In Vermont there is a big push to solve the problem small livestock farmers are faced with of insufficient slaughter and butchering facilities and too much dependence on dairy by the Vermont Department of Tourism. Rural Vermont has been working on this here in our state. The House has now passed the bill (H.522) so now it goes to the Senate. Here’s a bit from the Addison Independent:
The Vermont House is scheduled to take action late this week on legislation aimed at boosting the economic viability of area farms, including initiatives that would make it easier for farmers to butcher their poultry and get their products into restaurants and schools.
The House Agriculture Committee on March 16 passed the so-called “farm viability bill” — also known as the farm omnibus bill. The main goals of the bill, according to House leaders, are to foster the development of a diversified agricultural sector; maintain the state’s prominence as a major milk producer in the region; and ensure the continued stewardship of the land with respect for the environment.
“The sense was that Vermont, as a state, can’t afford to keep on supporting dairy; we just don’t have the money to make up from the shortfall in income that comes out of the federal milk pricing system,” said Bray, one of several Addison County lawmakers to speak at a legislative luncheon hosted on Monday by the Northlands Job Corps in Vergennes. “What we really want to be doing is investing in our agricultural future.”
With that in mind, the committee put together a farm viability bill that calls for:
• The state of Vermont to establish a “buy local” system for food and dairy products purchased annually by the state and state-funded entities. It also establishes an Agency of Agriculture program that would provide strategic and technical assistance to local producers and processors for creating or enlarging the facilities necessary to produce or process food for sale to the state or other expanded markets.
• Changes in poultry inspection guidelines. Farmers are currently allowed to slaughter, without inspection, fewer than 1,000 birds for sale to individuals or at farmers’ markets. The new bill would extend the right to sell to restaurants, as well. The Department of Health would promulgate rules for product labels that would include a menu disclosure requirement as well. The department would have until Nov. 1, 2007, to establish the labeling requirements. The bill would only apply to birds produced, slaughtered and consumed in the state of Vermont.
• Authority for “mobile slaughter establishments” to be used on farms or agricultural fairgrounds. [This is the part of the proposal that I am most dubious about. The large $80,000 proposed mobile slaughter units are going to be incredibly expensive to setup, have limited usefulness and be costly to run. Very small units (think small horse trailer) with a scalder and plucker that could be rented out for poultry may make sense. What we really need is more real on-farm slaughter and the capacity already exists for non-poultry in the form of many talented folk already doing game and livestock. -WJ]
“All of these things are very investment-oriented,” said Bray, who added the financing of various provisions of the farm viability measure will have to be sorted out in the fiscal year 2008 appropriations bill. He believes the appropriations bill will include enough money to fund the farm initiatives.
“The Agency of Agriculture is fully behind this,” Bray said. “This is something they have been working on for a while.”-Addison Independent
We need more opening up of government like this. We need recognition that the conditions for small farms are different than the big producers and likewise the regulations should be different. With the way things have been going for that last few decades the government has been regulating small farmers, small slaughter houses and small butchers right out of existence. That is unwise as it will put our citizenry at the whim of far away producers and processors. This means more transport miles for food and less food security. As the government makes the system more complex it becomes easier for malcontents and terrorists to disrupt the weakest links in the chain and constrict the bottlenecks choking off the supply of food to a region.
On-farm slaughter is one of the best solutions for small producers. The poultry is a start.
There will be a meeting on Monday, March 26, 2007 at the Bridport Community Hall - that’s tomorrow as I write this. If you are in Vermont and care about this issue then attend. If you care and are outside Vermont then push for similar support for diversified sustainable agriculture in your area. Let’s work to each improve our little bit of the world.