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Have you ever wondered how your idea can be a part of our state's law?
Using the issue of local foods, this video will illustrate how a local farmer has
engaged in the process and how you can too.
For us to sell
direct to the consumer like we do, like a package at a time,
our meat, both our poultry and our beef and our pork and our lamb have to be inspected at a
state inspected or federally inspected facility
and so the inspectors that do that are funded by state dollars and there
was at one point the potential that they were going to drastically reduce
the number of inspectors. And I mean, that would have
decimated our business because if we can't get the meat inspected, we can't
sell it
What we here at the Indiana Senate Democratic Caucus have always encouraged
is there to be a community approach to problem
so if you know of other people in your
area who are concerned about the same thing, come together
get a team effort together if you will because that's very helpful and just
getting the message out within the community and also down at the Indiana
General Assembly.
One of the first things that I did was
contact some of my fellow farmers who also sell meat direct to the consumer
and then we just kind of started away from there
because then I talked a lot of my customers and said you need to contact
your legislator to let them know that this
pending decision could really have a broad-reaching impact. We have
really good customers. We have an e-mail list of like fifteen hundred
customers and I said that your local meat source is in jeopardy and these
representatives in Noblesville and like Carmel and downtown Indy were like
"Where is this coming from? Why do you care if the meat, or the farmer out in podunk gets their meat inspected?"
and they're like "Cause that's the food that we eat."
It's important for constituents to be contacting their legislators at all times of year.
And certainly during the summer is the ideal time because that might be just the
opportunity
for a legislator to bring that idea before the appropriate study committee.
so don't think 'Well, you know, I know they're not in session right now. They
don't want to hear from me.' We do want to hear from you and it might just be the right time.
At that time I had Senator Skinner and
Representative Grub
and they were great to talk to, and I just didn't talk to some
nameless person, you know, I'd left my message and they called called me back
and we had a good dialogue and I think once the the word got out about
how the decision could really have a big impact not only on my business
but on my customers' eating and also the state
butcher shops that were inspected that were looking to lose that business
Although the funding was kept at its current level, it was reduced sum
then there was some you know, trimming of some things but
we were still able to function as a business we're pretty busy on the farm and here with
our family and we didn't
have to, I didn't end up actually going to Indianapolis at the time
That's one of the great things now, the Internet has been somewhat of a balancer
for rural areas and we were able to communicate via email and phone and actual
good old snail mail and get the word across.
We have a lot more time
to discuss issues in the interim study committee. That's why we have them
So it's a lot more,
I think there's a lot more value
to the individuals to take advantage of the interim study committee process
and express their opinions on
whatever the issue
might be of their concern. We rely very much on the public and the public's
participation
to let us know
their points of view and their information
that they can bring to us about these different issues, so it's very important that
they participate
and it's important to know that it's an open process and
it's simply a matter of them
being willing, as the people who testified today
were members of different industries
who were involved with
various aspects of the farmer's markets programs
of taking their time of
and being willing to come up and testify
If they were willing to come, the meeting was open, they were able to express their points of view
and it was appreciated
There are a number of resources available to stay informed on issues
being considered by the general assembly
Those include the legislature's general website
the Senate Democratic Caucus website and pages for each district
Many legislators are also active on social media
On behalf the Indiana Senate Democratic Caucus, I just want to remind you
that we do want to hear from our
constituents. We value your opinion
so please never hesitate to contact us