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A Coordinated Approach to Food Safety and Land Use Law at the Urban Fringe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2021

Stephen R. Miller
Stephen R. Miller*
Affiliation:
Economic Development Clinic at the University of Idaho College of Law. A.B., Brown University; M.C.P., University of California, Berkeley; J.D., University of California, Hastings
*
Email: millers@uidaho.edu
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Abstract

Much has been written about the rise of the local food movement in urban and suburban areas. This essay tackles an emerging outgrowth of that movement: the growing desire of urban and suburban dwellers to engage rural areas where food is produced not only to obtain food but also as a means of tourism and cultural activity. This represents a potentially much-needed means of economic development for rural areas and small farmers who are increasingly dependent on non-farm income for survival. The problem, however, is that food safety and land use laws struggle to keep up with these changes, waffling between over-regulation and de-regulation. This essay posits a legal path forward to steer clear of regulatory extremes and to help the local food movement grow and prosper at the urban fringe. We must cultivate our garden.

— Candide, or Optimism

Type
Articles
Information
American Journal of Law & Medicine , Volume 41 , Issue 2-3: The Iron Triangle of Food Policy , May 2015 , pp. 422 - 446
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics and Boston University 2015

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Footnotes

†

The author wishes to acknowledge the helpful comments of Profs. Anastasia Telesetsky and Sarah Shindler, as well as the contributions of students in his 2013-14 Economic Development Clinic—Tyler Beck, Caitlin Fuller, and Alexandra Grande—at the University of Idaho College of Law. Mr. Beck, Ms. Fuller, and Ms. Grande provided excellent research on legal tools to facilitate on-farm diversification activities, which forms the background for several parts of this article.

References

1 Voltaire, Candide, or Optimism 119 (Peter Constantine trans., Random House 2005) (1759).

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3 See, e.g., Agritourism, Nat'l Agric. L. Ctr., http://nationalaglawcenter.org/ research-by-topic/agritourism-2/ (last visited Mar. 3, 2015).

4 See Patrick Symmes & Peter Frank Edwards, Slow Food and Agritourism in the Pacific Northwest, Condé Nast Traveler (Feb. 12, 2013), http://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2013-02-12/best-slow-food-pacific-northwest-farm-to-table-restaurants.

5 See Ristino, Laurie A., Back to the New: Millennials and the Sustainable Food Movement, 15 Vt. J. Envtl. L. 1, 19 (2013)Google Scholar (describing characteristics of the “new agrarians” as: “[f]acility with technology; [m]arketing skills to develop new economic activities; [e]mbrac[ing] farms as a food business which can serve as a platform for other entrepreneurial endeavors; [c]apacity and leadership to generate local development; [v]alu[ing] sustainability and environmental conservation, not as a burden but as a responsibility; [c]ommitment to the idea of community; [r]elationship-oriented (to the consumer, neighboring farmers, and the land); [and] [b]eliev[ing] farming and producing food is a social good.”).

6 See Alec Wilkinson, Read It and Reap: “Modern Farmer” and the Back-to-the-Land Movement, New Yorker (Nov. 10, 2014), http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/10/read-reap.

7 This section draws, in part, upon Miller, Stephen R., Three Legal Approaches to Rural Economic Development, 23 Kan. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 345 (2014)Google Scholar.

8 Council of Econ. Advisors, Exec. Office of the President, Strengthening the Rural Economy: The Current State of Rural America 5 (2010), http://www.usda.gov/documents/Rural_America_final.pdf.

9 Id.

10 Id.

11 See Robert A. Hoppe et al., USDA, Small Farms in the United States: Persistence Under Pressure 6 (2010). The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines a farm as being “any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the year.” Farm Household Well-Being, USDA Econ. Res. Serv., http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-household-well-being/glossary.aspx (last updated Nov. 25, 2014).

12 See County Typology Codes: Descriptions and Maps, USDA, http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/county-typology-codes/descriptions-and-maps.aspx#manufacturing (finding 585 nonmetropolitan counties' economies are manufacturing-dependent, 403 are farming-dependent, 222 are government-dependent, 114 are services-dependent, 113 are mining-dependent, and 615 are non-specialized nonmetropolitan counties) (last updated Jan. 29, 2015).

13 See USDA, USDA Agricultural Projections to 2023 85 (2014), http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/1279470/oce141.pdf.

14 See Robert A. Hoppe & David E. Banker, USDA, Structure and Finances of U.S. Farms: Family Farm Report iv, 46 (2010), http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/184479/eib66_1_.pdf.

15 See U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States 538 tbl.830 (2012), http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/12statab/agricult.pdf (indicating that family farms had an average off-farm income of $70,302 and average on-farm income of $6,866 in 2009).

16 Hoppe & Banker, supra note 14, at v.

17 See Council of Econ. Advisors, supra note 8, at 4; Nat'l Rural Network, NRN Case Study: Farm Diversification 2 (2012), http://www.nrn.ie/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Final-Case-Study-on-Farm-Diversification-May-2012.pdf.

18 Nat'l Rural Network, supra note 17.

19 See, e.g., Justin Rocket Silverman, New Yorkers Get a Taste of Rural Life at Clawhammer Farm in Lisle, N.Y., N.Y. Daily News (July 16, 2013, 2:00 AM), http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/hipsters-taste-rural-life-clawhammer-farm-article-1.1399354#ixzz30yV22xuG.

20 See USDA, Farmers Market Services, http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5080175&acct=frmrdirmkt (indicating at least $1 billion in annual sales at farmers' markets nationally).

21 See Salkin, Patricia E. & Lavine, Amy, Regional Foodsheds: Are Our Local Zoning and Land Use Regulations Healthy?, 22 Fordham Envtl. L. Rev. 599, 620-23 (2011)Google Scholar; Schindler, Sarah, Of Backyard Chickens and Front Yard Gardens: The Conflict Between Local Governments and Locavores, 87 Tul. L. Rev. 231, 240-42, 244-46 (2012)Google Scholar.

22 Ellie Rilla, All About Agritourism 22 (2012), available at http://sfp.ucdavis.edu/files/143588.pdf (summarizing survey results of 2007 National Survey of Recreation and the Environment).

23 See, e.g., Symmes & Edwards, supra note 4 (discussing the growth and success of farm-to-table restaurants and agritourism at local farms and wineries in the Pacific Northwest).

24 Food Safety Working Group, Food Safety Working Group: Key Findings 2 (2009), http://www.foodsafetyworkinggroup.gov/FSWG_Key_Findings.pdf. “The Working Group [was] chaired by [then-] Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Participating agencies include[d] the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Commerce, the Department of State, the Environmental Protection Agency, and several offices of the White House.” Id.

25 See id. at 1; Obolensky, Nicholas, The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011: Too Little, Too Broad, Too Bad, 17 Roger Williams U. L. Rev. 887, 889 (2012)Google Scholar (discussing details of various foodborne illness cases in this time period).

26 Food Safety Working Group, supra note 24, at 1.

27 Id. at 2.

28 Id.

29 Id.

30 Id.

31 Id.

32 Id.

33 Id.

34 S. 510, 111th Cong. (2010).

35 Food Safety Legislation Key Facts, FDA, http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/FSMA/ucm237934.htm (last updated Aug. 5, 2014).

36 Id.

37 Id.

38 Michael Pollan, Farmer in Chief, N.Y. Times Mag. (Oct. 9, 2008), http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all.

39 Food Safety: Hearing on S. 510 Before the S. Comm. on Health, Educ., Labor & Pensions, 111th Cong. (2009), (statement of Thomas E. Stenzel, President and CEO, United Fresh Produce Association).

40 Press Release, Sen. Jon Tester, Senate Overwhelmingly Passes Food Safety Bill with Tester's Amendment (Nov. 30, 2010), available at http://www.tester.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1078.

41 FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, Pub. L. No. 111-353, 124 Stat. 3885 (2011).

42 See Current Good Manufacturing Practice and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food, 79 Fed. Reg. 58,523 (proposed Sept. 29, 2014) (to be codified at 21 C.F.R. pts. 1, 16, 117); Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption, 79 Fed. Reg. 58,433 (proposed Sept. 29, 2014) (to be codified at 21 C.F.R. pt. 112); Maria Gaura, Food Safety Rules Proposed Today by FDA Show Promise for Organic Farmers, Organic Farming Res. Found. (Sept. 19, 2014, 3:50 PM), http://www.ofrf.org/blogs/food-safety-rules-proposed-today-fda-show-promise-organic-farmers.

43 Press Release, Sen. Jon Tester, supra note 40.

44 SenatorJonTester, Tester Food Safety Amendment Protects Family-Scale Producers, YouTube (Nov. 18, 2010), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awa0VmEmIoI (video of Senator Tester's speech on the Senate floor).

45 See Alli Condra, Harvard Food Law & Policy Clinic, Cottage Food Laws in the United States 4 (2013), http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/foodpolicyinitiative/files/2013/08/FINAL_Cottage-Food-Laws-Report_2013.pdf.

46 HHS, Food Code: 2013 Recommendations of the United States Public Health Service (2013), available at http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceRegulation/RetailFoodProtection/FoodCode/UCM374510.pdf.

47 Condra, supra note 45 at 7.

48 Id.

49 Id. at 10.

50 Id.

51 Id.

52 Id.

53 Id. (noting that restrictions limit sales to “farmers markets, county fairs, roadside stands, on the producer's premises, and through community supported agriculture operations”).

54 Id. at 13.

55 Id. at 14.

56 Id.

57 Id. at 16 (“Generally, cottage food products are required to be labeled with some combination of the following information: Name and address of producer; [c]ommon or usual name of product; [i]ngredients of product in descending order of predominance by weight; [a]ny food allergens; [n]et weight and volume of food product by standard measure or numerical count; [d]ate on which the food was processed; and [a] statement similar to the following: ‘Made in a home kitchen that has not been inspected by the (state)’s department of health (or agriculture.'”).

58 See Greene, J.M., Localization: Implementing the Right to Food, 14 Drake J. Agric. L. 377, 390-94 (2009)Google Scholar; McDermott, Michael J., Constitutionalizing an Enforceable Right to Food: A Tool for Combating Hunger, 35 B.C. Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 543 (2012)Google Scholar (discussing movements to constitutionalize a “right to food”); cf. Wiseman, Samuel R., Liberty of Palate, 65 Me. L. Rev. 737 (2013)Google Scholar (dismissing claims that the Constitution provides a fundamental right to food).

59 See Bellinger, Nathan & Fakhri, Michael, The Intersection Between Food Sovereignty and Law, 28 Nat. Resources & Env't 45, 45 (2013)Google Scholar.

60 Declaration of Nyéléni, Feb. 27, 2007, available at http://nyeleni.org/spip.php?article290.

61 La Via Campesina, http://viacampesina.org/en/ (last visited Mar. 14, 2015).

62 United Nations, Econ. & Soc. Council, Comm. on Econ., Soc., & Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 12, The Right to Adequate Food, at 3, ¶ 6, U.N. Doc. E/C.12/1999/5 (May 12, 1999); see also Narula, Smita, The Right to Food: Holding Global Actors Accountable Under International Law, 44 Colum. J. Transnat'l L. 691, 735-36 (2006)Google Scholar.

63 Linnekin, Baylen J., The “California Effect” & the Future of American Food: How California's Growing Crackdown on Food & Agriculture Harms the State & the Nation, 13 Chap. L. Rev. 357, 387-88 (2010)Google Scholar.

64 H.R.J. Res. 1176, 125th Leg., 1st Reg. Sess. (Me. 2011); see also Aaron Libby, Maine Passes Joint Resolution on State Food Sovereignty, Food Freedom (June 13, 2011), http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/maine-passes-joint-resolution-on-state-food-sovereignty/.

65 Hilda E. Kurtz, Framing Multiple Food Sovereignties: Comparing the Nyeleni Declaration and the Local Food and Self-Governance Ordinance in Maine, in Food Sovereignty in International Context (Amy Trauger ed., 2015).

66 Maine, Local Food and Community Self-Governance Ordinance (Mar. 21, 2011), available at http://www.farmlandinfo.org/sites/default/files/Maine_Food_and_Community_Model_Law_1.pdf.

67 Id.

68 State v. Brown, 95 A.3d 82, 84 (Me. 2014). The raw milk debate has garnered national attention. See Loder, Megan, A Raw Deal: Why Texas Should Relax and Let Dairies Bring Their Milk into Town, 15 Tex. Tech. Admin. L.J. 231, 251 (2013)Google Scholar; Almy, Ryan, Note, State v. Brown: A Test for Local Food Ordinances, 65 Me. L. Rev. 789, 791 (2013)Google Scholar; Jess Bidgood, Maine Court Fight Pits Farmers Against State and One Another, N.Y. Times (June 18, 2014), http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/19/us/maine-court-fight-pits-farmers-against-state-and-one-another.html?_r=0.

69 Brown, 95 A.3d at 91.

70 See Model Food Bill of Rights, Cmty. Envtl. Legal Def. Fund, http://celdf.org/-1-77 (last visited Mar. 14, 2015).

71 See Alexis Baden-Mayer & Katherine Paul, Can Food Sovereignty Laws Protect Local Farms from Annihilation?, Organic Consumers Ass'n. (Sept. 11, 2013), https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/can-food-sovereignty-laws-protect-local-farms-annihilation.

72 See Precedent Setting Agriculture Bill Signed by Governor Terry McAuliffe, Farm-to-Consumer Legal Def. Fund (March 10, 2014), http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/news_wp/?p=14803.

73 S. 34, 2012 Leg., Gen. Sess. (Utah 2012).

74 Legislative Review Note, S. 34, 2012 Leg., Gen. Sess. (Utah 2012).

75 H.R. 1650-FN, 2012 Leg., Reg. Sess. (N.H. 2012).

76 Id.

77 H.R. 108, 62nd Leg., Gen. Sess. (Wyo. 2013).

78 Id.

79 Id.

80 H.R. 431, 61st Leg., 2nd Reg. Sess. (Idaho 2012).

81 H.R. 12, 151st Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Ga. 2011).

82 S. 2516, 2013 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Miss. 2013).

83 H.R. 135, 2013 Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Va. 2014); see also Kenric Ward, Farmers Win Land-Use Fight; ‘Food Freedom’ Next, Watchdog.org (Mar. 3, 2014), http://watchdog.org/130709/farmers-land-food/.

84 Milk Freedom Act of 2014, H.R. 4307, 113th Cong. (2014); Interstate Milk Freedom Act of 2014, H.R. 4308, 113th Cong. (2014).

85 Press Release, U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, U.S. Representative Massie Introduces Bipartisan Milk Freedom Legislation (Mar. 27, 2014), available at http://massie.house.gov/press-release/press-release-us-representative-massie-introduces-bipartisan-milk-freedom-legislation.

86 See Thilmany, Dawn et al., The 2006 Economic Contribution of Agritourism to Colorado: Estimates from a Survey of Colorado Tourists, 24 Dep't of Agric. & Resource Econ. Econ. Dev. Rep. 1, 4 (2007)Google Scholar, https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/The%202006%20Economic%20Contribution%20of%20Agritourism%20to%20Colorado_1.pdf.

87 See Cynthia Ord, Can Agritourism Save Small-Scale Farming?, Travel Word (Sept. 4, 2012), http://www.thetravelword.com/2012/09/04/can-agritourism-save-small-scale-farming.

88 See Julie Bosman, Neighbors Say Barn Weddings Raise a Rumpus, N.Y. Times (Aug. 3, 2014), http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/04/us/neighbors-say-barn-weddings-raise-a-rumpus.html?_r=0; Symmes & Edwards, supra note 4.

89 See Alameda Cnty. Pub. Works Agency, Building Code Analysis for Converting Existing Agricultural Buildings to Wine Tasting/Event Centers, www.acgov.org/pwa/documents/Agricultural-Building-Conversion.pdf.

90 Shore v. Maple Lane Farms, LLC, 411 S.W.3d 405 (Tenn. 2013).

91 Id. at 409.

92 Id.

93 Id.

94 Id.

95 Id.

96 Id. at 410.

97 Id. at 411.

98 Id.

99 Id. at 411-12.

100 Id. at 412-13.

101 Id. at 413.

102 Id.

103 Id. at 419, 431.

104 Id. at 420.

105 Id. (quoting Tenn. Code Ann. § 43-26-102(1) (2007)).

106 Id.

107 Id. at 424.

108 Id. at 427-29.

109 See id. at 429.

110 Greenfield v. Mutlnomah Cnty., 317 P.3d 274 (Or. Ct. App. 2013).

111 Id. at 278.

112 Id.

113 Id.

114 Id.

115 Id. at 278-79.

116 Id.

117 Id.

118 Id.

119 Id. at 282.

120 Id. at 284.

121 Id.

122 Id. at 284-85.

123 Id. at 287 (internal quotation marks omitted).

124 Id. at 289.

125 Id. at 290.

126 Lakeview Farms v. Wash. Cnty. Assessor, No. TC–MD 100443D, 2011 WL 4852468, at *3 (Or. Tax Ct. Oct. 13, 2011); see also Shore v. Maple Lane Farms, LLC, No. E2011-00158-COA-R3-CV, 2012 WL 1245606, at *12 (Tenn. Ct. App. Apr. 11, 2012), rev'd, 411 S.W.3d 405 (Tenn. 2013) (discussing same and providing summary).

127 Id. at *10.

128 Id. at *2 (quoting Brittany Russell, Agri-Bus. Council of Or., Agri-Tourism Workbook: Guide to Discovering New Ways to Build a Successful Agriculture Business Through Direct Farm Marketing 12 (2003)) (internal quotation marks omitted).

129 Id. at *6.

130 Id. at *10.

131 See In re Vecchione, No. 13-42201-MSH, 2013 WL 6164332 (Bankr. D. Mass. 2013).

132 Id. at *2.

133 Id.

134 See Ward, supra note 83.

135 See Farm-to-Consumer Legal Def. Fund, supra note 72.

136 Va. Code Ann. § 15.2-2288.6.A. (2012 & Supp. 2014).

137 Id. § 15.2-2288.6.B.

138 See Robert Andrew Branan, Nat'l Agric. Law Ctr., Zoning Limitations and Opportunities for Farm Enterprise Diversification: Searching for New Meaning in Old Definitions 3 (2004), http://nationalaglawcenter.org/publication/branan-zoning-limitations-and-opportunities-for-farm-enterprise-diversification-searching-for-new-meaning-in-old-definitions-national-aglaw-center-publications-2004/wppa_open.

139 CDC Estimates of Foodborne Illness in the United States, CDC, http://www.cdc.gov/foodborneburden/estimates-overview.html. According to the CDC, “these estimates are the first comprehensive estimates since 1999 and are the first ever to estimate illnesses cause [sic] solely by foods eaten in the United States.” Id.

140 For alternative approaches to the same issues, see Jane Angelo, Mary et al., Small, Slow, and Local: Essays on Building a More Sustainable and Local Food System, 12 Vt. J. Envtl. L. 353 (2011)Google Scholar (collection of essays evaluating various aspects of “slow” and “local” food regulation).

141 See Urban Edge AgParks, Sustainable Agric. Educ., http://www.sagecenter.org/projects/urban-edge-agparks/ (last visited Mar. 15, 2015).

142 Briffault, Richard, A Government for Our Time? Business Improvement Districts and Urban Governance, 99 Colum. L. Rev. 365, 367 (1999)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

143 Id. at 378.

144 Tex. Spec. Dists. Code Ann. §§ 3001.001 - 3001.122 (2013 & Supp. 2014).

145 Id. § 3001.107(b)(1).

146 Id. § 3001.107(b)(2).

147 Id. § 3001.107(b)(3).

148 Id. § 3001.108(1), (2).

149 Id. § 3001.104.

150 See Stephen R. Miller, Agritourism at the Rural-Urban Interface: A National Overview of Legal Issues with 20 Proposals for Idaho 42-43, 52, 63 (May 9, 2014) (unpublished manuscript), available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2435306 (discussing multiple agritourism tax credit schemes across the country).

151 See, e.g., Agritourism, Univ. Cal., http://sfp.ucdavis.edu/agritourism/ (last updated Nov. 4, 2014).

152 See S.F. Estuary P'ship, San Francisco Bay Area Joint Aquatic Resource Permit Application, available at http://www.sfestuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/JARPA1106-final.pdf.

153 Id.

154 Weber County, Utah, Zoning Ordinance § 46-3.10. (2012).