Committee reviews draft of S 323 to limit municipal bylaws over farming, tweak RAPs thresholds

The committee spent its meeting reviewing draft language for S 323 (sections 1–3), a bill that would limit municipal authority over farming and change how the state’s Required Agricultural Practices (RAPs) apply to small-scale operations. Bradley Schoeman, Legislative Counsel, walked members through the draft and noted the text both restores earlier RAPs exemptions and expands explicit protections for backyard food production and poultry.

The draft would prohibit municipalities from regulating the cultivation or use of land for growing plants "including for food, fiber, Christmas trees, maple sap, horticulture, viticulture, and orchard crops," and would permit the "raising, feeding, and management [of] small backyard poultry flocks, excluding producers," according to Schoeman. He told the committee the bill “restores the pre‑RAPs status quo” and “goes beyond the pretest status quo” in ways that could allow individuals to grow food and keep poultry in…