Not surprisingly, it's difficult to find any information that explains this in laymen's terms. As egregious as this bill is, along with the sell-out by House and Senate R's, there is a lot of conflicting and confusing information out there.
What I did find though is that there was a late amendment that exempted "...producers who sell locally [~400 mile radius], less than $500,000 a year.".
However, there is some hope, if the R's in the House don't fund the $1.4B bill. Of course that's not a permanent fix.
What I've not been able to confirm [through legitimate sources, not blogs or the like], is the seed "issue". One reader claimed to have searched the actual bill for the word "seed" and couldn't find anything in the bill that prevented the purchase, storage or use of heirloom seeds.
Are you aware of any legitimate information on the seed "issue"?
I am not aware of any seed issues in that particular act, but as another poster pointed out, the bill has not been posted online yet for us to even know what is in the final bill.
Regarding this: “’..producers who sell locally [~400 mile radius], less than $500,000 a year.’”
It is my understanding that it only applies to the growing of food, and if it is processed at all, it is no longer exempted, which I believe is more than likely given the corrupt nature of the bill.
As far as the heirloom seeds go, there are less and less of them as some companies have quit suppling certains strains because they’ve become contaminated anyway. Besides, Monsanto is patenting all seeds they can find anyway by going into community seed banks and patenting seeds they did nothing to obtain except walk in and take them. I doubt there are any provisions in the bill for heirloom seeds, but I could be wrong. Monsanto is already suing anyone and everyone they can who tries to clean seeds which they hold a patent too, even if the farmer’s crops are contaminated through no fault of their own. Despicable, but since I’ve heard that much of the SB 510 (whatever name it finally goes by), was written by Monsanto (Many government officials have worked, do work, and bounce back and forth in Monsanto and Government jobs anyway), I it’ll favor them anyway, so no need. Big ag is coming, and with a venegence, and will be hailed by the general public as our saviour from hunger in this poverty stricken and inflating times. No thanks, I say.