Local farm stands could sell goods from 250 miles away under proposed law

Riverhead farm stands selling corn and apples grown as far away as Maine could become a reality under a proposed local law.

The law is meant to accelerate the application process for local farm stands, but it also changes some important definitions governing what farm stands can sell and where they can open.

And those changes may come at the detriment of farmers already established on the East End, according to farmers and residents who spoke against the proposed law at a town board meeting last night.

“You’re insulting the farmers who have been working hard for 100 years or more,” said Phil Barbato, owner of Biophilia Organic Farm in Jamesport. “This legislation is really, really inadequate.”

The proposed law gives a new definition of “locally grown,” allowing up to 40 percent of a farm stand’s goods to be grown anywhere within a 250 mile radius of the farm. The remaining 60 percent would need to be grown on the farm.

Such a radius would include 12 states outside of New York.

“People are going to come here expecting apples grown on Long Island and actually get apples grown in Maine or Vermont,” said Abra Morawiec, a Jamesport farmer. “Why would you cheapen the reputation of our farmers? Eventually the consumer is going to catch on, and that’s really going to blow up in our faces.”

In another change proposed by the law, farms as small as two acres would be allowed to open roadside farm stands, a significant reduction from the current seven acre requirement.

That could open the floodgates to almost 100 new farm stands along the Main Road and Sound Avenue, according to Jamesport resident Larry Simms.

Simms pointed to a 2012 town board discussion that identified 97 local farms between two and seven acres. “If you think 97 new farm stands won’t impact farmers with established retail businesses, then I’m sorry, but I think you’re misguided,” he said.

An influx of new farmstands would also create more congestion on roads already bogged down by traffic during the summer and autumn months, Simms said.

“Everyone I know, residents and business owners alike, worry about the traffic and the capacity of our roads in season,” Simms said. “I don’t know what our saturation point is for farm stands, but if we’re not there now, we’re pretty damn close.”

The proposed law is intended to expedite the application process for local farm stands, requiring farm stand applications to be reviewed and decided upon within 60 days of submission.

But residents and farmers last night protested that the law would harm local agriculture, not help it, by allowing more farm stands on much smaller farms, potentially selling products as far as 250 miles away.

“Sound Avenue and the Main Road could end up looking like Route 58, with too many stores selling stuff that was not grown or produced here,” Simms said.

Annemarie Prudenti, the town deputy attorney who drafted the legislation, defended the proposed changes, pointing out that the town’s agricultural advisory committee, farmland preservation committee and the Long Island Farm Bureau all participated in the process of drafting the law.

Councilman George Gabrielsen argued that defining “locally grown” within a radius of 250 miles is necessary for farmers when they experience a crop failure.

“Sometimes we get a blight,” explained Gabrielsen, who is a farmer himself. “Farmers will generally bring in pumpkins from Pennsylvania to save the season. I would not want to close down our pumpkin season because of a crop failure.”

“Well maybe you don’t need to grow pumpkins,” Morawiec shot back. “Maybe you should grow something else. If the climate changes and you are unable to produce a product that you want to grow, then perhaps it is a good business idea to adapt and change.”

Town Supervisor Sean Walter suggested that the radius could be reduced, with an exception included for instances of crop failures.

Town board members agreed that the proposed law should be further discussed in work session before going to a vote.

Written comment will remain open to the public until August 28.

Correction: A previously published version of this article incorrectly identified the states within the 250 mile radius.