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The Oregon House passed the Farm Direct Bill (House Bill 2336) on February 16, to the delight of backers, including small producers, farmers’ market vendors, and locavores seeking their local foodie favorites.

HB 2336 clarifies regulations for farmers’ markets and small food producers. Traditionally, roadside stands selling country favorites like berries, honey, or eggs were exempt from licensing. Farmers’ markets wiggled in on that exemption for years, putting off would-be regulators with self-governing rules for participants, and hoping to avoid bureaucratic red tape so smothering to small enterprises.

But given the phenomenal growth in popularity of farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture (CSAs), and other farm-to-table buying opportunities, regulation was inevitable. The problem was that, without rules specific to farmers’ markets and the like, regulation was left to individual inspectors trying to interpret and apply general or analogous rules, often on an ad hoc basis with varying results.

HB 2336 the result of a year of meetings chaired by Representative Matt Wingard between the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA), the Oregon Farmers’ Market Association, farmers, and legislators.

The result is that foods deemed “non-hazardous, or minimally hazardous,” such as produce, dried fruits, nuts, pickles, preserves, and  a long list of other edibles can be produced and sold by “farm direct marketers” without a license, subject to certain labeling requirements. The ODA may expand this list of foods that can be prepared at home or on the farm. This is good news for entrepreneurs, food innovators, and consumers.

The bill must be passed by the Oregon Senate before it will become a law.

In the meantime, the Oregon Legislature is also considering the Family Farm Act (House Bill 2222), which seeks to expand the availability of raw milk in Oregon. Under current Oregon law, unpasteurized milk can be sold directly to consumers on the farm where it is produced, as long as the farm has no more than three cows and nine goats.

HB 2222 would expand the number of milk animals raw-milk sellers could keep, providing the farms agree be licensed and conduct bacteria tests. The bill also allows a person to slaughter not more than 1,000 chickens for use as human food without state or federal inspection.

Debate rages over the safety, health benefits, and superior flavor of local farm products and raw milk. (See here and here, for example.) But there is no question that “raw” and “local” are the hottest trends in the food world. The rules are changing in Oregon and House Bills 2336 and 2222 are just a couple of proposals to keep an eye on.