Title 3.2, Agriculture, Animal Care, and Food

The Commission shall meet on the call of the chairman or three of its members whenever he or they may deem necessary, and at such place as he or they may designate. Three members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum.

The Commission shall be vested with the following powers: 1. To confer and cooperate with the legally constituted authorities of other states and of the United States, with a view of securing a uniformity of milk control, with respect to milk coming into the Commonwealth and goin…

Any provision of this chapter conferring a general power upon the Commission shall not be impaired or qualified by the granting to the Commission by this chapter of a specific power.

A. The Commission shall neither exercise its powers in any market, nor withdraw the exercise of its powers from any market, until after a public hearing is held for such market, and the Commission determines whether it will be in the public interest to exercise its powers in that…

The Commission may define a market area and define and fix the limits of the territorial area where milk shall be produced to supply a market area. Any producers, producer-distributors, or their successors currently shipping milk to any market may continue to do so until they vol…

The Commission, after a public hearing and investigation, may establish the prices to be paid producers or associations of producers by distributors in any market, may fix the minimum and maximum wholesale and maximum retail prices to be charged for milk in any market, and may al…

The Commission shall have no authority to establish a minimum retail price for milk, except upon a determination after a public hearing that the absence of a minimum retail price has caused or is about to cause a disruption in the Virginia milk market or some segment of the marke…

The Milk Commission shall prepare and adopt a system of accounting designed to show, for each distributor of milk and milk products, under the supervision of the Commission, the total purchases by any distributor of each grade or class of milk; the total sales by each distributor…

Any Commission employee designated for the purpose, shall have access to, and may enter at all reasonable hours, all places where milk is stored, bottled, or manufactured into food products and any designated employee shall have the power to inspect books and records in any place…

The Commission may require all distributors in any market designated by the Commission to be licensed by the Commission for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this chapter. The Commission may decline to grant a license, or may suspend or revoke a license already grante…

Each licensee shall furnish to the Commission verified reports containing information as required by the Commission.

No distributor in a market covered by the provisions of this chapter shall buy milk from producers, or others, for sale within the Commonwealth, or sell or distribute milk within the Commonwealth, unless the distributor is duly licensed under the provisions of this chapter. It sh…

Each distributor shall submit an application to the Commission for a license to operate as a distributor by mail, or otherwise, within five days after the provisions of this chapter become effective in a market. Thereafter, any distributor shall obtain a license to operate as a d…

The licenses required by this chapter shall be in addition to any other licenses required by existing laws of the Commonwealth or by any municipal ordinance.

A. Any person affected by and claiming the unlawfulness of any regulation of the Commission, or person aggrieved by and claiming the unlawfulness of a case decision or an order of the Commission may appeal to the Circuit Court where the principal office of the Commission is locat…

Any person failing to comply with any subpoena issued by the Commission or pursuant to its authority is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor, and each day during which such violation shall continue shall be deemed a separate offense. In the event any person shall fail to comply with a…

The Commission shall prepare an annual budget and shall collect the sums of money required for this budget from the licensed distributors in markets where the provisions of this chapter are in operation. The expenses of the Commission, including salaries and the per diem of such …

There is hereby created in the state treasury a special nonreverting fund to be known as the Virginia Milk Commission Assessments Fund, hereafter referred to as "the Fund." The Fund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller. All receipts from assessments paid under thi…

If any person violates any provision of this chapter or the regulations adopted under this chapter, then either the Commissioner or the State Health Commissioner may petition any appropriate circuit for relief by injunction, without being compelled to allege or prove that an adeq…

Any person violating any provision of this chapter or of any license issued by the Commission is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor. Each day during which such violation shall continue shall be deemed a separate violation. Prosecutions shall be instituted by the attorney for the Com…

The making of marketing agreements between producers' cooperative marketing associations and distributors and producer-distributors under the provisions of this chapter shall not be deemed a combination in restraint of trade or an illegal monopoly; or an attempt to lessen competi…

No provision of this chapter shall apply or be construed to apply to foreign or interstate commerce, except insofar as the same may be effective pursuant to the United States Constitution and to the laws of the United States enacted pursuant thereto.

The Southern Dairy Compact is enacted into law and entered into with all other jurisdictions legally joining therein in the form substantially as follows: ARTICLE I. Statement of Purpose, Findings, and Declaration of Policy. § 1. Statement of purpose, findings, and declaration of…

The Governor shall appoint five delegates from Virginia to represent the Commonwealth on the Southern Dairy Compact Commission, including two dairy farmers who are engaged in the production of milk, two consumer representatives, and one dairy processor. The Governor's appointment…

All departments, agencies, and officers of the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions are hereby authorized to cooperate with the Southern Dairy Compact Commission in furtherance of any of its activities pursuant to the Compact.

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to diminish or limit the powers and responsibilities of the Milk Commission established by Chapter 32 of this title or to invalidate any action of the Milk Commission previously taken including any regulation adopted by the Milk Commissi…

A. In order to promote, protect, further, and develop the agricultural interests of the Commonwealth, the Commissioner may, when requested by parties financially interested in a lot of any agricultural products, investigate and certify the quality, condition, grade, or other clas…

The Commissioner may license as inspectors persons not in the employ of the Department. No person who is not an employee of the Department may act as a licensed inspector under this chapter unless samples from commodities graded or inspected by him are regularly graded or inspect…

Certificates of inspection and reinspection issued under this chapter by authorized agents of the Department and those relating to the grade, classification, quality, or condition of agricultural products issued under authority of the Congress of the United States shall be accept…

A. For the purposes of this section: "Processed" means a substantial transformation at a USDA-inspected or Department-inspected facility in the Commonwealth approved by the Department whereby an animal or animal product is transformed into a new product with a new name, character…

In overseeing the development of a farmers market system, the Board shall: 1. Identify farmers market needs throughout the Commonwealth; 2. Promote the orderly growth and development of farmers markets; 3. Promote public awareness of farmers markets; 4. Promote the coordination o…

A. In order to establish, operate and maintain a system of state-owned farmers market facilities within the Commonwealth, the Commissioner may carry out the provisions of this chapter, including the power to: 1. Cooperate with various state agencies and other organizations contri…

Any locality may establish, operate and maintain a local retail farmers market. The local retail farmers market may request to be part of the network of farmers markets within the Commonwealth or may be independent of such network. Nothing in this section shall invalidate the act…

As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning: "AAPFCO" means the Association of American Plant Food Control Officials. "Anaerobic digestion" means the controlled anaerobic biological decomposition of organic waste material to produce biogas and digesta…

A. The Board may adopt such regulations as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter. Such regulations may include investigational allowances, definitions, records, and manufacturing practices, and the distribution and storage of regulated product prior to final s…

A. No locality shall regulate the registration, packaging, labeling, sale, use, application, storage or distribution of fertilizers except by ordinance as provided for in the requirements of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act (§ 62.1-44.15:67 et seq.), the Erosion and Sediment C…

A. The Board shall adopt regulations to certify the competence of (i) contractor-applicators, (ii) licensees, and (iii) employees, representatives, or agents of state agencies, localities, or other governmental entities who apply any regulated product to nonagricultural lands. B.…

The Commissioner may publish in such forms and with such frequency as he may deem proper: (i) information concerning the distribution of fertilizers; and (ii) results of analysis based on official samples of fertilizer distributed within the Commonwealth, as compared with analysi…

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to restrict or avoid sales or exchanges of regulated product between importers, manufacturers, or manipulators who mix fertilizer materials for sale, or to prevent the free and unrestricted shipments of regulated product to manufacturers…

A. The license year for all distributors, the registration year for any regulated product, and the tonnage reporting year is July 1 through June 30 of the following year. Each license or registration shall expire on June 30 of the year for which it is issued, provided that the li…

A. It is unlawful for any person whose name appears upon the label of any regulated product as distributor to distribute a regulated product without first obtaining a license to distribute the regulated product in the Commonwealth. The person who distributes the regulated product…

A. In addition to licensing requirements: 1. Any person who is the guarantor of and who distributes in the Commonwealth any specialty fertilizer shall: (i) apply for registration for such specialty fertilizer with the Commissioner on forms furnished by the Commissioner; (ii) pay …

A. The Department, in consultation with representatives of the fertilizer industry, fertilizer retailers, and statewide turf and lawn care organizations, and other interested parties, may develop consumer information and recommended best practices for the application of lawn fert…

Beginning December 31, 2013, it is unlawful for any person to offer for sale any deicing agent containing urea or other forms of nitrogen or phosphorus intended for application to parking lots, roadways, and sidewalks or other paved surfaces in the Commonwealth. The provisions of…

A. It is unlawful for any person, other than a licensee or an agent of a licensee, to apply any regulated product for profit without first obtaining a permit. In order to obtain a permit the person shall complete an application form furnished by the Commissioner and pay the $50 a…

A. The reporting year for regulated products shall be July 1 through June 30 of the following year. B. Any person who distributes any regulated product to a non-licensed person: 1. Shall file the tonnage statement with the Commissioner and pay to the Commissioner the inspection f…