aren't as informed as
they could be. Maybe you should change your CCOF chapter affiliation to
ours, where you might actually find some other people - farmers AND
inspectors -- who agree with you.
> sure the inspectors and the certifiers the state and the Fed.
> government love forcing all the organic growers that grow organic to
> pay them moneys. that is easy to see. they are making the money and I
> am being forced to spend that money .
The certifiers and the government might love to, but your perception
about how the inspectors can't wait to jam the farmers is WRONG. AT LEAST
IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD, the inspectors look forward to seeing farmers, check
out operations, help them comply with standards. I don't know how you
figure that an inspector is getting rich or even making a living off of
doing inspections. I really don't. They may be making money to compensate
their time doing the inspection, but doing 10-15 inspections a year - at
a total of maybe $3,000 to $4,000 -- is hardly even a supportive wage for
a part timer. It sounds more like organic farmer wages. Maybe even less.
And while we're on the subject of being forced to do things, what about
income tax? I hate paying that, and the government forces me to. To
subsidize wars in other countries, and police to monitor me and my
home. And social security tax, which I WILL NEVER SEE. I feel that I am
being robbed too. What about the tax I have to pay on my property for
schools (I have no kids, none in school, yet I have to pay for the local
schools), and the one that REALLY makes me mad is the WATER subsidies -
both to have water pumped in and to dispose of wastewater. I have to pay
taxes on those two things, yet I live in the mountains, have a private
spring I draw from, and my sewage goes into a septic tank and leach
field. So I have to PAY for services that I NEVER USE. That's not exactly
my idea of fair, yet it's been part of my life for 11 years that I've
lived here. Jumping up and down and screaming about it has only given me
a headache. The county assessor doesn't care.
> Ok here is what happen to me one year. you all know I have to pay CCOF
> $125 and I have to pay .05 of the crops I sell and pay the local
> chapter and I also have to pay the state of Ca. for the same dam thing
> I pay CCOF for but this one year I get this inspector I will not
> mention his name as he is a human being too even though I feel he is a
> liar and a thif. He is not even a organic grower but farms using
> chemicals (just so you know where his heart is) and just wants to make
> extra money bleeding the organic growers. he comes down from I don't
> no where and inspected my place and my books and tell me he is not
> going to charge me much so I should just take my time with him and I
> do . So later I get this bill from him where he charges me like $30 an
> hour and gas and pay for driving down and motel room and food and the
> time it took him to read my history and make his report etc. and to
> make a long story short this thief sends me a bill for about $240 just
> for the dam inspection and to tell me I am still organic which I
> already knew. D A this was before you inspectors got your raise where
> now you all get like 3/4 pay just for diving that is like 22.50 every
> hr. just for driving you air condition car down to see me. so I had to
> pay that year $125+$240+.05 of crop sold plus I had to pay the state
> of Ca. for the same thing I paid CCOF for. I feel this bottom feeders
> only job was try and bust me for not being organic and get another
> feather in his cap and bleed me for my hard earned money. Now I know I
> am organic and unless the state or Feds gov spray me with some
> bullshit emergency spray program I will be organic and I should not
> have to pay all these bloodsuckers that much money to verify I am
> telling the truth. there is so many people making a living off my farm
> and their price keeps going up (electric double what it use to be and
> water 10 times higher then when I got my place. and property tax
> always going up every year and ,certifier,inspcetors,state and feds
> all asking what the market will bear. ) that it is getting to be bull
> shit even though they are all good people and professional and all are
> doing what they feel is right . I grow trees and the trees have been
> organic and growing for over 10 to 18 years most of them, I am not
> going to use poison after all these years and over 10 years of
> inspections. I lost 80% of the avos one year to thrips {I never
> sprayed then} where were all these partners then and one year we had a
> freeze and I lost all my crops for the whole year and trees died it
> was sad and I still paid my certifier and the state. had to fish to
> eat that year and I this year am loosing about 50% of my crop to
> mealybug but I am still organic but poor . Sure the inspectors and the
> certifiers and the state and the fed. gov. want this bullshit law that
> will force every organic farmer that is lucky enough to sell over
> $5000 to pay them what ever they ask. sure they are making money. they
> are bleeding the turnips.! You say don't get angry Sal do something .
> I will tell you I have enough to do to keep my head above water . I
> don't need this extra added wight. If you all are going to put more
> paper work and take my money you can dam sure take my complaining.
> Bull shit Bull shit Bull shit. (an old farmers expression) and the
> farmer hauled another load away and from the smell you can tell it was
> not hay. this stinks A sheepard should feed the sheep not fleece them.
> Be ware of the wolf in sheep clothing . Looking like one of the sheep
> but is the wolf and is planing to eat them and their babys. Follow the
> money to catch the thief! it is easy. the fox is running the hen house
> and the organic grower is so busy making a living that he never even
> notice as the chickens one by one are being pick off. the small
> chickens first . They have taken a grass roots dream and turned it
> into a bureaucratic nightmare and I will keep repeating my self as
> long as this wickness goes on. You are tired of me and I am also tried
> of you . The organic grower is guilty and has to spend his money every
> year,year after year to prove he is inocent. I don't care how they
> word it this is the fact. I am organic this year the same as last year
> I have not change one dot,only now even more people want to extort
> money from me. Now I know what the slaves felt like working for the
> Master. Yes Master how high should I jump Master. sure I will give you
> a % of every thing I sell . sure I will pay extra for growing organic
> to the certifier , the state,the inspector,and the Fed. government .
> Yes Master any thing you say Master. the shackles are gone but we are
> still slaves and are not yet free. Express yourself " Let the wickness
> of the wicked come to an end establish the Just " Sorry I have a
> Master already and can only serve one. It is not all these folks that
> I have to pay to be organic that makes me organic it is how I grow my
> crops and the help of God that makes me organic . It is a higher power
> than me that makes my trees grow organic and they do not know that
> power and think it is them that make me organic . what a joke. they
> are just added weight doing nothing for me but stealing my money and
> taking my time and land away. They can fool some of the people some of
> the time but they cannot fool all the people all the time. You are in
> the loop all right the loop that bleeds the turnips. Big brother and
> all the little brothers talking their jive talk. you watch one page of
> this law will be about growing organic the whole rest of this law is
> jive talk to make you know they are the Masters and you must bow down
> . I will pay and do pay. I give them their pound of flesh because I
> try to follow both mens law and Gods law . even though this is a
> Unjust law and a burden on the righteous organic grower. I feel if
> organic growers have to make records available to the public all
> growers of food should do the same after all it is not just organic
> customers that need protection but all buyers. if the organic grower
> can do it all farmers should do it. Audit and make public every
> farmers ways and not pick only on organic farmers and that would be
> real protection. why half step. we see it can be done and now is the
> time to make all growers do it. I want to be able to see if the milk I
> drink comes from a cow that is being shoot up with genetically
> engineered growth hormones and feed animals instead of grasses for
> food . If organic growers can tell the people how they raise their
> cows then all farmers should tell how they raise food. what is Good
> for the goose is good for the gander. every one should be able to find
> out how what they eat is raised not just those that eat organic. lets
> do this right and not discriminate against organic growers. every one
> has the right to know how their food is raised lets get the
> information out there. lets start with the USDA label the gene alter
> food and animals as all people have a right to know. let all farmer
> make that information on how they grow food public domain. Why not ?
> If the information is so dam important then make all farmer do what
> they want the organic grower to do. all food is important not just
> organic food.
Wow! So you had a bad inspection experience. You got a big bill and
you hate it. I just had a bearing go out in the front of my truck,
and it cost me $200 that I didn't have. I hated that too.
Can't you ask for a closer inspector? Are you powerless? What about
proposing to CCOF that small farmers not have to get inspected but once
in 3 years unless things have radically changed at the farm? Ever thought
of writing and making an official proposal? Ever think that maybe other
small farmers agree with you and would back up your proposal? Did you
know that CCOF IS a democratically-based organization? That nothing
happens unless you go to their official forum and speak up?
I agree that all farmers should have to make info available. They should
all get inspected. The ones that use chemicals should be fined more. No
problem with that argument. Where did you assume that I thought only
organic should have to pay? How do you figure that I don't think that all
the corporate chemical companies and people in them are destroying the
planet? That they should be paying much much more for their destruction?
That organic should not have to prove anything?
Come on, Sal. I keep telling you I'm on your side, and you keep calling
me a blood sucker. I'm not a blood sucker. I'm a worker bee. I do what I
can to help. These people asked ME to work for THEM. If you don't want
the "ME" level, then go to CCOF and ask to eliminate it. Or go to the
state and ask them to eliminate their level. I agree that it's more and
more levels of bureaucracy. And I agree that getting tapped at 5
different levels is not okay. What's your proposal? Just ranting about it
is getting old and going nowhere except to reinforce what everyone
already knows - that you don't like the system as it is. So do something.
Suggest something. Structure something. Go to another certifier.
Competely drop out of the system. Start a csa and say to hell with
certification. Move out of the US.
Do you go out and farm in the daytime when you're angry? What is this
doing to your crops? Think about it.
diane
> To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with "unsubscribe
> sanet-mg". To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with
> the command "subscribe sanet-mg-digest".
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with "unsubscribe sanet-mg".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".