Community food production

This law authorizes a “community food producer” or a “gleaner” to sell or provide whole uncut fruits or vegetables, or unrefrigerated shell eggs directly to the public. Community food producers may also sell the same to a permitted restaurant, or a cottage food operation. Certain requirements must be met in order for these authorizations to apply. In addition, the law includes record-keeping requirements for certain donated gleaned products. The relevant definition of “community food producer” is supplied at section 113752, which provides that “[c]ommunity food producer means a producer of agricultural products on land that is not zoned for agricultural use but is otherwise in compliance with applicable local land use and zoning restrictions, including, but not limited to, restrictions governing personal gardens, community gardens, school gardens, and culinary gardens.” The relevant definition of “gleaner” is supplied at § 113796, which provides that “[g]leaner means a person who legally gathers remnants of an agricultural crop or harvests part of, or all of, an agricultural crop made available by the owner of the agricultural crop.”