Dear Friend,

Our friends and allies at the National Family Farmers Coalition and Rural VT will be in D.C. next week for a fly-in to meet with various legislative offices on several bills and policy efforts. We are requesting that FTCLDF supporters will assist in this effort by calling your representatives to ask for their support for the LOCAL Foods Act. 

The Livestock Owned by Communities to Advance Local (LOCAL) Foods Act. seeks to update the personal-use exemption in the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) to clarify that on-farm slaughter of animals that a person owns, in whole or in part, is legal.

Updating the personal-use exemption to be based on ownership aligns with current USDA guidance standards and is needed to protect the rights of livestock owners, producers, and itinerant slaughterers to practice on-farm slaughter in accordance with their state regulations.

Currently, the personal-use exemption reads as if only those who raise livestock themselves can access the resulting meat through slaughter on the farm without inspection, although USDA guidance recognizes the ability of a purchaser of livestock to slaughter as well.  

The LOCAL Foods Act would clarify that it’s legal for non-farmers to buy a share of live animals and then hire someone as their agent to do the slaughter on-farm.  

We need constituents from TX, NJ, KY, NY, ND, PA, OR, UT, VT, AZ, and WY to reach out to their legislators to let them know why this clarification around on-farm slaughter being legal is important.

This outreach will support our coalition’s work visiting legislative offices from these states in Washington D.C. during the 2025 National Family Farm Coalition Farmer Fly-in event at the end of February. In those meetings, our coalition will be encouraging these legislators to support this effort and so your voice is crucial in convincing them to act. 

See this press release with more information issued by the sponsors of the Act.