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SARL Members and Alumni News

California:It’s now legal to sell home-cooked food — but there’s a catch

San Francisco Chronicle | Posted on January 9, 2019

Jan. 1 was supposed to be the date when, thanks to a new law, California cooks could apply to their local health department for permits to sell food cooked in their home kitchens. But because of the wording in AB626, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law in September, cooks may have to wait months or years for the opportunity to do so.The Homemade Foods Operations Act, introduced by Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella (Riverside County), is the widest-reaching “cottage food” law in the country. It extends the state’s 2012 California Homemade Food Act to allow home cooks to sell prepared foods such as hot stews and frozen dumplings in addition to jams, candies and other so-called low-risk foods.The law targeted small operations by limiting the amount of money home-based culinary businesses could gross to $50,000 per year.


New York:New law boosts top speed for slow-moving vehicles to 35 mph

Herald Courier | Posted on January 8, 2019

Farm tractors and other slow-moving vehicles will be allowed to travel a little faster on New York roads under a new law. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently signed legislation that raises the speed at which slow-moving vehicles can travel from 25 mph to 35 mph. Farm vehicles and construction equipment must have orange triangular signs indicating that they are slow-moving vehicles.


New York Announces More Than $42 Million Awarded to Agricultural Projects through the Regional Economic Development Councils

New York State | Posted on January 8, 2019

New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball today announced that more than $42 million awarded through Governor Cuomo’s 2018 Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) initiative will support the growth of the New York’s farms and food and beverage industries across the State.  The REDC awards were announced by the Governor on December 18, with more than 80 agriculture-related projects identified as key to advancing the State’s ten regional economies.


Maine's new governor faces pending lawsuits from LePage era

AP | Posted on January 8, 2019

Former Gov. Paul LePage’s legal battles tested the limits of gubernatorial power and cost the state over $900,000 since 2014, according to The Associated Press’ review of a database of state government finances. Newly sworn-in Democratic Gov. Janet Mills comes into office with a handful of those lawsuits still pending. That includes several lawsuits between Mills and LePage over their constitutional authority, and a 2015 lawsuit pending in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston alleging LePage abused his power by threatening to withhold state funds to thwart a Democratic opponent’s job offer.


Wisconsin farmers have mixed reactions to the dairy task force proposals

Edairy News | Posted on January 8, 2019

With 638 Wisconsin farms shut down in 2018, it is no secret the state is battling a dairy crisis. A joint effort between the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) and the University of Wisconsin system, the task force’s goal is to ensure a successful and profitable future for the industry, much like the first dairy task force tried to do in 1985. The new proposals, passed December 13, hinge on state funding. The first plan recommends an expansion to Wisconsin Housing & Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) loan programs that farmers currently use, essentially giving farmers access to more capital when applying for loans. “The state would use funding to guarantee a loan for special purpose facilities in rural communities,” Task Force Chairman Mark Stephenson explains. He adds that what is available to them now is considerably less than what is being proposed—and that those current limits often are not enough to help them move forward with expansions. The second proposal—ranked by task force members as their highest priority—involves an injection of $7.6 million annually into the UW system to fund a dairy research innovation hub on three of the system’s agricultural campuses. The research hub would focus on four topics, including better stewardship of farming land and resources, new product development for human health, improved animal health, and boosting farm businesses in rural communities. The proposals are not being met with unanimous approval in the farming community, however. Pleasant View Dairy farm owner James Juedes feels he speaks for many farmers when he says the task force is not addressing the true needs of Wisconsin farmers.“It doesn’t do anything to solve the problem we have of over-supply. It just kind of throws money at it,” he said.


Outgoing Michigan governor vetoes cage-free egg bill

Watt AgNet | Posted on January 3, 2019

Rick Snyder says there is insufficient scientific evidence that cage-free eggs are superior to conventional eggs in terms of animal welfare or food safety.In one of his last acts as governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder vetoed a bill that would establish the effective date of requirements that all eggs produced in Michigan come from cage-free laying systems.The 2009 law that created and phased in new standards for cage-free housing for certain animals would have been effective October 12, 2019. However, Senate Bill 660, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, would change that deadline, requiring cage-free chicken housing to begin Oct. 12, 2025.The bill, also known as the Animal Industry Act, also would require all eggs sold in Michigan come from cage-free hens in 2025. Additionally, it would extend the deadline for the removal of gestation stalls for sows from October 12, 2019 to April 1, 2020.


'Don’t go to India, look to our rural counties’: Utah offering money to companies who hire workers to telecommute

Fox 13 | Posted on January 3, 2019

The state is offering money to companies who hire workers to telecommute from rural Utah. The incentives -- as much as $6,000 per full-time job -- are meant to help boost unemployment in rural areas."It’s a great way for the businesses along the Wasatch Front that are having a challenging filling these positions. Things are booming here. The demand is great. Don’t go to India, look to our rural counties," said Rebecca Dilg, the rural and community outreach manager for the Governor's Office of Economic Development.The Utah State Legislature approved spending $1.5 million for the program. Dilg said they were starting to get interest from a few companies."If you can get online, you can have a business anywhere within the state," she said.


Starting Jan. 1, it will be legal to harvest roadkill in Oregon

KATU | Posted on January 2, 2019

After ringing in the New Year, you'll have a new option for picking up your dinner in Oregon when a law allowing people to harvest and eat roadkill goes into effect. Lawmakers approved the measure back in 2017, which states that states “salvaging deer and elk struck by vehicles is legal in Oregon.”People must complete and submit an application for a permit within 24 hours of salvaging the elk or deer. The application cannot be submitted beforehand because it requires specific information about location and time of the salvage.


Wary of opioid abuse, Virginia veterinarians look for red flags in pet owners

The Virginia Pilot | Posted on January 2, 2019

A man in Fairfax County said his 10-year-old boxer chewed the floor trim, peed on pillows and scared easily from thunder. He insisted his pet needed treatment for separation anxiety. On top of that, he claimed a recently dislocated knee was giving the dog pain.During that summer of 2016, he took the boxer to six different veterinarians, according to police, and received several doses and early refills of Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, and tramadol, an opioid used to treat pain.The man was charged with prescription fraud, and the scheme prompted the department to publish a brochure the next year on the warning signs of “vet shopping” – what might be one of the most unexpected turns in the opioid epidemic.The incident has the ring of an urban myth, but substance abuse experts say it’s happening. As the heroin and prescription painkiller crisis devastates communities across the country, some users have sought narcotics through back channels when they couldn’t find a willing doctor.Virginia has recently established new policies for veterinarians on how they can use opioids for acute and chronic conditions, and in the 2018 General Assembly session, lawmakers expanded the state’s Prescription Monitoring Program – a tracking system previously used only by human doctors – to include veterinarians. Failure to enter mandatory data in the system could result in penalties from the Board of Veterinary Medicine.


Maryland courts will allow immigrant parents who are concerned about deportation to designate guardians for their children

Baltimore Sun | Posted on January 2, 2019

Immigrant parents in Maryland concerned about being deported may now designate someone to care for their children under an expansion of emergency guardianship measures that take effect Tuesday.


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