This bill has NOTHING to do with socialism and EVERYTHING to do with capitalism. The profits of big agriculture are written all over this bill. I've spent weeks 'dissecting' every word in the bill and researching the co sponsors and the wretched politicians that wrote it , you should do the same. It does in fact impact farmers markets or any vegetable that is sold or meant for human consumption. It makes all growers comply with industry regulations ie insect control/pest nematodes,bacterial disease control and on and on. It hardly impacts the current agriculture monopolies and impacts the small farmers that don't have the resources to comply with regulations. Tom Vilsak (one of the bills authors) is heavily in favor of large industrial farms and genetically modified crops. Political spin confuses people, it is not about socialism per say , if we want to be intellectually honest HR 875 was born out of corporate monopolies infiltrating Washington with their money and influence. This bill is capitalism out of control,paradoxically the profit motive of corporate monopolies is behind this bill. They see the threat of small farmers and back yard growers and they want to stop it. This is all about $ business $....thats capitalism for you.

This sounds like a great idea and I hope it works well. One question that always comes up with markets is sales tax. In Indiana, sales tax doesn't apply to raw fruits and vegetables, or, as far as I can tell, to honey or jam or pies, so there's no problem there whether the growers/producers make the sales and donate the money or on the other hand donate the goods and the church makes the sales. Indiana does tax flowers and bedding plants as best I can tell, so if someone wanted to be a stickler they could insist that producers/growers charge sales tax, etc. But tax wouldn't be an issue if the growers donated those items to the church and the chaurch made the sales -- as long as sales weren't held on more than 29 days in a year. (In the link below, see "IC 6-2.5-5-26 Exemption; nonprofit entities; sales for less than 30 days each year; sale for educational, cultural, or religious purpose; sale for professional or workforce education improvement purposes") Here is a link that might be useful: Indiana Statutes

I used to think, the states that didn't have state income tax usually had higher sales tax. Making money off of tourists more than residents. Now, I think all of the states are trying anything they can to get more money. I always include sales tax in my price on taxable items, then figure it out at home. It makes it much easier and faster at the market. At least Indiana doesn't require the Grower's Permit like Alabama. YET, that will be next. Of course, we still have farmers markets that have NO rules for accurate scales, clean kitchens or anything else. Nobody charges sales tax, even on taxable items. It makes it hard to compete price wise with them. Marla

As usual thanks a lot for posting this article violet. I try to buy local crops when i can and feel it's more important now than it was last year even, because of tainted food showing up.(its olives now) I'm hoping Clarksville, AR will sell more things this year too,they've been sold out by noon before. vickie