SACRAMENTO – As the Sacramento region celebrates “Farm-to-Fork Week,” Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today signed three bills to expand access to fresh, locally-grown food in communities across California.
“This farm to fork legislation expands access to fresh, local produce and will help make our communities healthier,” said Governor Brown.
The Governor signed the following bills today:
– AB 224 by Assemblymember Richard S. Gordon (D-Menlo Park): Establishes health and safety standards for “community-supported agriculture” to ensure that Californians can continue to access local food directly from farmers.
– AB 551 by Assemblymember Philip Y. Ting (D-San Francisco): Allows cities and counties to establish Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones, to help encourage owners of undeveloped properties to use their land for urban farming, providing communities with urban green space and a local food source.
– AB 654 by Assemblymember Isadore Hall III (D-Compton): Extends the sunset date to January 1, 2018 for the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s certified farmers’ market program.
Governor Brown paved the way for farmers markets in California by signing the Direct Marketing Act in 1978, which allowed farmers to sell their produce directly to consumers.
Sacramento’s inaugural “Farm-to-Fork Week” features a number of public events that highlight the region’s local and sustainable restaurants and food production.
For full text of the bills, visit: http://leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html.