Texas Senate Approves Cottage Foods, Farmers Market, and DSHS Better Communications Bills Significant Growth in Support for Local Food Movement at Capitol Yesterday, the Texas Senate voted to pass HB 970, the Cottage Foods Bill sponsored by Senator Robert Deuell (R-Greenville); HB 1382, the Farmers Market Bill (also sponsored by Senator Deuell); and HB 1392, the DSHS Better Communications Act sponsored Senator Jane Nelson (R-Grapevine). All three bills will now go to the Governor for signing.

HB 970 expands on last session's cottage foods law, allowing cottage food producers to make low-risk foods – such as baked goods, jams and jellies, dried herbs, dried fruits and vegetables, granolas, dry mixes, pickles, and coffee/tea mixes – and sell at places such as farmers markets and community events, as well as from home.

“Patrons at farmers markets will soon be able to take advantage of a much wider selection of locally produced foods. It’s all part of preserving our local foods and local culture, while keeping our money in our local economy,” said Kelley Masters, owner of Home Sweet Home Bakery and founder of the grassroots cottage foods movement Texas Baker’s Bill.

HB 1382, known as the “Farmers Market” Bill, establishes clear, reasonable standards for sampling at farmers’ markets and farm stands, replacing the current overly burdensome and confusing regulations. The bill also clarifies the requirements for cooking demonstrations and exempts educational demonstrations from permit fees.

“How wonderful for a farmer to be able to slice a black Spanish radish or a kohlrabi for a shopper to taste just as they do at farmers' markets across the country. This education is so important in our mission to encourage families to eat more fruits and vegetables while increasing farmers' revenues,” said Carla Jenkins, manager of the Cedar Park and Mueller Farmers' Markets.

The DSHS Better Communications Act, HB 1392, directs the DSHS to respond within 30 days to inquiries about how the law applies to a farmer’s or food producer’s specific circumstances, so they can comply in good faith. Farmers and small-scale food producers have faced serious problems in the past because of the inability to determine what is actually required under the regulations.

“DSHS often gives our direct-to-consumer businesses multiple answers to the question of what types of permits we need or, if questioned as to why we fit into specific categories of permits, simply won't give an answer at all. Family ranches that are providing safe and healthy meats to consumers want to be in compliance – we just need clear direction, and this bill would make that a reality,” said Amy Greer, owner and operator of Winters Family Beef.

Both the cottage foods and farmers’ market bills have been supported by the Farm-to-Table Caucus, founded in the spring of 2012 by Representative Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin) and Representative Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham), to educate members of the Texas House of Representatives on issues relating to the growing, harvesting and consumption of Texas foods.

The 83rd Texas Legislature marks significant progress in support for the local food movement at the Capitol. In 2011, only three local foods bills were even filed, and only one passed; this session, nine bills were filed and three of them passed. In a session remarkable for the number of bills that died without being voted on, this success rate reflects the legislators’ awareness of their constituents’ support for local foods.

For more information visit www.farmandranchfreedom.org/texas-local-food-bills-2013

The Texas Legislature is considering a bill to authorize the Texas Animal Health Commission to adopt federal Animal ID regulations, one of which would require every chicken to have a permanent leg band with a unique ID number when it is sold or moved to a new location. While commercial hatcheries and large confinement operations would be exempt, the requirement would impact both small farmers and people with backyard chickens.

The bill also gives the agency a blank check to adopt other federal regulations governing animal ID for all kinds of livestock animals, including goats, sheep, pigs, cattle, and horses. The federal regulations govern the movement of animals between states, which is not a frequent occurrence for small farmers. But imposing those same regulations on every movement within the state could cause significant problems for small farmers.

No one knows what federal rules may be adopted next year or 5 years from now, which means that the Texas Legislature is buying into the federal regulations without even knowing what they will be!

Tagging animals, without having any connection to disease control measures, is unnecessary and time-consuming. This creates a significant burden for small farmers, ultimately making it more difficult for them to remain viable sources of local food for the community.

TAKE ACTION

1. Call your Texas State Senator ASAP! SB 1233 is set for a vote this Thursday, April 25, so time is short!

You can find out who represents you at www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 512-463-4630. The switchboard can connect you to your Senator’s office, and the call takes just a couple of minutes.

Message:
“Hi, my name is _____ and I am a constituent. I urge Senator ______ to vote against SB 1233, the Animal ID bill. While the bill sounds like it limits the Texas Animal Health Commission’s authority, it actually does the opposite – it is giving the agency renewed authority to adopt Animal ID rules. This is bad for backyard poultry owners and small farmers, and it’s ultimately bad for the community they provide food for. The state’s animal ID programs should be tied to actual disease control measures, not simply tagging animals for the sake of tagging. I urge you to oppose SB 1233 and HB 2311.”

2. Call your Texas State Representative. If we can’t stop it in the Senate, we need to stop it in the House. Again, you can find out who represents you at www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 512-463-4630, which can connect you directly to your Representative’s office.

Message:
“Hi, my name is _____ and I am a constituent. I urge Representtaive ______ to vote against HB 2311 / SB 1233, the Animal ID bill. While the bills sound like they limit the Texas Animal Health Commission’s authority, they actually do the opposite – they are giving the agency renewed authority to adopt Animal ID rules. This is bad for backyard poultry owners and small farmers, and it’s ultimately bad for the community they provide food for. The state’s animal ID programs should be tied to actual disease control measures, not simply tagging animals for the sake of tagging. I urge you to oppose HB 2311 and SB 1233.”

3. Call all of the members of the House Calendars Committee (if you live in Austin, we encourage you to visit): their office numbers along with maps are listed here. They are responsible for scheduling bills for a vote on the House floor and can prevent the bill from ever coming to a vote in the House of Representatives.

If you are in one of their districts, please ALSO ask your friends and family in the area to call. Calls from constituents have the greatest impact! (note that the zip codes are often “split” among multiple districts).

MORE INFORMATION

Requiring animals to be tagged, with no connection to any testing or other disease control measure, is not the answer for animal health or food safety.

The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) already has extensive powers to address animal diseases and to include animal ID as part of those programs. This bill, however, gives the agency authority to require animal identification solely for the sake of identification, unrelated to any real animal disease control measure.

Back in 2005, the Texas Legislature adopted a law that allowed the TAHC to impose mandatory National Animal Identification System (NAIS). NAIS would have required that anyone who owned even a single livestock or poultry animal register their property, individually ID each animal (in most cases with electronic ID such as microchips or RFID), and report their movements to the government.

The TAHC rushed forward with the first stage of NAIS, ignoring protests from hundreds of small farmers and animal owners. It was only when legislators stepped back in to stop the agency that they slowed down.

The outcry against NAIS was so great all over the country that the U.S. Department of Agriculture withdrew the program in 2009. When NAIS died, so did the agency’s legal authority to impose animal identification requirements unrelated to disease control programs.

The mandatory NAIS statute in Texas is defunct. At this moment, the TAHC can only legally require identification when it is connected to a disease control program.

HB 2311 and SB 1233 breathe new life into the statute, however, and gives the TAHC authority to require tagging by itself, with no connection to any disease control measure.

The original intent behind the bills was to address the fact that TAHC has been overstepping its bounds, most recently by issuing a mandatory cattle ID rule that requires cattle – even those going direct to slaughter – to be ear tagged. But the bills have been amended to undermine that original intent, and they now grandfather in the agency’s illegal regulation!

The same Agribusiness groups that supported mandatory NAIS are supporting this new bill. They want to give the state agency – which has a track record of ignoring the interests of small farmers – authority to mandate federal regulations on every farmer and animal owner within our state.

We need both farmers and consumers who care about small and diversified livestock farms – which are healthy sources of local food – to speak up!

Please call your Texas State Representative and Senator to urge them to vote NO on HB 2311 and SB 1233, the Animal ID bills. You can find out who represents you at www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 512-463-4630.

MYTHS AND TRUTHS

The proponents of the Animal ID bill are fighting back with lies and half-truths. Beloware some of the inaccurate statements made by the Animal ID proponents. Be armed with the truth when you call!

CLAIM 1: The bill limits the agency’s authority.
TRUTH: Right now, the Texas Animal Health Commission has no authority to adopt mandatory animal ID requirements. It lost that authority in 2009, when the USDA withdrew the plans for the National Animal Identification System. This bill gives the agency new authority to impose more regulations on small farmers and animal owners.

CLAIM 2: We’re protected by the language that the state requirements can be “no more stringent” than the federal.
TRUTH: If the agency uses the authority given by this bill and applies the federal standards on an in-state basis, many small farmers and backyard poultry owners will be placed under significant burdens. Federal regulations only apply when the animals cross state lines, limiting their impact. Those same regulations become much more burdensome if they apply to every single movement in-state, such as neighbors selling or giving animals to each others. The federal agency comes up with a lot of bad rules, and the Texas Legislature should not simply buy into them, without even knowing what they are!

CLAIM 3: The bill doesn’t include poultry.
TRUTH: While the language of the bill does not mention poultry (or any other species), it does specifically reference the federal animal disease traceability program. You can read the federal rule here — it clearly includes requirements for tagging poultry, including keeping records for 2 years. When asked, the agency testified that the bill would give it authority for animal ID for all of the species within its jurisdiction, which includes poultry, sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, bison, and horses.

CLAIM 4: We need this bill so the agency can deal with dangerous diseases like avian flu.
TRUTH: The agency has ample authority to address animal diseases. There are seven chapters in the Texas Agriculture Code that give TAHC authority to address animal disease through testing, vaccination, quarantines, and more. The agency can even include animal ID as part of those disease control measures.

This bill is about requiring identification solely for the purpose of tracking, unrelated to any disease control program.

CLAIM 5: Small farmers were consulted in developing this bill.
TRUTH: Small farm advocates have been cut out of the process. While we knew about the original version of the bill — which had both pro’s and con’s — we were never told about the Committee Substitute version, which is significantly worse than the original, until it was unveiled at the Senate Committee hearing. At no time did the bill sponsors or any of the industry groups writing the Committee Substitute version of the bill even tell us that they were working on amendments.

On the agency side, the Texas Animal Health Commission has never included FARFA or the Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association in any working group or informal meeting.

Please call your State Senator, State Representative, and the members of the House Calendars Committee today and tell them to vote NO on Animal ID, HB 2311 / SB 1233.

Two important local food bills were heard before the Texas House Public Health Committee at the Capitol Wednesday, February 27.

Over 100 Texans – including registered dietitians, nurses, licensed raw dairy farmers, and raw milk consumers – attended the hearing and registered in support of HB 46, sponsored by Representative Dan Flynn, which would allow licensed dairy farmers to sell raw milk at farmers’ markets, as well as do home delivery and make other delivery arrangements with their customers.

While the number of family-owned dairy farms has dramatically dropped over the last several decades, raw milk has provided a practical way for farmers to stay in the dairy business and remain financially and environmentally sustainable.

“What is the difference economically between conventional milk and raw for retail milk? It is the life or death of a dairy farm,” said raw milk dairy farmer Bob Stryk, of Stryk Jersey Farm in Schulenberg, Texas.

Much of the testimony and Committee discussion focused on the safety aspects.

“Licensed raw milk producers meet extensive regulatory requirements to protect the public health and safety,” stated Judith McGeary, Executive Director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance. “There have been six illnesses attributed to raw milk in Texas in the last twenty years. More illnesses have been attributed to strawberries and chicken soup than to raw milk in this State, and it certainly has a better track record than raw oysters, which the Texas Legislature voted to protect last session.”

The second bill, HB 910, sponsored by Representative Lois Kolkhorst, and joint-authored by Representative Eddie Rodriguez, chair of the bipartisan Farm-to-Table Caucus, would cap the health permit fees that could be imposed on farmers and farmers’ market vendors to $50 per year per county or city. Over 80 Texans registered their support, and the Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, Sustainable Food Center, and two individual farmers' market organizers testified.

“House Bill 910 is about economic development – supporting financially viable markets for family farmers. And it’s about access to healthy food – keeping producers’ costs down so prices of healthy food remain accessible for consumers,” said Andrew Smiley, Deputy Director of the Sustainable Food Center.

For more information visit www.farmandranchfreedom.org, email info@farmandranchfreedom.org or call (254) 697-2661.

Alexandra M. Landeros
Outreach & Events Director
www.farmandranchfreedom.org

Farm and Consumer Organizations Welcome Changes in USDA’s Final Animal ID Rule
Grassroots Comments Made an Impact

AUSTIN, Texas – December 20, 2012 – Organizations representing family farmers, ranchers, and consumers from across the country express cautious optimism about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) announcement today of its final Animal Disease Traceability rule.

More than 60 organizations had expressed concerns about the costs and impracticality of the proposed ADT rule as published in August 2011, and the USDA had received numerous public comments.

“Thousands of individuals, including both producers and consumers, spoke out against the burdens that the proposed rule would place on cow-calf operations, sale barns, small farmers, and backyard poultry owners,” stated Judith McGeary, Executive Director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance. “The final rule appears to address many, although not all, of their concerns. It is very encouraging to see citizen action making a significant impact.”

Among the important changes announced by USDA are:

• The exclusion of chicks sold by hatcheries across state lines from identification requirements;
• The recognition of brands and tattoos as official forms of identification;
• The continued use of back tags as an alternative to ear tags for cattle going to slaughter; and
• The exclusion of beef feeder cattle from this rule, except for rodeo and show cattle.

“We are very pleased that the western cattlemen’s concerns about recognizing brands and exempting feeder cattle were listened to. Ear tagging feeder cattle would impose significant burdens on farmers and ranchers,” noted Gilles Stockton, a Montana rancher and member of the Western Organization of Resource Councils. “With the USDA pledging to address feeder cattle in a separate rule rather than including it in this one, we will be better able address the complicated issues.”

Over the next several weeks, policy experts from the organizations will be analyzing the details of the 145-page document to determine the impact the final rule will have on the family farmers and ranchers. USDA states that the rule will be published in the Federal Register on December 28, 2012, and will be made effective 60 days later on February 26, 2013.

“We need to review the actual language of the rule, of course, but based on the information released today, it looks like USDA has listened to several key concerns raised by numerous groups throughout the process,” stated Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF USA.

For more information, contact:

• Judith McGeary, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, 512-484-8821
• Bill Bullard, R-CALF USA, 406-252-2516 Gilles Stockton, Western Organization of Resource Councils, 406-366-4463
• Kathy Ozer, National Family Farm Coalition, 202-543-5675
• Patty Lovera, Food and Water Watch, 202-683-2465 

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Texans can buy raw milk from licensed dairies, but the regulations require that consumers drive out to the farm, which may be several hours away, to get it. The state health department says that any form of delivery or group purchasing – including private drop points or friends picking up milk for each other – is illegal.

We have an opportunity to change that and improve access to raw milk in Texas! HB 46, filed by Representative Flynn, will allow licensed raw milk farmers to sell their products at farmers markets. It will also allow consumers and farmers to agree on delivery arrangements. This would continue the direct farmer-to-consumer relationship, while ensuring that raw milk is safe and accessible to both rural and urban customers.

HB 46 is critical for reasonable access to raw milk in our state. If this bill passes, farmers will be able to reach new markets, and consumers will be able to save the time and money they now spend driving (often an hour or more each way) to get milk.

Click here to download HB 46.

Click here to download an informational flyer about HB 46.

TAKE ACTION

1. Call your State Representative, and urge him or her to co-author the bill. You can find out who represents you by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 512-463-4630 – tell them your address, and they can connect you to your Representative’s office. You can also look up your legislators online at http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us (*see sample message below).
2. Email Representative Flynn at Dan.Flynn@house.state.tx.us to thank him for filing the bill.
3. Donate to the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance to support our work to pass HB 46 and other local foods bills. If you donate now, your donation will be matched two-to-one by a generous donor, so you support will go three times as far! www.farmandranchfreedom.org/join-online

*Message: “Hi, my name is ____ and I am a constituent. I am calling to ask Representative ____ to please support HB 46, the raw milk bill.”

If you have a few minutes, talk with the staffer about why raw milk is important to you and your family.

MORE INFORMATION

• HB 46 would allow licensed farmers to sell raw milk at farmers markets and through delivery arrangements.
• The bill does only one thing: it removes the unnecessary marketing barrier to the sale of Grade A raw dairy products.
• The bill makes no other change to the existing regulatory requirements for raw dairy that have been successful in protecting the public’s health in Texas.
• Sales will continue to be limited to direct-to-consumer transactions, as they are currently. The bill does not allow sales of raw milk in grocery stores.

This bill has many advantages:

• Benefits rural economies because direct farm-to-consumer sales of raw milk can mean the difference between a net loss on the farm and a reasonable income for the farm family – which impacts the entire community.
• Improves the safety of raw dairy by allowing producers to transport it to consumers under safe conditions.
• By allowing a producer to make a single trip to serve multiple customers – rather than having each customer drive to the farm – the bill reduces vehicle miles, improving air quality, traffic congestion, and public safety.
• Addresses the needs of elderly or disabled consumers who wish to purchase raw dairy products and who have difficulty, or who are unable, to drive to distant farms.

Raw milk has an excellent safety record in Texas. According to the CDC, between 1998 and 2008, there were only two reported cases of illness from raw milk in our state. In that same time period in Texas, there were over 12,000 foodborne illnesses reported traced to such foods as strawberries, mangos, beans, lettuce salads, salsa, cheeses, pot pie, chicken salad, hot dogs, deli meats, beef brisket, etc. Any food carries some risk of foodborne illness, but licensed raw milk farmers take extensive precautions to ensure the safety and quality of their product.

Please support farmers’ and consumers’ rights.

Call your Texas Representative today!