In June, Governor Quinn signed into law HB5657 which modifies some of the farmers' market rules and regulations. New regulations included future streamlining of farmers market rules statewide, require a vendor to state the address where the vendor's products are grown, cap the fee a county health department can charge for a vendor registering their cottage food law operation and many other new rules. The full law can be found here. It also established a timeline to work towards a statewide vendor sampling program.

With any new regulations though there remains some confusion as to what these rules mean and what is required of the vendor, the market manager, and the public health department. A webinar has been announced in partnership with Illinois Stewardship Alliance, University of Illinois Extension, and Illinois Farmers Market Association to provide clarity on what these new rules mean and the direction that some of the future regulations will go. During these webinars, participants will be able to provide feedback and comments to the organizations in Illinois that are actively working on future legislation. Because some of these rules went into effect immediately after the signing of the law, vendors and market managers can provide great insight into whether these are working well in their current form during this farmers' market season.

Webinars will take place on Monday, August 25th 1:00-2:30PM and Thursday, August 28 6:00-7:30PM. Participants will be able to access the webinar from their home computer. To register for the webinar, please visit the following website (https://web.extension.illinois.edu/registration/?registrationid=10728).

-Grant