Earlier
this month, the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation announced its critical
legislative issues for 2014. These are the issues Governmental Relations staff
believe will be at the forefront during the next year's General Assembly. These issues are also discussed at Senatorial
District meetings, regional legislative briefings for legislators held across
the state during November and December. Each critical issue will be highlighted
on Plows and Politics every day this week. If you are a producer member and
would like to attend your region's Senatorial District Meeting, please contact
your Field Services Director for dates and locations.
Virginia
Farm Bureau is urging legislators to: - Support compromise legislation to set a baseline for
the regulation of on-farm activities on agricultural operations
Why is “On-Farm Activities” a
critical issue for VFBF?
In the 2013 General Assembly,
legislation was defeated that would have expanded the Right-to-Farm Act to
include a broad range of on-farm activities.
The bill was introduced as a result of a dispute between a landowner and
local government officials in Fauquier County.
Farm Bureau expressed concerns of adding the proposed language (HB1430)
to this specific Code section as it is intended to protect production
agriculture from being deemed a nuisance by localities.
Wasn’t there a Working Group
held in the summer of 2013 to discuss these issues?
Yes. As a result of these discussions, the
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) convened the On-Farm
Activities Working Group (OFAWG) in 2013 comprised of private citizens, local
government representatives and agricultural stakeholder groups, including
Virginia Farm Bureau. While this group
had no authority to change current policy or regulations, the group did convene
with the stated purpose of facilitating discussions and, if possible, formulating
legislative recommendations for consideration by the 2014 Virginia General
Assembly. This final report documents
the efforts of the On-Farm Activities Working Group, and is being provided to
members of the House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources
and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural
Resources. It is available
online. Following the final meeting of
the OFAWG, a consensus was reached among the majority of the participants to
present a compromise bill in the 2014 General Assembly. This compromise “On-Farm Activities” bill is
being promoted by Farm Bureau at the 2013 Senatorial District meetings between
our producer members and legislators.
What will this legislation do?
This compromise legislation
would add a new part to the appropriate local government Code section (§15.2)
allowing agritourism activities at an agricultural operation to be permitted
unless there is a substantial impact on the health, safety or welfare of the
public. The legislation would further
allow the sale of agricultural or silvicultural products and the preparation
and sale of food products, as long as those food products currently comply with
state law. It would also allow the sale
of agricultural-related items incidental to the agricultural operation, similar
to what farm wineries have the ability to do now. This brings the rest of the industry up to
par with this particular segment.
Our hope is that the 2014
General Assembly will support the compromise language developed by the On-Farm
Activities Working Group. If you have
any further questions, e-mail Trey Davis, VFBF Assistant Director of
Governmental Relations, at trey.davis@vafb.com.
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