permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

Robert Waldrop wrote:

> Our Dept of Ag guys are having a "showdown
> meeting" soon with USDA to find out why there are
> different standards in different states, and find
> out how we can get approved to create our own
> mobile poultry processing unit.  They have said
> that if we (or somebody) build one for Oklahoma,
> they will provide a state inspector for it free of
> charge, which would make the birds processed in
> the MPU legal for sale anywhere in the state.
> That seems to be the best outcome that we can
> expect at this point, but dealing with these
> regulatory folks is excrutiatingly slow.
>
> IMHO in the beginning they had no idea what they
> were getting into when they came down on us, and I
> think the letter writing campaign that we
> organized was very successful.  I have had several
> meetings with the responsible people at the state
> Dept of Ag, and if we can get the MPU approved by
> the USDA, they seem to think they can find grant
> or loan money to finance the construction.
>  
This is good news. I hope your Ag Dept is successful in geting the USDA 
to allow MPU's for Oklahoma.
This outcome would help set a prcedence and would help other producers 
and coops  in other states do the same.

Good luck and keep us informed.

Lawrence