Farmer Freedom

 

In New York, farmers are being crushed by heavy regulations the state and federal government have placed on food and other agricultural products. While some of these regulations can be circumvented via farmers markets, these markets are also regulated and restricted in their own ways. One example is a document New York uses to guide the regulation of apples, which is more than twenty pages long.

Larry’s proposal, aptly titled Farmer Freedom will exempt nearly every federal and state agricultural food law for farm-to-table or business.This means that these farm products may not leave the state and must also be labeled as not being in compliance with state or federal guidelines. A version of this program is already in use in Wyoming and has seen great success. Some of the remaining regulations to be addressed include those applicable to meat products. If a retail or food business would like to sell locally grown agriculture for consumption they can do so as long as these products are separated and clearly labeled. It is important to note that in instances of foodborne illness, any entity or person that has allowed contamination will be held liable.

Larry envisions many small farmers taking advantage of this reduction in regulations and benefiting greatly by keeping the retail of their products in-house and operating more like a craft business For example, a dairy farm could make its own yogurt and sell it in local stores or perhaps hemp growers might manufacture their own hempcrete to facilitate local construction. This policy will allow farmers to be treated more like small businesses with their only major restriction being placed on selling their locally unregulated products out of state.