In September of 2010, after nearly 15 years of gardening, a Georgia man was fined over $5,000 for growing too many organic vegetables on his own property. Invasive local zoning laws made growing too many vegetables a violation, and county officials came after Steve Miller for the crime of growing too much food at his house.

You can help prevent another egregious "Cabbagegate." Georgia has introduced two pieces of legislation that would protect small farmers and those growing their own food.

The Georgia Right to Grow Act (H.B. 2) would ban any regulation of people growing produce and raising small animals to feed themselves and the members of their household. Can you think of a more common sense law?

The Georgia Food Freedom Act (H.B. 12) would prohibit regulation of food sold directly by farmers to consumers as long as it is not "shelled, canned, cooked, fermented, distilled, preserved, ground, crushed, or slaughtered."

In the ongoing battle between food safety and food security, these are two commonsense laws that would protect home gardeners and small farmers selling directly to consumers, the two groups who are most likely to protect both food safety AND security and who are least in need of any regulation. Sign our petition now and tell Georgia to support these bills!

Photo: Aldo Gonzalez