Deeds would serve Va. well

Having lobbied the Virginia General Assembly as a citizen lobbyist since 1992 with respect to small farm concerns, I can attest to the fact that candidate for governor Creigh Deeds is especially sympathetic to issues surrounding the sale of food from local farmers directly to consumers.

More often than not, he had the courage to take positions in favor of reducing the regulatory burden for on-farm sales in the face of strong agency and agribus-iness opposition.

In the 2008 General Assembly he sponsored and achieved passage of what is popularly called “the kitchen bill.” This legislation allows for the sale of candies, baked goods and jams and jellies sold at the home or at farmers’ markets without state inspection to an individual for his own consumption, provided the products are labeled “Not for resale — processed and prepared without state inspection.”

The law previously had not allowed such items to be sold unless the home’s kitchen had been inspected, an intrusive, burdensome and unnecessary requirement. Many of these small producers had just quit rather than submit to such inspections, thus reducing an individual’s access to this local food.

With the publication of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan, release of the current film “Food, Inc.” and the ever increasing incidence of foodborne illness due to agribusiness conglomerate control of the food supply, the public is now demanding more access to local food because of its safety, superior taste and connection to Ameri-ca’s “old-fashioned” farm roots.

Candidate Deeds has a farm background — an “old fashioned” farm background. He also has a track record in supporting the sale of local food from the farmer to the consumer. There is no question in my mind that he would serve well in this regard as governor of Virginia.