Please read!

FYI- The local foods advisory council that has brought so much needed attention to the local foods movement has been marked for the chopping block.  We need your support for maintaining this board.  This board has given local food producers a much needed seat at the table in NC where large corporate farming interest rule the roost so please take a moment to email or call these representatives in support of keeping this board.

 

Thanks

 

Lee

 

From Carolina Farm Stewardship Association-

 

Dear friends of local food and farming,

 

Thank you to all of you who have already called--your calls are getting through. If you haven't made a call yet, please read below and pick up the phone.

 

Last week the NC House added a provision to Senate Bill 10 (S10) The Government Reduction and Efficiency Act of 2013 that would eliminate the NC Sustainable Local Food Advisory Council in July of this year. Just last July, we worked to get the council authorized until 2015, and that win is in immediate jeopardy.

The Senate and House have appointed conference committee members to negotiateover the differences between the Senate and House versions of the bill. There are many differences between the bills that are viewed as "more important" than the NCSLFAC provision. It is possible that if we convince just one or two conferees to refuse to vote the bill out of conference committee if it contains the NCSLFAC provision, we can maintain the council.

These are the Senate conferees:

Sen. Tom Apodaca, Chair (919)733-5745 Sen. Bob Rucho (919)733-5655Sen. Harry Brown (919)715-3034 Sen. Bill Rabon (919)733-5963 Sen. E. S. (Buck) Newton (919)715-3030 Sen. Shirley B. Randleman (919)733-5743 These are the House confereees:

Murry (Chair), (919) 733-5602 Samuelson, (919) 715-3009 Hager, (919) 733-5749 Starnes, (919) 733-5931 T. Moore, (919) 733-4838 Dollar, (919) 715-0795 Tine, (919) 733-5906 Brisson, (919) 733-5772 **Please CALL these offices ASAP to voice your support for the continuation of the NC Sustainable Local Food Advisory Council. Ask them to remove the house provision from S10 that references the council. The NCSLFAC provides a forum for state agencies to work together to reduce regulatory barriers to small businesses to allow the local food economy to grow. The council operates without a budget, so its elimination will not cut spending.**

 

The council has been the starting point for many positive local food policies in the last 3 years including increasing economic opportunities for direct marketing poultry from small farms, allowing small farm and food businesses to responsibly recycle their wastewater for irrigation, and ensuring that farm and forest land cannot be annexed by municipal governments. For more information on the council, including annual reports, see its website at www.ncagr.gov/localfood

 

Thanks for all you do in support of local and organic food and farming, Shivaugn

 

p.s. this alert is also posted on facebook https://www.facebook.com/notes/carolina-farm-stewardship-association/urgent-voice-your-support-for-the-nc-sustainable-local-food-advisory-council/544554655565721 If you are on facebook, please share the post widely and let us know if you called.

 

--

Shivaugn M. Rayl

919.576.9173 (mobile)

919.542.2402 (office)

shivaugn@carolinafarmstewards.org