This article was written by Cassandra Anderson and originally published at MorphCity.com
The Utah Department of Agriculture and Food is promoting the Utah Garden Challenge in order to collect information about independent food production for the USDA.
The Utah Garden Challenge is a voluntary contest to register 10,000 gardens. The data mining project has a broad interest in any "resource" who is growing food:
Whether you grow a tomato in a pot, a row in a community garden, have backyard gardens, a CSA or working fruit and vegetable farm, we want to hear from you because you are an important resource as a food producer.
While the contest paints a proud face on independent food production, it is important to remember that registering with the government sets up a system to track, tax, permit or confiscate the registered item. Gun ownership is a good example of this scheme.
According to a pop-up window on the official website, participants' gardens will be registered with the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS):
We need to know how much food is being produced in Utah. The Census of Agriculture is done every 5 years. Every agricultural operation in Utah, regardless of size, is vital to this question. If you produce $1000 of agricultural products, you can influence economic development and decision making by filling out a NASS survey. We will only share your information with NASS by your permission. Your response to the census of agriculture is protected by law. For more information, you can go to www.agcensus.gov.
In other words, people who produce $1000 or more worth of food have an impact on the food market, and the USDA wants to know about what you are doing in your backyard.
Victory gardens in America produced up to 40% of all vegetables consumed during World War II, with over 20 millon home gardens and community plots that produced over 9 million tons of food.
The USDA is notorious for its corrupt partnerships and revolving door business relationships with big commercial agriculture.
Government Crackdowns & Food Control
Food is under attack because if you can grow your own food, have access to water and shelter, then what use do you have for a government master?
The federal government has profoundly overstepped its constitutional authority on all fronts, and there are a number of examples of the USDA's outrageous control over food that include SWAT team raids on raw milk sellers and fruit tree confiscation.
The Food Safety Modernization Act expanded the power of the FDA and its sister agency, the USDA. The law is bad for many reasons and is an overwhelming burden on small and independent farmers due to over-regulation and increase in paperwork and reporting.
Additionally, the FBI identifies people who store food as potential terrorists!
Why Is Utah A Threat?
1. A few months ago Utah voted down a Food Freedom Bill that would have made it a crime for anyone, including Utah state agents, to enforce the Food Safety Modernization Act's unconstitutional mandates. It would have made farmers who trade only inside of state lines exempt. The bill was a direct constitutional challenge to federal overreach.
2. Highland City, Utah passed a Food Freedom ordinance that exempts residents from federal regulations on food that is produced, exchanged and consumed within city limits (state laws still apply).
3. Utah has the largest concentration of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as Mormons) who have an official policy of food storage, currently set at a 1-year minimum supply. This may be construed as a threat by the FBI, especially since a 1-year supply of food can cost as little as $225.
Conclusion
Survivalist.com points out that the Utah Garden Challenge is linked to the United Nations Agenda 21 Sustainable Development plan for totalitarian control.
The Utah Garden Challenge is enticing Utahans with meager prizes (a 1-in-1000 chance of winning a giftcard or free restaurant dinner) to register their gardens and subject themselves to invasive government data mining. But is your food independence worth it?
written by sheila , July 06, 2012
the answer is as simple as
stop complying
most of what they do is by intimidation
survivingsurvivalism.com
written by Recently Cynical , July 06, 2012
to the lengths that the federal government will go, to control the population. We are fast becoming not a socialist, but a Nazi state. look at the history of pre WWII Germany and how it began with the cozy affection Hitler had with corporations. He then enacted laws making it more difficult for individuals to sustain, on their own.
Make the populace depedent on the government and you will OWN them. We have very nearly arrived.
written by Prepping Preacher , July 07, 2012
this is yet another of a now innumerable acts of the world powers to bring those of us in the U.S. under their control... Agenda 21 is UN-based, therefore the entire effort is the nwo... in a pig's eye would i become a "contestant"... freedom vs dinner for one night, let's see, what to chose....
written by edwardsson , July 07, 2012
And look where the Indians are today in relationship to the government. Never trust politicians. So many share a certain trait:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jheGzKrmLc
written by Stu_Ped , July 07, 2012
If the federal Government is clearly overreaching the rights of the Constitution given to free men by intimidating the people and raiding their places, I have a suggestion and I'm serious. Arm yourself in defense of your liberties following just laws of the land, and warn the federal Govt if they try to take away or do anything that prohibits our Just Liberties, we will exercise our 2nd Amendment rights for our freedom.
written by Bob Pelletier , July 08, 2012
Welcome to the United Soviet States of America...Hile Hitler Boys & Girls.
written by Not a Paper Patriot , August 15, 2012
Fuck the government. I refuse to be enslaved. As for the rest of you, if you have a backbone, STAND UP and resist this tyranny!
written by Graywolf , August 15, 2012
As I push people look up agenda 21 and learn what it will do to our freedoms I have been called every derogatory word you have ever heard. Please help spread the word. Recommend www.ICLEI.org and ask people to go to members, global members to see if their town has signed on to this loss of our freedoms.Education is power. Here in Texas agenda 21 helped put Ted Cruz in the race for US Senate.
