HB779

My daughter, Jennifer Merrill of New Hampshire, has a small farm and raises rabbits. She has many friends in New Hampshire that are farmers as well. I'd like to support this bill as it means so much to small farms. These are clean and well maintained farms. NH Is a great state and the farmers need the support. Thank You

Farms are the backbone of our state and country. Our local farms are keeping food supply standing with all the supply chain issues.

I raise rabbits for self consumption and dog food and I support this bill for the future, should I choose to expand.

Allow farmers to farm

I am supportive of HB 779 to allow the sale of processed, uninspected rabbits to the public. I would like the ability to purchase local meats.

Since the state is unable to provide an inspection program for rabbits raised and processed for meat, it doesn’t seem appropriate that the state would not allow the sale of rabbit meat locally, at farmers markets, or to general consumers. It makes sense to pass this bill so that rabbit farmers have an avenue to sell some of their products.

This is so important for producers!

Please consider allowing local rabbit growers to be able to sell their meat at farm stands. We WANT to purchase this locally and support are local businesses and gain healthy meat for our families

Is a small scale farm, this legislation would be getting changing for us. We raise rabbits for our family currently, and there are many benefits to rabbits as a food source. Having an avenue to sell rabbit to the general public would add an additional revenue stream for small farms, and an additional high-quality source of protein for consumers. This type of legislation is already in place for poultry, and the rabbit harvesting process is simpler with less room for error than poultry. Additionally, as we see poultry being increasingly affected by avian flu, this provides a comparable alternative protein source.

This bill would be beneficial to both farmers and consumers to make rabbit meat more available.

1) As USDA butchering prices continue to rise so does the cost of meat to the consumer. If this bill passes it would benefit both the farmer and consumer in lower costs. 2) USDA butchers throw away an obscene amount of every animal they butcher that could be used as valuable dog and cat food for those of us who raw feed our pets. Pancreas, spleen, lung, trachea, and gullet are just some of the highly nutritional animal parts that are ALWAYS discarded by these butchers. This bill would open up the opportunity for farmers to make even more money in an untapped market and customer base who yearns for these products across the state.

I support the passing of the bill. I regularly try to source products from local producers. Passing this bill would allow more freedom and choice in where I source my products. I prefer to keep as much of the food products I source to be local, within a short radius of my residence, NH or New England. Allowing this bill to pass would allow local meat producers I use to open a new opportunity for their farms. This is a great shift for the state of NH to allow rabbits as a meat source. From what I believe the only source for rabbit meat in NH is from out of country importers. We should be supporting more US based products and further more would allow intrastate farms to grow and expand their reach to NH residents like me.

I, George Putnam support this bill, as I believe it will be of benefit to small farms.

I, Dorothea Putnam, support this bill as I feel it will help our small, local farmers.

As it stands, there are no instate ways to have a rabbit processed for sale at farmer’s markets or direct to consumer. Current state laws are forcing rabbit farmers to interstate commerce. There are no USDA Voluntary Rabbit Inspection sites in New England. Farm stands are importing from out of country to meet consumer demands because our state prohibits them from selling local. I support this bill to create an exemption for NH produced rabbit meat sold in intrastate commerce.