Added costs would sink some; others argue rules protect everyone

By MITCH LIES

Capital Press

Scott Frost farms 26 acres near Albany, Ore., and sells his fruits and vegetables directly to customers at farmers' markets and under individual contracts through community supported agriculture.

If the Food and Drug Administration were to require him to upgrade his facilities and change his practices to meet new food safety standards, Frost fears the added expense could run him out of business.

"I'm scared to death this will be the final nail in my family farm's coffin," Frost said. "Not just from the standpoint of whether I can afford another license, I'm worried that one-size-fits-all is going to wipe me off the map."

Frost, like many small farmers across the U.S., is on full alert as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration prepares to write new food safety rules.

Putting small farms under the same microscope as big farms, he said, could be a death knell for thousands of small farms that in recent years have flourished under the "buy local" movement.

Big farms, he said, can absorb added costs associated with meeting new food safety standards. Small farms cannot.

And, he said, smaller farms should not be regulated under the same criteria as big farms.

"I've never heard anyone say I got sick from eating fresh, locally grown produce," Frost said.

Anthony Boutard, who has about 80 acres under cultivation and sells at Portland area farmers' markets, said it would be irresponsible and senseless for the FDA to slap the same restrictions on small farms as on large farms that move food across the country.

Small farmers already have the ultimate traceability system, he said. They see their customers weekly.

The concerns of Frost and Boutard are in stark contrast to concerns of larger farmers, who have said they believe small farms should be closely regulated.

"I'm very concerned about the impact a 500 pound blueberry grower may have on a 5 million pound blueberry grower," said St. Paul, Ore., blueberry grower Doug Krahmer.

"Food-borne pathogens do not discriminate based on the size of the farm and the size of the processor," he said.

Ed Schneider, a potato grower from Pasco, Wash., agreed with Krahmer.

"There is no justification for patchwork regulations that exempt small producers from food safety rules," he said.