Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development- House

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment that was passed out to the committee. Cooper, introduce yourself for the. Representative Cameron Cooper, District 57. Thank you, Mr. Chair. You're recognized to present your bill. I have an amendment that was hand out to the committee. Did everybody get a copy of that? OK, the amendment just adds some co-sponsors. Also, um, I was. Contacted by the Department of Health, they understood my intent of the bill. But they just asked if I would clarify that intent. If you look at the original bill, I was striking out 8 words which required that raw milk be sold on the farm. Striking those eight words would have. Uh Done what I wanted to do, but they just asked that I clarify what I wanted to do, so that's also what's included in the amendment. It just clarifies that I want uh to be able to sell and pasteurized milk at the farm where the milk is produced at a farmer's market or via delivery from the farm where the milk is produced. I'll be glad to answer any questions on this amendment. Motion Motion to approve all in favor say aye. Opposed? Congratulations on your amendment. Thank you committee. I will now present the bill as amended. I'd like to start with a little bit of history on on pasteurized milk in Arkansas. And Patras milk has been legal for sale in Arkansas since 1995. But those sales were limited to goat milk and each producer could only sell no more than 100 gallons per month. In 2013, this law was admitted to include sheep milk and cow's milk in addition to goat milk. And the maximum number of gallons that could be sold was raised to $500 a month. The law also required that signage be displayed at the point of sale. And that that a warning label will be placed on each container of milk. Both the sign and the warning label must state the name and address of the farm and contain the following statement. This product sold for personal use and not for resale is fresh whole milk that has not been pasteurized. Neither this farm nor the milk sold by this farm has been inspected by the state of Arkansas. The consumer assumes all liability for health issues that may result from the consumption of this product. In addition to these requirements, the law stated that unpasteurized milk can only be sold directly on the farm. It cannot be sold at any other location except the farm where it's produced. In 2021, my daughters became interested in dairy goats. Many of you have seen my daughters up here with me. They're, they're here with me, you know, on a fairly regular basis. We homeschool our daughters. They're very involved in 4H. We live on a cattle ranch. They've been raised, uh. Feeding cattle, vaccinating cattle, had chickens, we had pigs. So in 21, they wanted to get uh some dairy goats. So we added a small goat herd to the inventory on our farm. Over the years that herd has grown and the milk that we produce is primarily been for our own personal use. And for my daughters who produce and sell goat's milk soap. identified this issue with the milk being required to be sold on the farm when an acquaintance, acquaintance of ours began asking about getting some milk from us. We did some research on how to do that within the boundaries of the law, and we discovered that she would have to come all the way out to our farm to buy it. Our daughters also compete in dairy goat shows at the county fair and the state fair and through these channels we've met many other producers and consumers. Who have mentioned how the on-farm sale requirement limits access and limits the ability of producers and consumers to do business together. Actually filed this bill 2 years ago in the 2023 session, but it was near the end of the session and we ran out of time. Before we could get to the bill. I put the bill on interim study and I presented it to this committee last summer. We discussed the issue and I think it was well received by the members of the committee. This bill will simply allow farmers to sell their unpasteurized milk at farmers' markets. Or via delivery to the to the customer. In addition to continuing to offer it for sale directly on the farm. This change will make it easier for farmers and their customers to connect and do business together. This bill is about food freedom and food security. And it promotes the concept of buying and shopping locally. Supporting your neighbors and supporting the local agricultural economy with locally sourced products. I mentioned the health department had called to ask that I clarify the bill. And I appreciate them reaching out uh to me and having an honest conversation on this issue and I think it's important to note that the health department is neutral on this bill. I would also like to mention that Arkansas Farm Bureau, their small ruminant committee and dairy committees recently met about 2 weeks ago and they updated their policy on unpasteurized milk. The new policy states we do not oppose the sale of raw milk with the producer having the option for on-farm sales, as well as delivery directly to their consumer as long as they are inspected and regulated by the Arkansas Department of Health. I welcome this new policy statement by Farm Bureau. I think it's a great step in the right direction. I do want to make clear that Arkansas Farm Bureau is neutral on this specific bill. Committee, that's all I have for the moment. I'll be glad to answer any questions you may have. As committee members, questions? Representative Garner. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Cameron, I know we've talked about this before. I'm a proponent of raw milk and I love the goat cheese and Local, local produce. That's why I'm here. I do have some questions. First of all, the incidental sales, what does that mean in this particular industry, how do we know what incidental sales are. Well, you're limited to 500 gallons a month. The producer is an incidental sale, it basically means that they're not, this is not their primary business. They're not making their living selling raw milk. It may just be a component of their overall farm inventory, but there's not a limit of An amount or percentage. The defined who defines that? The the limit is set in law, 500 gallons a month is the maximum amount that can be sold. Am am I answering your question? So I, I think that's, that helps, that helps. And then the other thing is that um. How are we gonna Who, who manages that? Who makes certain that it's only 500 gallons and that. It's not being sold in grocery stores or Well, I mean, it's, it's certainly not legal to sell in grocery stores. Um, it's only legal to be sold by the producer of the milk. It can't be sold by a third party. That's already spelled out in current law. None of that's changed. Right, this bill is not changing any of that. The, the, the producer has to be the person selling the milk. It can't be sold by a third party. Great. So the labels, everything is still the same labels remain intact. The safety warnings and all that we're not changing any of that. And, and delivery, perfect, great. Thank you. All right. Any other questions? The hear motion All right, motion to pass all we, we do have, we do have people signed up to speak for the bill. That that you're right. They've taken time out of their day to be here, so let, let's be sure and let this OK, Ryan Norris. Come up. I almost got you through, man. Mr. Norris, introduce yourself. Yes, Ryan Norris, state director for Americans for Prosperity. Thank you, Mr. Chair, for allowing me to speak. I'm gonna keep it brief because I think that uh I think I'm feeling like we're all gonna be on the same page. The reason that we're also very interested in Americans for Prosperity in this bill. Is that the theme of the bill is very important that it's talking about small farm potential small farm growth, the need for new farmers and also economic freedom that Americans for Prosperity is very keen to support. We have a we have a need in our country for more farmers, only 1.3% of the population are farmers and in Arkansas 74% of our farmers are made up by small family farms, they have difficulty trying to make the ends meet as this body knows very well. So any way they can create new forms of revenue, we believe that's good for the state and that's good for them as well. There's mutual benefit there. So one of the issues has been market access limitations that this bill is trying to resolve. So we appreciate that, uh, Representative Cooper is, uh, Pat is moving this bill forward. Additional to that, there's an urgent need for again, new farmers. Our farm age of our average farm farmer age is 60 years old. Many are heading towards retirement and we need new people to step up and they need to have the ability to start with small farms, make some revenue to sustain that and grow themselves into larger operations should they be qualified? and good enough and produce a product that the cus that the consumer wants. But again, one of the barriers is limit to market access that this bill is taken care of and then just this would expand small scale uh dairy operations, and we, we appreciate that again by expanding it's just allowing them to sell it more it's not changing the quantities per month, etc. uh, on top of that, just the free market aspect of this, enabling farmers to maximize product value is very important. You've got to make all the dollars and cents that you can in the production that you have because it is tough. With all of the inputs, energy costs, feed costs, etc. to make a dime and if you have a little bit of uh Operation go to where you can make a few extra dollars for your family, that's a positive thing in our estimation, so we ask that this uh that this committee please support this and have a very good vote on this bill because again small farm growth is implicated in this entry for new farmers could entice more farmers into this, uh, field and then economic freedom and agriculture, so I asked for a very good vote on this, and I'll entertain any questions if you have them for me. Members, any questions? All right, that's a wrap. Thank you. All right, Luke Wilson. Mr. Wilson would you introduce yourself for the record? Thank you, Mr. Chairman and distinguished committee. Uh, I'm Luke Wilson representing Wilson Ranch Dairy in support of the bill. I'll try to make this very brief. Uh, I had quite a bit, but I'll try to keep it quick. First off, uh, I would like to thank you for your time and allowing me to give a brief testimony on behalf of my family's farm and really in behalf of raw milk in a broader sense. I'd like to start off by giving a little background just to my family and the impacts that raw milk has had on my own personal life. As the 4th child of 6 and 400 acre farm. It was only natural that at the age of 5, I would join my siblings at 6 a.m. every morning to milk the Jersey cows that we had. And that's what I did every morning until I went to college with the intent of saving up money, which I used to pay for most of my undergrad tuition thanks to the opportunity that selling milk and raising livestock gave me. As great as that is and the opportunities that it afforded me, the simple fact of the matter is that if my dad hadn't worked as a dentist, there would have been no way that our dairy located between The middle of nothing and nowhere, um. Or any other rural located raw milk dairy would have been able to sustain itself. And the main reason for that is access and this bill's attempt to eliminate the disparity between rural area raw milk dairies, and those vendors closer to metropolitan areas. Raw milk is an integral part of the agriculture all across the United States and specifically here in Arkansas. Arkansas for many years has had a booming dairy industry, as you all know, way back in the early and mid 1900s, but we saw something unique occur and that the corporate dairies begin to buy out or put out of business all of the smaller micro dairies. We saw the consolidation of milk market in such a way that it favored the larger corporate dairies, and they began to monopolize. When that happened, the dairy industry in Arkansas drastically declined in 1995, um, Arkansas passed a law called the Incidental Sales Act, it was discussed earlier, which allowed for the sale of raw milk, but the point of sale was confined to the farm in 2013, that expanded to allow for raw milk, uh, cow's milk to be sold. What that did was it allowed for small rural dairies like my family's dairy to actually be able to start making small income off the dairy that we had already run for years. As I said, I started when I was 5 years old and in 2013 when it expanded, we were then able to market our dairy products. Before then, it was only on donation basis, whether the clients, if you want to call them that would give us any money. And of course, there's no way to make a business off of that. So in 2013 when the law expanded, we were allowed to sell now sell our milk, but again, the point of sale had to be confined to the farm. The issue is that we live so far out from many metropolis that it became and remains a major disadvantage for us and for all those uh raw milk dairies that are in rural settings. Anyone who has ever owned a business or ran a business could tell you that in addition to all the laws in supply and demand, there's also the factor of availability to the customer. consumer. People inherently go towards what is most easily accessible. What this law does is it expands the access to where dairies like my family's dairy would now be able to tap into those metropolitan areas and give them the choice in which product they want to choose. Really, it's as much for the raw milk consumers in the state as it is for raw milk dairies. And I'm going to tell you that the raw milk industry is only going to grow. Most of our customer base are people between the are below the age of 40, mainly millennials and gin. And that's kind of the trend where things are going. So if you want to expand agriculture in Arkansas, at least in my opinion, one of the hot markets are raw milk products including raw milk or raw products including raw milk. So by expanding access, you will expand the raw milk industry and the agricultural industry in Arkansas, which will benefit. People would no longer have to choose between driving an hour and 30 minutes or a 15 minute drive, the market would expand to allow people to access these products I mentioned earlier thus the intent of my testimony is to highlight the issue of accessibility to raw milk and raw milk products in hopes that this legislature can pave a path towards a healthier Arkansas and an expanded free market. Thank you again, Mr. Chairman and distinguished committee for your time and allowing me to testify. If there are any questions. Questions? You reckon? Wilson, what is the average cost of a gallon of raw milk? The average cost of raw milk, we're selling ours for $10 which is actually cheaper than uh what it is around the US. It generally tends to run between $15.20 dollars a gallon. OK, and do you, do you have goat milk also? We do not sell goat milk, no, sir. All right. I would be interested in what that cost, and I'm not sure if that's sold by the quarter of the gallon, and I'm sure Cameron knows that, but I can't ask him that right now. All right, thank you. Thank you. All right, any other questions, committee? All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Steve. Good morning, Chairman and members of the committee. Sir, please introduce yourself. My name is Steve Grap. I'm with Stand up, Arkansas. You know, walking up today, it was a beautiful day for a change. I got up this morning and my purple hole pea plants had sprouted. In my greenhouse, of course, it's still a little cold, but that tells me spring is coming. And that's good for us farmers. I'm here today representing Standup Arkansas, an organization dedicated to raising the voices of Arkansas citizens listening to the needs of our communities and leading grassroots efforts to influence governance. We're actively organizing in 63 of the 75 counties. And we'll soon have a presence in all 75 counties. A core part of our mission is empowering our Kansans to use the ballot and initiative and referendum process to ensure that the actual wants and needs of our communities, not corporate interests are reflected in law. I'm also here before you as a homestead farmer. I have a farm called Forevermost Farms in Rosebud, Arkansas, which happens to be in Representative Cooper's district. We raise goats. Chickens, turkeys, pigs, and a whole lot of other stuff kind of like Ronald McDonald, but those are our production animals. If you've eaten at restaurants like the pantry, Brave New Restaurant, or bought from me and McGee Market or the front porch market. You probably, or you could have eaten our food. From our farm. But it's been become increasingly difficult. For family farms to even exist. The Arkansas legislator has a pretty evil history when it comes to family farms. In, in siding with Big AG. And putting regulations in effect for some of the big corporate interests that actually limits what we can do as family farmers. I had a whole speech going through the history and how it impacts the farm. I'm just gonna let that go. We don't need to repeat that, but I would like to just stop from my heart for a second. The pandemic was hard enough on farm, on family farmers. We are right now, we, we have, we're, we do what's called regenerative farming. Which We are caretakers of the land, and we're trying to do it right. We don't do chicken houses. We free range all of our animals. We care for our our animals and land. And we don't have 400 acres, but I wish I did. We're 15 acre farm. And There are regulations that are so stringent and uh and tough, that it's hard to even sell what you have to, you want to sell. We have to go through a USDA process as a family farm to sell our meat. And they charge us the cost to process what they're selling meat for in the stores. If you wonder how it's tough for a family farm just to survive is because the big ag controls the processing and the prices of the processing. They are intentionally putting us out. Raw milk is wanted. There is a gigantic demand. We don't produce raw milk for consumption. But we get called all the time. Where can I get it? Where can I get it? Where can I get it? And like you said, you have to send somebody 30 miles outside the closest 500 person talent to even find it. And it's not fair, not just to the forest, but to the people of Arkansas. We're halted in production right now because of these cost problems because what a lot of people don't realize is a farmer has to pay everything upfront. And hope that we can recoup it on the backside. And if things like the pandemic come in and raise prices, You know, I had, I had to pay another $500 and transportation fuel just to get the my feed from Missouri to Arkansas cause we can't get non-GMO feed here in Arkansas. Like they're, because they don't want to be here because they can't get past our regulations. Y'all, I'm pleading with you. Cameron is doing something right. He's listening to what the needs of his constituents are. And he's going and finding a way to solve those problems. Y'all, y'all ask how much a a gallon of gas costs. He's, and he, or a gallon of milk costs and they're selling it for $10. Think. If you can only sell $500 a month, that's the most he's making is $5000. Think about how much it costs to feed and, and produce that milk. They're losing. Hey Steve. It Please, from a farmer, support this bill. Thank you. All right, Dan. Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Dan Quadros. I'm assistant professor, small ruminant specialist department of Animal Science, univers of Arkansas System division of agriculture. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today before I begin, I want to make it clear that I'm testifying as a private citizen and reflect my opinion alone the statements I make have not been reviewed by the University of Arkansas system division of agriculture. We could discuss raw milk. Potential risk for the human health, but it is not the case because raw milk sales. is allowed in the state of Arkansas, period. But only on farms. Small ruminants are the highest growing commodity in Arkansas. Sheep inventories increase 44%. In 5 years, the latest 2 agricultural census according to the USDA 44% roughly 10% per year. We still have more goats in Arkansas than sheep. That is different from the United States that has the dub of sheep than goats. The, the, in the same period of time, go to inventory increase 11%, however, dairy goats. 42%. Roughly 10% per year. I estimate the number of dairy goats today about 10,000 dairy goats in the state. In most of them in the hands of a small farmers and homesteaders. That definitely are struggling to put their their products in the market. Uh, sheep milk is screaming and very rich and goat milk is recognized by the scientific community by its nutraceutical properties and less allergenic properties too. Uh, but as I said before, marketing their milk is a constraint for our producers. So I commend Representative Cooper and If this bill passes, it can't beneficiate thousands of small farmers in our estate. So at the end of the day, is a matter of liability that is still in the hands of the customer as stated by our current regulation. So at the end of the day is a matter of choice, convenience, trust in the farmers and freedom. And Just to finish it up, that is very little difference that I go to your place to get the milk or you go to my place to deliver the milk or or convenience will be in the uh farmers' market. So thank you for the opportunity and I can take any questions. All right. Questions members. No questions. Thank you, sir. Camera. Committee, I appreciate your time. I'll just close really quickly. As I mentioned, this is a food freedom and a food security issue. This is about promoting locally grown products and connecting Arkansas farmers with customers who want to support their local economy. Customers that want to be connected to the food they consume and know where their food comes from. It's important to note that with this bill we're leaving that disclaimer, the disclaimer label that's required on the container. We're leaving the required signage at the point of sale. They're not changing that. We are leaving the prohibition on third-party sales has to be sold by the farmer. With this bill, we aren't requiring anyone to consume raw milk. We're not telling them they have to consume it. We're not even suggesting they should consume it. We aren't putting it in grocery stores. We're not putting it in your kid's school lunch. We're not recommending that people drink it. If people don't want to consume it, they're totally free to go to the grocery store and buy pasteurized milk. But let's leave the people alone who do want to consume it. Let's remove the barriers so that producers and their customers can more easily do business together. Clothes for my bill. I would appreciate a good vote. All right. What's the issues of the committee? pass Alright, your emotion, all in favor say aye opposed. Representative Cooper, you be passes. All right, who's up next? Representative Steele. Please introduce yourself for the committee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Representative Tracy Steele, North Little Rock. God's country. Ladies and gentlemen, I think this may be, uh, the, the, the shortest and most simplest bill of the session, so, uh, I want to tell you the, um, uh, Arkansas. Commission of State lands and land commissioner asked me to run this bill, uh, Kelly is here, my good friend Kelly, can I ask him, uh, Mr. Chairman, to come, come up. We may not need him, but I want everybody to see him. You all know Kelly and the, the great job he's doing. Yeah, and introduce yourself. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Committee, I'm Kelly Boyd, Deputy Commissioner of State lands. Thank you, committee, uh. In 1987 Acts 729 established the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council, uh, non-voting members and 2 non-voting members. Uh, it came back in 2019 with Act 910 and gave other members voting rights. All this bill does, uh, is allowed the land commissioner and all the other members. To have an opportunity and the ability to designate somebody in case they cannot attend the meeting. All other members have that privilege except for the land commissioner. All right. Questions committee. Any questions? Right? Anybody in the audience here to speak for or against the bill. No, how are you represented still, you're ready to clothes for your bill? Yes sir. Alright, appreciate a good vote. OK. Committee. All right, all in favor say aye. Po. Congratulations, Representative Steele. Thank you very much. OK, we're going to do 11:49 1st. OK. Kinder doing that. Yeah, Kendra, you want to do your bill. Senator Hill's here as well. OK. introduce yourself. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Kendra Moore, State Representative, District 23. I'm happy to be helping my friend Representative Vaut present her bill, House Bill 1149 this morning. Giving citizens the opportunity to create vegetable gardens on their properties. Many Arkansans desire the opportunity to have the ability to grow. Their own healthy food at home and not solely rely on commercially. Procured food sources, so this bill would help do that with, um, as many of you know, with many food insecurities and food deserts and around our state. This is a great bill to empower citizens to grow their own food. So I will be happy to try to answer some questions on this bill. All right, committee, any questions? All right. Representative Cozart. So can I not grow food on my property now. Do you live in a city that has restrictions on raised. vegetable gardens or No, I don't know why anybody would want to live in a city. So, no. All right. I got a little slap in there. All right. Any other questions? Representative. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So we have Cities, towns, whatever that right now are trying to prohibit or have prohibited. People from having gardens on their own property. That's my understanding. From Representative Vo. Do you happen to know who some of these folks are? I do not, sorry, I can try to get you that. I'll get that later on from somebody else. All right, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. All right. Any other questions? Representing great clothes for your bill. Yes, sir, I am. Oh, hang on a minute. Oh, anybody in the audience speak for or against the bill? Usain grabbed my arm. I told him, grab my arm if I get ahead of myself here. All right, no, no one from the audience. All right. Representative, very close for you, Bill. Yes sir, I am. OK. What's the desire of the committee? All right. All in favor say aye, opposed. Congratulations. All right, Senator Hill. We're, you're up. If you'll introduce yourself for the committee. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ricky Hill, Senate District 11. All right, may present your bill. We're doing 611. Yes. OK Senate Bill 61 basically is a bill that, uh, says that, uh, veterinarians can use, uh, telemedicine in the state of Arkansas under emergency or an urgent uh care situation. This bill allows the uh the veterinarians to, uh, perform services on the animal even if they do not have a veterinarian client patient relationship, provided that they Get that relationship within 7 days on a small animal in 21 days on a large animal. So it allows the veterinarians because they'll be tied up a lot of times in, uh, in the clinic, have an emergency situation. And it's something they can handle over the telephone with someone, and so this just allows them the opportunity to do that. We're trying to modernize this to where it, uh, kind of replicates the, the medical field side of it. And we have a couple of veterinarians that are here to speak for. Let's work with the uh Arkansas Veterinarian Medical Association, uh, for the last year, representative and myself have, uh, Representative Painter, and this is what we came up with that we thought would be good for the industry and, uh, for the consumers. All right, committee, any questions? All right, in the audience of speaking far or against the bill. No? OK. Senator, you're ready to close for you? I'd appreciate a good vote. All right, what's the will of the committee. All right, all in favor say aye opposed. Congratulations. Mr. Chair. You're ready to go on your next bill. Senate Bill 68. It allows a veterinarian to send out a vet tech. A vet tech specialist. Or your veterinarian technologist allows him an indirect supervision to send some one of them out to the farm if it's an emergency case, they can go out with veterinarians tied up in the clinic or whatever he can see in one of his, uh, His employees out and they, they can go out to the farm directly. I've had, got a couple of examples that uh Veterinarians have been tied up in the, in the clinic where they're doing surgery, whatever, whatever they're doing. And or they may even have 30 patients lined up out there to see today and an emergency situation takes place where they can send one of their one of their techs out. And take care of the situation, report directly back to the veterinarian. They are still answering to the vet vet's responsible for all the insurance and everything else, and he is assuming all liability on them, and they're just there representing him. They'll make contact back with him and tell him the situation and he'll tell them what they can do and what they can't do. Committee, any questions? Anyone in the audience speaking far or against the bill. No, Central Hill, you're clothes for Bill. Very close. I'd appreciate a good vote. What's the will of the committee to pass all in favor say aye. Pod. Congratulations, Senator. Thank you, Mr. Chair. That's it, right? All right. That concludes today's business. I'll ask my Coach here if he's got anything he wants to say I missed him on the front end. He didn't grab my arm. All right, thank you. We're adjourned. I believe it was a touch screen. You just hit by a single sugar out of here.