I like your reply James but have we really heard of any person actually
submitting legislation to amend the FPLA? I was under the impression that
that hasn't been proposed or even thought about in Congress yet. Hopefully
it does though.
Mike
On 9/20/07, James Frysinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> I received this reply to my previous inquiry to the USDA/FSA about their
> status of compliance with The Omnibus Act of 1988 and EO 12770:
> [quote]
> The Farm Service Agency has not received any direction or timelines to
> convert to meters. Our customers deal in acres, our systems are set up
> in acres, our legislative direction comes in acres. In addition, the
> vast majority of our customers think/work in acres, so it would be a
> "hardship" to our producers to move to this.
> [end quote]
>
> This is my response to that reply, posted moments ago:
> [quote]
> I greatly appreciate your reply on this matter, though I am distressed
> to read what you said in that reply.
>
> The soil science and agricultural research papers I have read are almost
> always written in terms of square kilometers or hectares; they write in
> terms of meters and kilograms. USDA/FSA has an important advisory and
> educational role, as well a regulatory role, in our agriculture and food
> industries. You are obviously capable of educating people about ways to
> improve yields, ways to better maintain the quality of their arable
> soils, ways to better protect our waterways, and ways to better protect
> the safety of our food supplies. Having proven yourselves capable of
> dealing with such technical topics, you certainly can be considered
> capable of educating your customers about using metric units. So
> educated by you, your customers would be more capable of understanding
> current research.
>
> Your customers' practices reflect your guidance and usage; they work in
> acres because you do. It is illogical to turn around and to use that
> reflection as justification for not changing your practices. If Congress
> is writing legislation in terms of acres you need to tell them that you
> need for it to be written in metric units. I know that Executive Branch
> agencies work closely with appropriate congregational committees to
> devise legislation and that is the venue in which you should ensure the
> legislation is properly written.
>
> The Metric Act of 1866 made the metric system legal for all business and
> all dealings before courts of law. The Mendenhall Order of 1893 changed
> the definitions of our prevalent units so that they are now defined in
> terms of metric units. The Metrication Conversion Act of 1975 embarked
> our country on metrication. The Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of
> 1988 strengthened that 1975 act and made the metric system the preferred
> system of measurement in our country. It also directed the federal
> government to metricate, which was implemented in EO 12770. The USDA is
> supposed to be making annual reports to NIST on their progress in
> metricating. It is disappointing that USDA/FSA has made less progress
> than many other agencies have.
>
> Since January 2000, 48 of the 50 states allowing metric-only labeling of
> retail goods regulated at the state level with the federal government
> about to amend the Fair Practices and Labeling Act to do the same at the
> federal level. Feed, seed, and fertilizer may all soon be labeled solely
> in kilograms.
>
> As a citizen and as one of your customers, I am asking you to do what
> Congress and the President have told you to do. I am asking you to step
> up to the plate and to metricate, while educating your customers and
> bringing them along with you. If we farmers can understand BMPs and new
> issues like the NAIS, we can certainly be trained to understand what a
> hectare is.
> [end quote]
>
> Explanatory notes:
> BMP = Best Management Practices, commonly used by USDA to describe
> preferred methods of management of fields, streams, and woodlots.
> NAIS = National Animal Identification System, a new program to uniquely
> identify individual large animals or groups of small animals; one of
> USDA's responses to the threats of Mad Cow Disease and Avian Bird Flu.
>
> Jim
>
> --
> James R. Frysinger
> 632 Stony Point Mountain Road
> Doyle, TN 38559-3030
>
> (H) 931.657.3107
> (C) 931.212.0267
>
>
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