Farms that use agricultural byproducts for animal feed, bedding materials, and dust control may lose those through a bill now in the California Senate, reports the Western Farm Press.
Assembly Bill 2959 will force the unfranchised hauling of organic byproducts from grocery stores, restaurants, breweries, and wineries to be subjected to the same franchise agreements municipalities now have with select companies.
Louie Brown, a lobbyist representing the California Grocers Association, says the bill will further compound the challenges of meeting state mandates to divert organic waste away from landfills.
Frank Konyn owns a dairy near Escondido, CA and uses the feed byproducts from local companies to feed his cows. If approved, the proposed law would ban him from hauling those byproducts to his farm.
Read the full report here.
