As a new livestock farmer, one of the most challenging aspects is confronting the regulatory hurdles between me producing the best product and selling it legally to people who want to buy it.
As such, 'Food
Freedom' laws interest me, and I was startled to find one
right in my backyard. As it turns out
it was kind of misleading, being passed by 'The Stevens County Assembly' which, while sounding official, is just a group of private citizens.
Humorous aside: The ordinance referenced above includes the statement "WHEREAS, We find citizens have consumed
local foods since Stevens county was created on January 20, 1863, and we survived;" -- if there are people from 1863 still around, I definitely want to eat some of their immortality-inducing local foods!
I digress: this got me thinking about you freedom-loving Northeasterners that are passing
food sovereignty ordinances. This movement seems to be adding a third option to the two most producers seem to choose between, being either 1) going fully legitimate and having meat processed in USDA facilities, incurring and passing on the costs to consumers, and arguably ending up with a lower quality product due to the stress involved in transporting animals to a licensed facility; or 2)
sell bootleg meat completely outside the official channels. It seems that the idea behind these laws it to build grassroots momentum towards more food freedom nationally, similar to the marijuana decriminalization and universal healthcare movements.
Do you folks know of any examples of these local ordinances being challenged by state/federal agents? If so, what have been the outcomes of that? What do you think of the approach?
