Farm-to-fork restaurants in Indiana and their suppliers of locally raised chicken are flapping their wings over the governor signing legislation protecting that relationship.
The new law is a complete reversal from the original piece of legislation that would have prohibited small poultry producers from selling to restaurants.
"It's a victory for small farms," said Pete Eshelman, owner of the highly acclaimed Joseph Decuis Wagyu Farm in Columbia City, where Gov. Mike Pence on April 19 signed House Enrolled Act 1267.
The farm raises exotic Wagyu beef native to Japan; Mangalitsa pigs native to Austria and Hungary, along with produce that's all served at its farm-to-fork restaurant seating up to 150 people.
The poultry it serves is provided by Hawkins Family Farm in nearby North Manchester.
Producers of less than 20,000 but more than 1,000 chickens a year selling retail were operating under a federal law that made them eligible for an exemption from USDA inspection of the birds they raise and process themselves.
Citing safety concerns from a lack of regulation, the Indiana House in February adopted legislation that prohibited small producers from selling to restaurants if their chickens were not inspected while raised or at time of slaughter.
The amended legislation allows small producers to continue selling to restaurants as long as they obtain a permit from the Indiana Board of Animal Health.
The BOAH must issue a limited one-year permit to producers meeting certain requirements.
BOAH was also given the authority to conduct on-site inspections, but the small producer can go ahead and process if a BOAH representative is not in attendance.
Had the original legislation become law, Eshelman said producers like Hawkins Family Farm would have been forced to go out of business or have their chickens slaughtered by another processor.
It also would have posed a threat to the locally grown foods market.
Eshelman said his customers like the assurance of food raised and slaughtered by a local producer free of the chemicals.
He also said the taste is better from the practices followed in the raising and processing of the farm-to- fork birds.
"That's where you're going to get the better flavor, the better taste and you're actually going to know that's your chicken," he said.
Concern over the original legislation was such that Eshelman found himself part of a fast working movement expressing outrage on social and traditional forms of media.
There were also meetings with the governor and other key decisionmakers before a redrafting of the legislation that gained near unanimous support.
"It's a regulated environment. It's just not the same rules that you have when you're processing 200,000 birds a day," said Eshelman.
State Rep. Don Lehe (R-Brookston) authored both pieces of legislation.
He previously said the intent was strictly to assure the safety of the public food supply and denied allegations from local growers and servers the idea was to protect large suppliers.