Will Your Backyard Garden Become Illegal?

Currently there is a great deal of controversy over family gardens in the backyard. There are those on each side of this debate that insist that the family garden is either in legal trouble that could possibly lead to the outlawing of backyard food producers or that nothing is going to happen to deprive people of the right to grow their own vegetables. At issue is a piece of legislation called H.R. 875 or the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, introduced by Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro of Connecticut in February 2009.

The alleged purpose of the bill is to create a new agency within the confines of the existing Department of Health and Human Services called the Food Safety Administration (FSA). Its sole purpose would be that of protecting the public from unsafe food handling practices, food-borne illnesses, intentional contamination, and to create a standard for food safety to cover foodstuffs that are imported from other countries. The two agencies would split the regulatory safety net with the Food Safety Administration (FSA) overseeing food safety while drugs and medical devices will be covered by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Proponents of the H.R.875 bill state there is nothing in the wording that would lead to making backyard gardens illegal. On the opposite side, it is believed that the wording is so broad that opponents to the bill insist this will also include all organic farms, small or family farms, and including backyard gardens at any location - even if it is not considered a typical farm.

Debbie Stockton, executive director of the National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association, and Tim Wightman of the Milk Direct Program both believe the H.R. 875 bill will enable the government to crack down on people who grow and produce their own food. The specific wording in the bill defines a "food production facility" as any "farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal feeding facility" with the possibility (regardless of how remote) that it could be expanded to include any place that grows food, even a backyard garden.

Lori Robertson, who has an organic vegetable garden, calls the furor over H.R. 875 "internet hysteria" and something most likely found in "a futuristic B movie". She is correct that the wording of the bill does not spell out that backyard gardens are in trouble or that growing your own food is likely to create a situation where gardening becomes illegal from a food safety standpoint, and thus eventually requiring gardens to be controlled by a government agency.

Then again, neither did anyone believe it would become illegal in some parts of the United States to hang clothes outside to dry them.