Farmers’ Market Fraud: California’s Approach and What It Means for Farmers’ Market Regulation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5195/jlc.2015.88Abstract
The United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) defines a farmers’ market as “a multi-stall market at which farmer-producers sell agricultural products directly to the general public at a central or fixed location, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables (but also meat products, dairy products, and/or grains).”[1] The recent resurgence in the popularity of farmers’ markets represents a return to days past where local producers were the predominant source for fresh produce and agricultural goods. With the most farmers’ markets of any state,[2] California has a large interest in the success of its farmers’ markets. In furtherance of this interest, California endeavors to protect its farmers’ markets from fraud.[3] Prior to 2015, California had one of the strictest farmers’ market regulatory programs in the United States.[4] Even so, the California legislature decided that more needed to be done in order to prevent farmers’ market fraud and on September 26, 2014 enacted Assembly Bill 1871 (“A.B. 1871”).[5]
The primary function of this Note is to analyze A.B. 1871 and develop an understanding of the California model for regulation of farmers’ markets. This model will be compared to the approaches taken by New York and Michigan (states with the second and third most farmers’ markets)[6] to develop a greater understanding of the various approaches to farmers’ market regulation. The goal of this Note is to serve as a policy guide for farmers’ market regulation. Following this introduction, this Note will proceed in six parts. Part I will discuss the recent history of farmers’ markets with a particular emphasis on the economic and social impact that farmers’ markets have on the communities in which they operate. Part II addresses the nature of farmers’ market fraud and some general ways that states and farmers’ market vendors and operators combat fraud. Part III will provide a comprehensive analysis of A.B. 1871 and its components. Part IV will provide a comparative analysis of the regulatory approaches taken by New York and Michigan. Part V outlines four general factors for states to consider before enacting statewide regulations for farmers’ markets. Finally, Part VI concludes with guidance on state policy regarding regulation of farmers’ markets.
[1] What is a Farmers’ Market?, USDA Food & Nutrition Serv., (May 27, 2015), http://www.fns.usda.gov/ebt/what-farmers-market. This Note will adhere to this definition of “farmers’ market,” and any reference to “farmers’ market,” unless specifically stated otherwise, is intended to reference this definition.
[2] National Farmers Market Directory, USDA Agric. Mktg. Serv., http://search.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/ (last visited February 1, 2015). As of January 2015, California had over 760 farmers’ markets registered with the USDA. The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (“AMS”) collects farmers’ market information and numbers through voluntarily submitted data. Id.
[3] For the purposes of this Note, farmers’ market “fraud” indicates whenever a vendor sells something that the vendor did not produce, cultivate, or harvest himself/herself and/or a vendor misrepresents something as being from a local area. A discussion on the nature of farmers’ market fraud is contained infra, Part II.
[4] Samuel R. Wiseman, Emerging Issues in Food Law: Fraud in the Market, 26 Regent U. L. Rev. 367, 386 (2013-2014) (discussing California’s previous system of farmers’ market regulation).
[5] A.B. 1871, 2014 Cal. State Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Cal. 2014).
[6] National Farmers Market Directory, supra note 2.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
- Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
- The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons 4.0 License (Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works), or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
- Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
- Noncommercial—other users (including Publisher) may not use this Work for commercial purposes;
- No Derivative Works—other users (including Publisher) may not alter, transform, or build upon this Work,with the understanding that any of the above conditions can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
- The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a pre-publication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
- Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
- The Author represents and warrants that:
- the Work is the Author’s original work;
- the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
- the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
- the Work has not previously been published;
- the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
- the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
- The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.