This is chilling. Read literally and strictly, this legislation would criminalize neighborhood and other local level sales and transfers (barter?) of garden produce and slaughtered food animals like chickens raised in backyard coops. In other words, when TSHTF in the aftermath of the Obamassiah’s sledgehammer “tinkering” with the engine of the free market, this law will make everyone who tries to survive by going local an enemy of the state.
It just occurred to me that this proposed legislation would only effect crops and livestock that were explicitly raised and sold as “food”. It wouldn’t effect animals or plants raised for other purposes, such as wool, feathers, decorative eggs, weed control, insect control (which some breeds of poultry are QUITE good at), etc.
So, say, if you sold a dozen eggs that were specifically labeled as “not for human consumption”, along with instructions for hollowing out the egg and using the shell for artwork, then clearly you are not selling “food”. Its not your fault that your customer decided to scramble them instead.
Everyone is already an enemy of the state. That is the point of all the rules and regulations. Once that is set up, they can take their time picking folks off.
In the aftermath of SHTF, there will not be enough manpower, gasoline, ammo, or vehicles to police the entire country, not to mention that cap and trade is going to make asphalt expensive and the roads are likely to go to hell. They will, perforce, have to concentrate their security forces in the elite areas to protect the rulers and their supporters. Those folks need to eat. Eyes will wink, elbows will nudge and much will be overlooked or ignored completely. For a cut, of course.
Seems to me that the illegal drug trade and before it, Prohibition, thrived under extreme government enforcement of laws banning their product. Food being essential, people will go to great lengths to produce and procure it.
In my state, when they licensed massage, the key regulation was about charging for it. So, the unlicensed (often untrained) massage practitioners simply stated that they would accept whatever free will offering anyone cared to give. No one was ever brought up on a violation in the past 10 years. If I want to gift someone with my dried tomatoes and if, sometime later, they decided to gift me with something, who knows about it? How can that be regulated?
While we are all potential or actual enemies of the state, they have to catch us and prove it. While that could be accomplished with tribunals and withholding of income or by taxation, again, it takes an army of workers who would be just as easily corrupted as their masters. It is expensive for little return to go after the small home gardener, who is already suitably cowed, as it is. Plus, I have had occasion to deal with bureaucracy. First, a potential snitch must wend their way through the automated voice menu and then they must reach someone with authority and the requisite human corps to actually do something. After that, it is anyone’s guess if anything is done about it, since it is much easier to forge records and pretend something was done. Many laws, such as the employment of illegals, are handled in just that manner already.
I suspect these rules will be mainly enforced against the CSAs, artisan cheese makers,small condiment facilities and the farmers’ markets, at least to begin with. In my area, these are all ardent zerOids. The larger organic farms already employ illegals with impunity. They have lobbyists and many, many non-profit organizations that can be mobilized. This administration tends to float trial balloons and then back off when the screams begin. Rules get changed and important constituencies get left alone. They have denied that the military spent brass will be mutilated for scrap instead of being resold, for example, and that was not because they fear the 2nd, but, IMO, because it was pointed out to them that it was going to cost the government a lot of income.
The best thing about this regulation is that it will first bite the zerOids. They will pay to play with campaign contributions. Goal accomplished.