Local food sovereignty–regulations and small farms

9/13/2017Interesting article on how Maine is attempting to protect small farmers from federal regulations. It’s interesting how issues of farming, particularly small farming, are bringing people across the political spectrum together. Where progressives might favor more regulation and more government involvement, that works against the growing locavore food movement when they see how regulations affect farming. With that concern there can be common cause with farmers of all sizes who have to deal with more and more regulations that are increasingly forcing farmers out or threatening to force them out. In Washington, Ecology’s new CAFO permit is a burdensome, expensive and unnecessary new regulation on dairy farmers, but those seeking more and stronger regulation have been pushing it to an extreme that few dairy farmers could survive. To such farmers, the effort by Maine to push back against federal regulations can be an encouragement.