Authorizes school districts to order from certain farmers without requiring a waiver

4 Co-sponsors

• Fredrick J. Akshar II
• Patrick M. Gallivan
• Terrence P. Murphy
• Robert Ortt

Title of bill

An act to amend the general municipal law, in relation to authorizing school districts to order from certain farmers without requiring a waiver

Purpose or general idea of bill

This bill amends General Municipal Law to allow school districts to purchase from associations of ten or fewer producers or growers or to make purchases of less than 25,000.00 without applying for permission from the Commissioner of Education.

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1 - amends the General Municipal Law to allow school districts to purchase from an association of growers or producers of ten or fewer farm owners or to make a purchase of $25,000.00 or less without applying for permission from the Commissioner of Education. In the situation the association is greater than ten producers or growers and no other producers or growers have offered to sell to the school, then the school district may apply for permission from the Commissioner of Education. In addition, if the purchase is greater than $25,000.00 and no other producers or growers have offered to sell to the school, then the school district may apply for permission from the Commissioner of Education.

Justification

This bill encourages schools to purchase local food products. Not only does this help local growers and producers, but it also grants students access to healthier and fresher foods. Further, it allows schools to act in a more socially and environmentally conscious manner, while uniting with the regional community.

New York State agriculture is primarily comprised of small farms, as defined by the United States Department of Agriculture. This diversity of smaller farms and thus smaller product yields means that in order to sell to institutions like a school district, the farmers must collaborate to aggregate their products and thus have the higher volume for an extended season that school districts prefer. This cooperation is supported by the State of New York. In 2013 New York State backed the development of food hubs, which encourage farmers to work together cooperatively to grow and produce food to lower production and distribution costs. This bill fosters the development of our smaller farms by allowing these collaborating family farm operations to sell to local school districts by making the process clearer and more efficient.

The current General Municipal Law requires that school districts apply for permission from the Commissioner of Education to purchase food such as eggs, livestock, fish, or dairy products from separate growers and producers if there are more than ten growers or producers in the association. This application process can be burdensome to smaller school districts and contradicts current food hub programming by discouraging purchases from cooperatives or food hubs.

Current law makes purchasing locally difficult and fails to promote the current farm-to-school program. By amending current law to allow schools to make purchases of less than $25,000.00 from groups of growers and producers of more than ten without applying for permission, schools will have easier access to local agricultural products. This amendment will help New York State continue to meet its goal of maximizing investment in the agricultural sector. PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

New bill.

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.