CSA’s with Animal Shares are (supposedly) legal
In October, we shared with you information about our dispute with the Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets (AAFM) and USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) about whether or not CSA programs can include animal shares from on-farm slaughtered livestock like it is legal to include on-farm slaughtered poultry (more info here). Legislators intended with Act 47 (2021) to explore the legal situation for livestock and the need for further legislation. Rural Vermont engaged in that process with AAFM and the legislative council earlier this year. From our interpretation of the law, these types of CSA programs should be already legal, given that Rural Vermont advocated successfully in 2019 to allow for multiple owners in the VT statute. The CSA program would be an option for the contractual relationship between those owners about sharing those animals and carcasses. In contract law, anything that is not prohibited is allowed. In the now issued final report on the matter, the legislative council agrees with Rural Vermont and states:
“Moreover, in review of existing law under the FMIA, FSIS regulations, and FSIS guidance, Legislative Counsel agrees with Caroline Gordon that there is a reasonable interpretation that personal slaughter under an animal share agreement, although not specifically referenced, is allowed under federal and state law. FSIS guidance seemingly provides that there may be multiple owners of an animal under the personal use exemption and that the multiple owners under the personal use exemption do not need to reside at the same physical location.
One would assume that persons who do not reside together but own livestock together have some legal arrangement, formal or informal, addressing ownership of the livestock and rights in that livestock. In addition, Vermont law explicitly allows for a person or persons to own livestock subject to the personal use exemption in State law.”
Michael O’Grady (Office of Legislative Counsel), Memo- Slaughter of Livestock under Animal Share Agreements, Dec 1, 2021, page 6
The report also shows that FSIS is inconsistent by opposing language around animal shares in statute but allowing for multiple owners in the past in their guidance documents. Aside from Vermont, most states allow for multiple owners, like California, Texas, Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire. See a list of on-farm slaughter laws across the US on the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund website here. FSIS is rendering the multiple owners' allowance ad absurdum by indicating that all owners need to take part in the slaughter of the livestock. Rural Vermont also criticized AAFM in the past for interpretations of the VT statute that render the on-farm slaughter exemption impractical and make it extremely difficult for practitioners to comply. AAFM Meat Inspection Chief Julie Boisvert stated that not farmers but customers of animals sold for on-farm slaughter have to hire an itinerant slaughterer- even though the statute does not rule out that farmers can organize on-farm slaughter themselves (watch the AAFM virtual forum from May 2021 here). From a business standpoint, it would be impossible to have customers reach out to the few busy itinerant slaughters in the state individually, creating an extreme organizational burden for the itinerant slaughter community who then would have to concert the inquiries with the farmer.
The discourse around animal shares with AAFM and legislative council revealed that our State agency is handcuffed themselves as FSIS is threatening Vermont's ‘equal-to status’ that allows AAFM to conduct and receive funding for the state's meat inspection program under an agreement with FSIS.
Take Action! Speak with VPR about what on-farm slaughter means to you, if the law currently is clear or confusing to you and if it would be meaningful to you if AAFM would support CSA’s with shares from on-farm slaughter. Email VPR reporter Howard Weiss-Tisman (hweisstisman@vpr.org) and CC: caroline@ruralvermont.org.
More info?
* Read the memo from legislative council Michael O’Grady from December 1, 2021, “Slaughter of Livestock under Animal Share Agreements” here
* Find the current interpretation of the Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets presented in this virtual Q&A forum here, and in their online brochure here.
Get in touch - and join our on-farm slaughter supporter email list, email caroline@ruralvermont.org, and seek practitioners to join our core stakeholder group to consult on the issue (Subject: OFS core).