What will it take to Build a Local Food Movement?
Photo: chicagopatchworkfarms.com
Lauren Gurley of In These Times writes about what's needed to build a local, sustainable food movement in Chicago and Illinois. A Sustainable Economies Law Center event in Chicago that brought together a stakeholders in the local food movement is mentioned.
Read moreCalling all fans of local seed in California!
The California Seed Exchange Democracy Act will be up for a vote in the State Senate Agriculture Committee on June 21. We need your help to pass this bill to legalize seed sharing!
Read moreHome-cooking markets like Josephine seek regulation
Photo Credit Gabrielle Lurie, Special To The Chronicle
Carloyn Said of the San Francisco Chronicle writes about regulations around selling home-cooking in California, and the movement to change regulations to allow platforms like Josephine to operate legally. SELC Policy Director, Christina Oatfield, is quoted in the article.
Read moreA New Homemade Food Act
In late February of this year California State Assemblymember Cheryl Brown introduced AB 2593, a bill to legalize the sales of homemade food, including hot meals, within certain limits. The bill would provide a dramatic expansion of California citizens’ ability to legally sell homemade food. Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) was heavily involved in advocating for the California Homemade Food Act of 2012, a.k.a the cottage food law, authored by Assemblymember Mike Gatto. So we wanted to post about this new bill, although SELC is not sponsoring or supporting it at this time.
Read moreSELC Policy Director Interviewed about Grassroots Finance and Farmland Programs
In anticipation of the Community Capital Conference coming up in Portland, Oregon, movers and shakers in the local economy and community investing realms are being interviewed about what they are looking forward to discussing and learning.
SELC's Policy Director Christina Oatfield spoke with Hatch Oregon's Hatch the Future podcast about our Grassroots Finance and Farmland programs, our Local Economies Securities Act legislation, the early development of SELC, and her own path to becoming a lawyer without going to law school.
Read moreCalifornia Seed Exchange Democracy Act
In 2016, as part of our Save Seed Sharing campaign, Sustainable Economies Law Center worked with partners across California to pass AB 1810, the California Seed Exchange Democracy Act, which protects seed libraries and exchanges from legal barriers imposed by the state seed law. California became the fourth state, behind Minnesota, Nebraska, and Illinois, to pass legislation recognizing the rights of farmers and gardeners who save seeds and share them within their community. We couldn't have done it without the help, advice, and commitment from a host of partners and collaborators within the broader food and agriculture advocacy community. THANK YOU!
Do you live in a state without the Seed Exchange Democracy Act? Do you want to advocate for seed democracy? We've created a toolkit of resources to help you do just that, including sample legislation, local resolutions, letters of support, and more! As part of our commitment to transformative grassroots policymaking, we've set out to create replicable models for state-level policy change that can be used by community-based advocates around the country. Click below to download the toolkit!
Our Partners
Legislature Passes AB 234
Last Friday the California State Legislature passed AB 234 - a bill to improve the law affecting "community food producers" and gleaners who provide fresh fruits and vegetables to people in California.
You can read more about the bill and legal background in our previous Food News Blog post here.
The bill is now on the Governor's desk awaiting his signature or veto. This is the last step in the lawmaking process. We will know by October 11 whether this bill will become law effective January 1, 2016. We think that it is very likely that the Governor will sign the bill. We will write a follow-up post after the Governor announces what he has decided to do with the bill.
Read moreCultivating the Roots of People Powered Economies
Growing healthy and sustainable food starts with caring for the soil.
We think of SELC’s work as cultivating a healthy soil for more resilient communities to grow. We’re the soil biologists, not the farmers (metaphorically, at least - some of us actually are urban farmers)! So that’s why, as part of SELC’s People Powered Economies campaign, we are lifting up the work of our partners and allies who are rooted in the communities most impacted by the ills of an extractive economy, and most poised to cultivate and grow a new one.
Seed Libraries Fight For the Right to Share
By:Christopher Cook
February 11, 2015
It’s easy to take seeds for granted. Tiny dry pods hidden in packets and sacks, they make a brief appearance as gardeners and farmers collect them for future planting then later drop them into soil. They are not “what’s for dinner,” yet without them there would be no dinner. Seeds are the forgotten heroes of food—and of life itself.
Sharing these wellsprings of sustenance may sound innocuous enough, yet this increasingly popular exchange—and wider seed access—is up against a host of legal and economic obstacles. The players in this surreal saga, wherein the mere sharing of seeds is under attack, range from agriculture officials interpreting seed laws, to powerful corporations expanding their proprietary and market control.
Seed Campaign Updates
Last year, we found out that over 300 nonprofit seed libraries were at risk of being shut down due to misapplication of seed laws by several state departments of agriculture.
In partnership with Shareable and Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library, and with the help of the Clif Bar Family Foundation and Seed Matters, we launched a national petition campaign to build support for seed libraries and to tell regulators to protect our right to freely save and share seeds