Connecticut passes herdshare bill
Jul 1, 2015 7:08:47 GMT -5
missevelyn, elnini, and 5 more like this
Post by brigitte on Jul 1, 2015 7:08:47 GMT -5
Incredibly, and with hardly a whimper from the Dept of Agriculture, Connecticut has approved herdshare legislation. The genesis of its passage is pretty amazing. During a farm tour a couple of years ago in the town of Goshen, Ct., I stopped to see a goat farmer. A wonderful woman who takes wonderful care of her milking goats and had turned away people who wanted milk because...well you know the story....ag regulations are designed to fit big model farms. The local inspector (ahem....the very same one who stopped to inspect Butterfield Farm down the road in Cornwall where many goats died) had gone out of his way to let her know he was keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn't operation outside of regulations. She didn't but when I explained herdshare as an option she was interested and I explained and put her in touch with FTCLDF. With my help in the wings (I live up the road just over the line in Massachusetts), Mary got a sponsor for a bill and it flew through the legislature. Very little resistance from the Dept of Ag and none that I could tell from big dairy. The Farm Bureau gave a lukewarm support for it. The governor just signed it and Mary is in business.
What a contrast to Massachusetts, where the Farm Bureau is venomously opposed to any dairy outside of regulation and even NOFA wouldn't support herdshare. It's been a five year fight in Mass. Things are changing now...with the Ct. bill passing NOFA seems more sympathetic to the benefits of using land for agriculture instead of housing, and meeting a growing demand for locally grown. The Farm Bureau is on my radar again and the effort to get it passed is being renewed. It will pass eventually, but I am left to wonder now as I did in the beginning...what the heck makes the milk from my cow unsafe if I milk her at home and safe if I walk her a mile down the road. Politics is strange stuff to figure, but it worked in Conn. I am wondering if maybe the Dept of Ag., which took a lot of heat for spending $300,000 over its budget to rehabilitate goats (half were euthanized anyway) didn't want another battle.
In any case, the FTCLDF will announce this wonderful victory today. Cheers to Mary for her new herdshare in Goshen, Ct, to the Goshen Land Trust and its first selectman for backing Mary, and Rep. Clark Chapin for sponsoring and leading the bill through what can be a very difficult legislative maze.
What a contrast to Massachusetts, where the Farm Bureau is venomously opposed to any dairy outside of regulation and even NOFA wouldn't support herdshare. It's been a five year fight in Mass. Things are changing now...with the Ct. bill passing NOFA seems more sympathetic to the benefits of using land for agriculture instead of housing, and meeting a growing demand for locally grown. The Farm Bureau is on my radar again and the effort to get it passed is being renewed. It will pass eventually, but I am left to wonder now as I did in the beginning...what the heck makes the milk from my cow unsafe if I milk her at home and safe if I walk her a mile down the road. Politics is strange stuff to figure, but it worked in Conn. I am wondering if maybe the Dept of Ag., which took a lot of heat for spending $300,000 over its budget to rehabilitate goats (half were euthanized anyway) didn't want another battle.
In any case, the FTCLDF will announce this wonderful victory today. Cheers to Mary for her new herdshare in Goshen, Ct, to the Goshen Land Trust and its first selectman for backing Mary, and Rep. Clark Chapin for sponsoring and leading the bill through what can be a very difficult legislative maze.