Dear Friend,
Good news: the FTCLDF membership drive was successful, adding hundreds of new members to the organization! Your membership allows us to provide our members with legal advice and representation, while working on food freedom issues that affect us all.
Thank you to all who chose to join, and please know that anytime is a great time to join, by visiting our website HERE. or calling our offices at (703) 208-FARM (3276).
In a moment, I want to direct our new and existing members to our improved Member Resources area, but first, allow me to introduce you to our two newest board members.
Welcome Our New Board Members
The FTCLDF Board of Directors continues to expand. FTCLDF recognizes that further support and outreach makes us stronger.
To that end, I wish to introduce you to our two newest Board members, April Jones and Peter Ruddock.
April Jones
April Jones is the founder of the Pinehurst Farmers Market located in downtown Columbia, South Carolina in the Pinehurst neighborhood. April advocates for her community as part of the food justice and food sovereignty movement. She is passionate about community, gardens, and farmers markets.
She is a homesteader, writer, public speaker, blogger, recipe developer, book reviewer and more. She contributes content to her blog Frolicking Americana, Columbia Living Magazine and to state newspapers and national magazines, including Mother Earth News, Country Lore, The Natural Farmer, Grit, and Ark Republic. April is an Ecoparent Magazine Emerging Leader in food and agriculture nominee and writes for the Farmers Market Coalition. Connect with April at Pinehurst Community Action and at Pinehurst Farmers Market.
Peter Ruddock
Peter Ruddock is an advocate for sustainable food and all things that strengthen local food economies. He believes that when we make food choices, we must employ a triple bottom line: choosing food that is good for the Earth, good for all of those who work to bring it to us, and good for our health when we eat it.
Over the years, Peter has honed his advocacy by volunteering and working for numerous organizations whose missions complement his own, including Slow Food and Slow Money, the Ecological Farming Association and the California Food Policy Council. Most recently, he worked as the Policy Director of the COOK Alliance, advocating for policy change which would support homemade food businesses and make them more widely legal.
Early in 2022, Peter created Resilient Foodsheds, an organization which acts as a clearinghouse for food policy for small food and farm businesses. With it, he creates programs which educate entrepreneurs on how to work within the law while being sustainable, and which advocate for policy change to create a more resilient, equitable and inclusive food system.
We are so happy to welcome April and Peter and look forward to their insight and direction. You can get to know all of our board members HERE.
New and Improved Member Resources
Whether you are new to FTCLDF, or you’ve been with us for years, we have a host of member-only resources now available online. When you login to your account HERE then choose “Member Resources Home” on the menu to see all of the great new resources we have for you there.
You will find our 24-Hour Emergency Hotline that connects you quickly to our attorneys, webinars like our most recent, “Red Meat: Custom Slaughter Legalities and Challenges,” and “Farm-to-Chef: Marketing Your Small Farm to Restaurants.”
You’ll also find helpful podcasts including “Raw Milk Sales Explained” and “Poultry Pitfalls and Regulation” along with a wealth of articles and primers to help you in your journey.
We look forward to continuing to provide you with all of these great resources, and we thank you again for joining with us to make these important services available for our independent farmers, artisans, and cottage food makers.
Update on The Campaign for Raw Food
Oral arguments between our attorneys and the FDA are set for April 8, 2022 in the next step for the Campaign for Raw Food This fight is centered on raw, or unpasteurized, butter, but it's not JUST about raw butter. Continuing this interstate butter ban could lead the FDA to claim it can regulate other foods, prohibiting sales of rare meat or sushi! You will be hearing more from us in January as we roll out our Campaign for Raw Food. I have a short video introduction that briefly explains why the campaign is so important for preserving food choices.
Thank you again for your support as we work together to improve our food system.
In good health,
Alexia Kulwiec Executive Director |
