Bill would expand ranchers’ on-farm slaughter options
The proposed legislation, whichwill be consideredby the stateAssembly later this spring, comes at a timewhen ranchers see growing interest insales ofwholeanimals, particularly in response to pandemic-re- lated supply chain disruptions that led to empty meat cases at grocery stores last year, Placer County sheep rancher Dan Macon said. “I think what COVID has shown us is that peoplearegoingback tobuying freez- ers and stocking their freezers withmeat,” he said. “The demand for whole carcass, for a whole animal has really, really risen
in the last year.” Maconsaidnot onlyarepeople reacting to the pandemic by buying meat in bulk, but there’s a segment who “wants toknow that ananimalwasharvestedon the ranch where it was raised.” Evenbeforethepandemic,MarinCounty rancherMarcia Barinaga said she had loy- al customers and restaurants that bought whole lambs and hogs fromher, but when Marin Sun Farms in Petaluma closed its doors in 2019 to producers processing an-
ByChing Lee Selling customers an entire animal for their freezers is not a new practice, but California ranchers say state restrictions and limited options of where they can process just a fewanimalshavehampered their ability to provide bulkmeat to those whowant it. Passage of Assembly Bill 2114 in 2018 made it easier for cattle ranchers to sell “freezer beef” directly to customers, as it adopted standards that allow ranchers to use mobile operations to slaughter cattle on the farm rather than trucking the ani- mals, sometimes long distances, to feder- ally inspected facilities that havedwindled in the state. Producers of sheep, goats and swine say they would like the same opportuni- ties, and they’re looking to proposed leg- islation they say could be a game-chang- er for small rancherswhowant to pre-sell whole animals. Sponsored by the California Farm Bureau, AB888aims todo for sheep, goats and potentially swine what AB 2114 did Two bills would end the estate tax Saying themeasureswould remove bar- rierstofarmownership, theAmericanFarm BureauFederationannounced support for twobills toeliminate the federal estate tax. The bills were introduced in the Senate and House last week. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and 25 cosponsors introduced S. 671;Reps. JasonSmith,R-Mo., andSanford Bishop, D-Ga., introducedH.R. 1712 with 121 cosponsors. Both pieces of legislation would allow for repeal of the estate tax. AFBF said its analysis shows the tax threatensmore than 74,000 family farmsacross thecountryand nearly half of all farmland. Notingthat farmersandranchersalready faceunpredictablechallengesbeyondtheir control, AFBF President ZippyDuvall said the tax code “shouldencourage farmbusi- ness growth, not add touncertainty.” “Eliminating the estate tax removes an- other barrier to entry for sons and daugh- tersor other beginning farmers tocarryon our agricultural legacy andmake farming more accessible to all,”Duvall said. If the estate tax remains in place, AFBF said, farmers, ranchers and other small businessowners would be “forced to con- tinue to divert resources to pay for estate planning to account for a shifting and un- predictable taxcode,” rather than investing to improve their operations. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act tempo- rarily doubled the estate tax exemption to $11 million per person, indexed for inflation through 2025. However, without congressional action, theestate taxexemp- tion will revert to $5.5 million per person in2026, whichAFBF saidwouldput “even more farms and ranches at risk.”
for cattle: Legalizeon-farmmobile slaugh- ter of these animals in limited quantities, therebymaking it “easier for consumers to connect directly with their food sources, ensure that food safety protocols are be- ing followedandsupport theexpansionof local ranchers selling toconsumers across thestate,” saidAssemblymanMarcLevine, D-MarinCounty, who authored the bill.
See MOBILE, Page 19
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March 17, 2021 Ag Alert 3
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