I often see reports about police and city enforcers taking legal actions against people for growing their own food. It seems like the war on drugs and the war on poverty in the US has transformed into a war on common sense and a war on working people.
In considering whether to grow your own food, this is a concern that you should think about. It sucks, but that is the way the world works now. You need to consider whether your effort to feed your family will cause resistance from local government officials.
Hydroponic and aquaponic growers have it even worse than backyard gardeners. For some reason, many police departments have gotten it into their heads that the only people who use hydroponics are pot growers. If you buy grow lights and timers at the local garden supply, or hydroponic store, you can bet that the local constabulary is getting informed about it.
Fortunately there is a really simple solution.
When word got around the neighborhood that I was building a large greenhouse to grow plants as a source of income, I got all sorts of interesting queries. Fortunately I live in a small town, so I know most of the cops. They had some big concerns, and I know that they were thinking I was getting into growing marijuana. I’m not, and won’t unless it becomes fully legal here.
To mitigate any future issues I invited several of the local police, fire, and emergency services folks over for a barbecue, with pie. I told them that I was doing it as a thank you for the work that they do.
This accomplished several things.
1. It established my family as friendly to law enforcement and emergency services.
2. We made some very good friends at that get together.
3. They asked what I was building and why, giving me a chance to tell everyone about my plans and some of the cool stuff about aquaponics.
4. I got to show many of them around without it being confrontational. I would way rather show a police officer around my greenhouse when I invited them over and I just fed them instead of them knocking on my door wanting to ask questions related to an investigation. The result of them seeing your operation is the same, but without the confrontation and drama.
5. In addition, it establishes you as a person that they can just come talk to if there is a problem instead of them coming with a warrant because of a complaint.
6. They can then understand both who you are and what you are doing without negative consequences. Knowing people creates friendships and understanding. When there are friendships, the likelihood of confrontation goes down dramatically.
Even if you are in a community where the numbers of officers in the police department and code enforcement are really high, reaching out to them is a huge benefit to you.
My first greenhouse I built was 84 feet long, 32 feet wide, and 11 feet tall.
I suspected that the city officials might have an issue with what we wanted to build. So before starting construction, I met with the city manager, mayor and the building inspector. I explained what we wanted to do, how I felt that the code and zoning applied, and how I felt that my project would benefit the community at large. They had all sorts of questions, and a few good concerns about design issues. I agreed that I needed to change a few things, and I did. They however agreed that I did not need any permits, conditional use variances, or inspections from the city. I was then able to move forward unimpeded.
I talked to the planning commission later about what we were doing, and a couple of the planning commission board members were upset about the project. They wanted us to stop immediately. Because I had already gotten the go ahead from their boss though, it was a non issue and kept right on going.
To keep police and code enforcement out of your project,start by going to them before you start. Try to get approval first or make friends with the decision makers in your community.
The most valuable asset anybody has is their network of friends and associates. If you can figure out who could make your project go bad, you can make friends with them before any problems happen. That way you have a lot better chance of working on your project without being shut down.
Until next time, hang in there! You can do this!