Wine Country CrossFit

OOOH. The “P” word. Don’t worry, I’m not going to make a stand for a political candidate. From Wikipedia: “Politics (from Greek: politikos, definition “of, for, or relating to citizens”) is the practice and theory of influencing other people. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance — organized control over a human community, particularly a state. Furthermore, politics is the study or practice of the distribution of power and resources within a given community (a usually hierarchically organized population) as well as the interrelationship(s) between communities.”

I am going to exercise my political will on you and as today is Friday, our political conversation is going to be about Food. Specifically, access to food. I received this email the other day from the Weston A. Price Foundation and I want to share it with you in its entirety.  It is vitally relevant to your health and well-being and I’m going to make it even easier for you by providing direct links to our representative in Congress (Mike Thompson-D):

Tell Congress to support local meat production

We have an exciting opportunity to expand access to locally produced meat for consumers around the country!  U.S. Representatives Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Chellie Pingree (D-ME) have introduced legislation to make it easier for small farms and ranches to sell locally raised and processed meat to consumers.

H.R. 3187, the Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption (PRIME) Act, would give individual states the freedom to permit intra-state distribution of custom-slaughtered meat to individual consumers and to restaurants, hotels, and grocery stores that directly serve consumers.  Custom-processed beef, pork, lamb, and goat are covered under the bill.

Under current federal law, farmers often have to haul their animals several hours away to reach a slaughterhouse that has an inspector on-site, even if they’re selling the meat directly to consumers at a local farmers market or similar venue.  This increases expenses for the farmer, raises prices for consumers, creates stress on the animals, and undermines the concept of local food.

The farmer might have a “custom” slaughterhouse much closer – but, under the federal regulations, the meat from a custom facility can only go to the individual or individuals who owned the animal at the time the slaughter took place.  This means that the customer(s) must buy the whole animal while it is still alive; for many farmers and consumers, this is not viable.

The PRIME Act would allow meat from custom slaughterhouses to be sold to consumers, subject to state law; each state would be able to set the requirements and limitations it thought appropriate.  While this is a major step forward for the local food movement, it’s not unprecedented by any means:  until 1967, states were able to set their own regulations for meat processing.  The consolidation of regulatory power at the federal level, combined with the consolidation of the livestock industry in the hands of a few massive corporate meatpackers, has led to the loss of thousands of small and medium-scale slaughterhouses since 1967.

Demand for locally produced beef outstrips production in the U.S., in part because of the lack of access to inspected slaughterhouses.  The PRIME Act is the first step to rebuilding local processing infrastructure, which can revive rural economies and enable communities to become more self-sufficient in meat production.

Will you help move this important bill forward?  Please contact your U.S. Representative and urge him or her to co-sponsor the PRIME Act!  More details are below.

We owe a big thank you to Representatives Massie and Pingree for filing this important bill.  As of July 31, they have been joined by the following co-sponsors: Representatives Walter Jones (R-NC), Jared Polis (D-CO), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Justin Amash (R-MI), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), and John Garamendi (D-CA).

TAKE ACTION:

Call or email your U.S. Representative, Mike Thompson, and urge him or her to co-sponsor H.R. 3187, the PRIME Act.

You can make your opinion heard by going to Mike Thompson’s web page or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

Click on “Email Mike” and cut and paste the message below, or one you feel comfortable using:

As a constituent, I urge Representative Thompson to co-sponsor H.R. 3187, the PRIME Act.  This important bill will make it easier for small farms and ranches to succeed financially and provide consumers with greater access to locally raised meats.  The bill simply removes the federal ban on the sale of meat from custom slaughterhouses directly to consumers and venues serving consumers within a state, subject to state law.  This returns power to the states to establish a regulatory scheme that makes sense for their citizens.

The PRIME Act is the first step to rebuilding local processing infrastructure, which can revive rural economies and enable communities to become more self-sufficient in meat production.

Please support our local farmers and consumer choice by co-sponsoring H.R. 3187.

Name

City, State

=============================

Friday’s WOD

Snatch work

Abs of Steel:

Tabata Sit Ups
The goal here is SPEED. Practice going FAST so that when we retest our Ab benchmark you can improve your score

then

EMOM 12

Even: 200m Shuttle Run
Odd: 4 Strict Pull Ups