Running a Small Urban Farm Business? We Need Your Input on a proposed Urban Ag Business License!

[Nick Lucas]

Don't miss your chance to weigh in on the latest development for a Chicago Urban Farm Business License!

The input of people running urban farm businesses is crucial! Get the full story here bit.ly/BizLicenseProposal or read on, and please fill out this survey today: bit.ly/BizLicenseSurvey. Use the format of the survey to fill in info about your business and what it would mean for you to try to meet any of the proposed requirements or options. Your opinions are most helpful if you provide details and explanations with specifics about your business. Your name and your business name won’t be shared unless you choose to.

As we've shared in this forum, AUA, Chicago Food Policy Action Council (CFPAC), and other community partners are working to ensure a clear and reasonable process for an urban farm business license. The city requires a business license to do business, and urban agriculture is not exempt (believe us, we tried that first!). Currently, urban agriculture entrepreneurs are directed to a variety of licenses that do not suit urban agriculture, including a peddler's license (which can only be held by a person, not a business, and has restrictions on hours of operation and locations), or a Wholesale Food License (which costs $660 biannually).

After extensive conversations between AUA, CFPAC and the mayor's office, there is a proposal and WE NEED YOUR INPUT! The proposal is to modify the Mobile Produce Merchant business license to include urban farm businesses. Almost everything about this route looks good:

- It would allow urban farms, even those with permanent structures that are used for food production (such as storage/refrigeration/office space, greenhouses, aquaponic facilities, etc), to obtain a license that costs $125 every 2 years and does not require inspections or certification
- It would allow farms with this license to have onsite produce stands
- There are no restrictions on hours of operation or "exclusionary zones" of sales
- The farm is registered under its business name rather than requiring a license for each owner

HOWEVER, here is where we need your feedback: the issue with this license is it requires that at least 50% of "produce merchant business" be done "within areas underserved by grocery stores". The city says it is not possible to fully exempt urban farms from this criteria since the license was developed specifically to increase healthy food access in underserved areas. BUT, it is possible to address this requirement in creative ways to ensure that it doesn't create a major obstacle for urban farming businesses.

We are exploring a list of qualifying criteria, and as long as a farm meets at least ONE of them it would qualify for this license. Please provide your feedback with this brief survey bit.ly/BizLicenseSurvey on each of the following possible qualifying criteria. What kind of requirements can you go along with that wouldn't handcuff your or other urban agriculture operations? How would each affect your operation? What other options can you think of? How could these or other ideas be improved?

- More broadly defining what "produce merchant business" in "areas underserved by grocery stores" means (for example, "underserved by locally grown food")
- Replacing the requirement with a more general requirement to benefit the farm's community or underserved communities
- Reduce the required percentage sold to underserved areas to 20% or a different number
- Urban farms located in underserved communities meet the criteria by virtue of their location
- The urban farm has at least one employee from an underserved community
- The urban farm sells to businesses based in underserved communities
- The requirement applies only to farm businesses with a revenue of $X or more
- The urban farm is enrolled in the Double Value SNAP coupon program
- Other ideas?

In order to determine what could be workable, both for the current urban agriculture landscape and for the one we're trying to build, we need the input of Chicago's entire urban agriculture community! Please weigh in on each of the above criteria with this brief survey form: bit.ly/BizLicenseSurvey

With your ideas and insight, we can ensure a reasonable license that doesn't handcuff current and future small scale, grassroots, urban farming businesses, regardless of where they're able to establish their growing operation. Questions? Reach out to me! Thanks for contributing to the best possible route for an urban farm business license!

City of Chicago's 2012 Map of Neighborhoods Underserved by Grocery Stores: bit.ly/2012ChiMapUnderservedByGroceryStores

Nick Lucas
Outreach Coordinator

Advocates for Urban Agriculture

outr...@auachicago.org

C: 773-850-0428

auachicago.org

www.facebook.com/AUAChicago

twitter.com/AUAChicago
instagram.com/AUAChicago

[Debbie Hillman]

Nick, and all —

You say that discussions on this issue have included ?AUA, Chicago Food Policy Action Council (CFPAC), and other community partners”.

Two thoughts — a bit of a rant and then a constructive idea.

A.  RANT.  Where are the 50 Chicago alderpeople on this issue?  Where  are current alderpeople running for bigger office on this issue — e.g., Ameya Pawar, running for Illinois governor?   I believe that Pawar was at one time an advocate of urban agriculture, but his current campaign website does not mention it.  Why not?   What about the other 49 alderpeople?  

Why do Chicagoans allow the mayor to have so much policy-making power?   Mayors, governors, presidents, etc., are supposed to implement policy — not make it.  (Executive branch == execute)

No need to answer my questions, but as a Chicago native who’s spent the last 40 years on the other side of the border (Evanston), I have to wonder at all the bowing-and-scraping that goes on in Chicago.  (Not that there’s not bowing-and-scraping in all U.S. jurisdictions, including Evanston — that’s the legacy of patriarchal messianic capitalism. The Chicago version just seems to be particularly ugly and deeply rooted.  Probably it won’t stop until the turf wars stop.)

B.  CONSTRUCTIVE IDEA?  What about taking this issue — licensing or enabling urban farms, without undue restrictions —  to the Cook County board?   

Three interesting things to consider:

1.  Evanston's County Commissioner, Larry Suffredin - 13th district, is also the Commissioner for the 49th and 50th wards of Chicago.  I’d be happy to be part of a Chicago-suburban group to meet with Larry.

2.  In 2011-12 (?), there was a Cook County Food System Steering Committee.  We wrote a report (about access to local foods, including urban farms) and drafted an ordinance for a county-wide food policy council.  Unfortunately both the report and the ordinance went nowhere at the time.  But that doesn’t mean the work was done in vain. Maybe now’s the time to take another look.

FYI, as of the date of our report, there were about 1,000 “traditional” “family” farms in Cook County.  It might be interesting to review their “licensing”, etc.

3.  This might be a natural opportunity for AUA to expand its outreach, membership, and operations to other suburban Cook County residents, businesses, organizations, etc.  It would be a natural growth in AUA’s organization to initiate a meeting with Larry Suffredin (or some other Cook County commissioner).   

— Debbie

Debbie Hillman

Evanston, Illinois

847/328-7175

DLHi...@sbcglobal.net

LinkedIn

FOOD, FARMS & DEMOCRACY

Getting specific about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

www.FoodFarmsDemocracy.net

Latest blogs

Democracy in Action: Participatory Budgeting Petition (Evanston, IL)   July 2017

Racisms in the U.S. Food System:  An Iroquoian History  June 2017

Organic Checkoff — NO, New U.S. operating system — YES  April 2017

Beyond Capitalism, Before Billionaires:  A New-Old System   Feb. 2017

Still missing in the U.S. -- Women's collective authority   Nov. 2016

COUNT ME IN -- A new film on real democracy  Oct. 2016

U.S. Farm Movements and Monetary Policy 

Women's Councils:  A high-impact election platform in 2016   

Rational Agriculture Incompatible with Capitalism: Gendered rationality and Iroquois Constitution   

No one alive today signed on!  (to the US Constitution)   

In my purse....I carry the Constitution   

[Nick Lucas]

Hi Debbie,

Thank you for your thoughts. We can't go to the county for a business license as the City of Chicago says: "Unless the business is exempted by State of Illinois law, every business operating in the City of Chicago requires a City of Chicago business license." (Read more from the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection here: https://www.cityofchicago.org/content/dam/city/depts/bacp/general/3simplestepstoobtainbuslicf05313.pdf).

We are continuing to solicit input on the urban farm business license, particularly from folks running urban ag businesses. (Read the background on the business license and take the brief survey here: bit.ly/BizLicenseProposal). We will be bringing this feedback to the city soon. An important component of what we present will be several urban farm case studies and business plans, to show how some of the details of this or any license would affect their business. We need your help! Please reach out to me if you can participate.

To your points on AUA's network with the greater Chicagoland region, and with leaders such as Commissioner Suffredin, agreed! It is with that vision in mind that AUA is one of the 14 Farm Alliances that form the midwest-based Routes to Farm collaboration. The 14 Farm Alliances extend well beyond the Chicago metro area, and the initiative is dedicated to helping farmers, farm alliances, and strengthening food systems. Read more about the project and its resources here: https://routes2farm.org/about.

Please don't hesitate to reach out with more input or questions. Thank you!

Nick

[Debbie Hillman]

Hi, Nick —

Thanks for your response to my rant and to my suggestion about expanding AUA activities into Cook County (and beyond).   

1.  BUSINESS CLASSIFICATION OF FARMS?   

It will be interesting to learn what businesses are exempt by the State of Illinois from being licensed in Chicago.   I intend to do some research along those lines.   (My first thought is that farms should probably not be classified as businesses.  More on that after I’ve done the research.)

I suspect that if we don’t deal with the root causes of our unlevel economic playing field, more and more farms will incorporate as “non-profit” educational institutions.  This is already happening in the publishing arena.

2.  AUA EXPANDING POLITICAL WORK OUTSIDE CHICAGO CITY LIMITS

In terms of AUA expanding its reach beyond Chicago city limits, thanks for the information about Farm Alliances.  Just to clarify the reasons for my suggestion... 

My suggestion for AUA to spread out through Cook County (as well as CMAP, and beyond) was primarily a public policy one — e.g., to explore licensing and otherwise regulating urban farms through the county (not a municipality such as Chicago).  I believe that Farm Alliances is primarily an economic collaboration.  This makes it highly vulnerable to the still unresolved public policy disfunctions, such as national confusion about democracy and global confusion about money.  

GLOBAL CONFUSION ABOUT MONEY

MONETARY POLICY, MONETARY JUSTICE vis-a-vis farming, land use, etc.   Anyone who is interested in learning more about the global confusion about money (and the connections between farming and monetary policy) might be interested in some of the following resources:

1.  A fairly recent book by a local author:  Climate Change, Land Use, and Monetary Policy, by Geraldine Perry of Orland Park.   Here’s the website:  http://www.geraldineperry.com.

I do not know if Geri will be attending the monetary policy conference in September (in downtown Chicago), but other people there will probably be able to talk about it.   I am trying to get the organizers to have dedicated break-out groups (a) on food-and-farm, (b) big banks’ investments in pipelines, CAFOs, etc., and (c) for Illinois legislators and other government officials.    Stay tuned.  If I’m successful I’ll post something here.  

2.  American Monetary Institute 13th annual conference  (Sept. 14-17, 2017, downtown Chicago)

The webpages might be a little outdated because AMI’s founder (Stephen Zarlenga) recently died.  If anyone wants to connect with AMI or talk to someone about the conference, I’m happy to make a connection.

3.  NORM Economics is a farm organization that has been working on monetary reform for many years.  I believe NORM’s president is still Randy Cook, an Illinois farmer.  NORM stands for National Organization for Raw Materials.  http://www.normeconomics.org

4.  Pension funds impact on rain forests, local farmers, etc.  TIAA deforestation and land grab webinar.

In February 2017, Friends of the Earth U.S. hosted a webinar on U.S. pension funds negatively impacting local food-and-farm economies (Brazil, Indonesia).  Here’s a link to the webinar recording:  https://vimeo.com/203364893   For more information, contact Jenny Bock, JB...@foe.org

Many educational institutions (including universities) have their pension funds with TIAA.    This is just the tip of a the iceberg of monetary hypocrisy, created by a disfunctional money and banking system.   (It can be fixed!)