A third of the panel had long-standing A&T Extension connections

Representatives from USDA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were in Raleigh Sept. 27 to hear from a panel of farmers about their concerns for possible economic fallout from legislation. before the Senate that has already received Congressional approval. The legislation will increase food safety inspections, and regulations facing growers as well as food processors and packing operations. The Raleigh listening session was one of several that the FDA organized across the county to gather reactions from individuals whose livelihoods are likely to be affected by passage of the Food Safety Enhancement Act. The names of two of the six farmers invited to Raleigh will ring many bells at A&T. The same Philip Barker whose on-farm biofuel project was the subject of a feature story in the 2009 issue of RE:search, the Agricultural Research Program’s annual magazine,  is quoted in the Sept. 27 Raleigh News & Observer as a spokesman for many small-scale farmers worried about the added expenses of tracking systems for farm commodities, and new restrictions on the proximities of livestock and produce operations. Jackie Rogers and John L. Council comprise another farm family whose participation in the listening session resulted in a quote in the News & Observer story. They’re also members of the farm family team that set Hoke County’s John L. Council Farms in order for the 2009 Gilmer L. and Clara Y. Dudley Small Farmer of the Year Award, presented by The Cooperative Extension Program at A&T last March.