permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

Virginia Bill Would Expand Farm and Food Freedom - Reason.com
http://reason.com/archives/2014/01/11/virginia-bill-would-expand-farm-and-food
Baylen Linnekin <http://reason.com/people/baylen-linnekin/all> | January
11, 2014

A bill <http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?141+ful+HB135>introduced
by Virginia Delegate Robert
Bell <http://delegaterobbell.com/> that would dramatically
expand<http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?141+com+H1N02>the
state's Cottage Food and Right-to-Farm
laws<http://reason.com/archives/2013/02/02/food-freedom-vs-regulatory-busybodies/singlepage>is
now before the Virginia House agriculture committee.

The bill would expand the list of covered foods that can be sold from the
home or the farm and permit the direct-to-consumer sale of foods like meat
that have been viewed by regulators to be potentially hazardous.
Specifically, according to the official
summary<http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?141+sum+HB135>,
it would permit direct-to-consumer sales "by a farm operation employing 10
or fewer people or by a private home" of virtually any otherwise legal
food, including but not limited to foods made with "any fruit, grain,
herbs, honey, meat, milk, mushrooms, nuts, poultry, seafood, or
vegetables[.]"

Currently, the state's Cottage Food law (like
many<http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/foodpolicyinitiative/files/2013/08/FINAL_Cottage-Food-Laws-Report_2013.pdf>around
the country) permits only the sale of a limited
number <http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?141+ful+HB135> of
low-risk foods like dried herbs, vinegar, popcorn balls, cotton candy,
dried pasta, roasted coffee, and trail mixes.

The only additional requirement the bill mandates is that sellers label the
product "with the producer's name and address, the product's ingredients,
and a disclosure statement indicating the product is not subject to
Virginia's food safety laws or regulations."

Passage of the bill would provide a much-needed shot in the arm for
farmers, entrepreneurs, and their supporters in the state.

"I am hopeful this bill will expand consumer choice in Virginia, and make
it easier for producers to directly provide their products to potential
customers," Del. Bell told me by email.

Others agree.

"HB135 will keep more of the food dollar in the state and will be a boon
for artisan food producers restricted by the current Virginia food laws,"
says Pete Kennedy, president of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense
Fund<http://farmtoconsumer.org/>,
in an email to me.

"The passage of the Food Freedom Act  will generate a boom in the local
economy," says Bernadette Barber, who runs Virginia Food
Freedom<http://vafarmandfoodfreedom.com/>,
also by email. "People want fresh and local—this is the only way they can
get prepared foods conveniently from people they know and trust," says
Barber.

The bill also follows the
defeat<http://www.fauquier.com/news/article/farm_questions_remain_after_boneta_bill_defeat>in
the state last year of the so-called Boneta
Bill <http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?131+sum+HB1430>, which
was a major blow for Virginia's small farmers.

As I 
wrote<http://reason.com/archives/2013/02/02/food-freedom-vs-regulatory-busybodies/singlepage>last
year after the bill's introduction, the farm freedom bill was named
for Virginia farmer Martha Boneta, who was fined by Virginia regulators in
2012 for a host of alleged infractions, including hosting a birthday party
for a friend’s daughter on Boneta's farm without a permit and “advertising
a pumpkin carving.”

In response, Boneta's supporters sought unsuccessfully to expand the
definition of the state’s existing Right to Farm Law.

Now Del. Bell's bill would do that—and more.

Critics of Del. Bell's bill will no doubt point to possible food safety
issues the bill may raise.

But, as I 
told<http://www.politico.com/morningagriculture/0114/morningagriculture12640.html>
*Politico*'s daily agriculture briefing earlier this week, government
inspections don't guarantee food safety.

“Critics may moan about food safety risks, but anyone who's read Joel
Salatin's *Everything I Want To Do Is
Illegal*<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0963810952/reasonmagazineA/>knows
that the link between inspection and food safety is tenuous at best,"
I said.

Beyond the bill's mandatory labeling requirements, how's a consumer to know
what they're buying?

"You can't get a better inspection than seeing for yourself where and how
your foods are made," says Barber.

For those who prefer to eat government-inspected foods, there are certainly
plenty of options available today. Del. Bell's bill would give that same
choice to those who prefer hyperlocal foods. Its passage would be a victory
for food freedom.