“Farmers Markets: State bill would bring big changes” (click me)
The is a recently introduced state bill in California (AB 996) is going to bring a lot of change on “the operations and governance of the state’s certified farmers markets”. I believe that this new bill will be extremely beneficial as this bill will “renew authorization for the state’s role in the program, including penalties for cheaters”. Today, more people are starting to learn about organic produce and buy it, therefore it is very important to be able to know if the produce you are buying from someone is really organic or not.
There are many benefits that this bill holds such as requiring produce vendors to post signs saying “We Grow What We Sell”, increasing the penalties for cheaters “from $1,000 to a maximum of $5,000; violators also could be jailed for up to 6 months”, and on-site inspections which occur annually.
This bill will be a great step forward in reaching the goal of having effective and trustworthy farmers markets in this state by increasing enforcement and regulations. With the growing use of pesticides, preservatives, and color enhancements on our produce, it is important when going to a farmers market that the produce you are buying does not contain any of those terrible things. Therefore, having this bill we will be ensured that we can trust the vendors at our local farmers market and continue to support them as they provide us with beautiful and delicious produce!
Health & Happiness 