For many people, the idea of eating food grown by their neighbor makes more sense than eating food grown under unknown conditions thousands of miles away - and that's before even considering the environmental impacts of the fossil fuels burned to get non-local food to Vermont.
A year ago, American Flatbread founder George Schenk questioned the status quo and questioned the common sense of state laws which prohibited him from serving chicken grown at the farm across the street from his restaurant.
Schenk said the state's policy kept him from using readily accessible local meat and that it was unfair to small poultry farmers such as his neighbor Hadley Gaylord. He prepared to stage a civil protest and received an injunction from the Vermont Health Department, calling for him to desist.
Rather than civil disobedience Schenk took a different tact and worked, with the help of others, within the system to change the regulations. In less than a year new legislation was drafted and written, testimony was given and a new law was passed that allows the proverbial chicken to cross the road from Gaylord's farm to American Flatbread.
The law is the result of a lot of hard work by many people from The Valley and beyond. We may not have gotten any significant property tax relief or education funding reform from the Vermont Legislature this year, but we did get the right to have locally grown chicken served in local restaurants.
The 'chicken bill' is a victory for consumers as well as Vermont poultry farmers. Thanks are due to George Schenk for his courage and to all who helped him in this effort.
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