The Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation has offered "strong support" for a bill that will help local farmers by transferring oversight of meat and poultry slaughtering facilities from the state Department of Public Health to the Department of Agricultural Resources.
The bill, which was filed in February by state Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington, was discussed Thursday before the Joint Committee of Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture.
More than 90 years old, the bureau has 6,200 members from 3,500 farms.
As the demand for poultry and red meat grows, Brad Mitchell, director of government affairs for the Marlborough-based bureau, said it is "difficult for growers to take advantage of this market because of a shortage of slaughter and processing facilities" in the state.
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