Bitter Harvest for Small Farms

Bean is resigned to the charges, saying he's "pretty much ready" to go to jail. He said the Double H is complying with regulations and selling at farmers markets until the season ends next Saturday.

Bean and Rinaldi's case has divided Charlottesville's farmers markets. Lynne Bair had never bought from the Double H until she heard about the case. The next week, she purchased pork chops, spareribs and sausages.

"It infuriates me that I can go buy a factory-farmed pound of hamburger that's been trucked all over and I can't buy a steak that I know was raised well 10 miles away," she said.

Others disagreed, saying that Bean and Rinaldi's alleged actions gave them an unfair advantage. "I encourage Richard Bean to challenge the law. . . . But until it changes, he and all the vendors must comply," said Amy Childs, manager of the Nelson Farmers Market, who has been called to testify in the case. "When someone comes in and doesn't comply, he is cheating."

Some farmers are trying to change the rules. The Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association, of which Bean and Rinaldi are members, is working to loosen -- if not end -- regulation of direct farmer-to-consumer sales. The group is working with state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath) on a bill that would permit growers to sell to individuals for personal consumption, provided the product is labeled "not for resale, processed and prepared without state inspection."

The group's work has also led to new state chapters, including one in Maryland that has 50 members.

But most are pessimistic about their chances of changing the law. "I've been at the General Assembly. You don't have a chance down there," said Satyrfield Farm's Solem. "Jean called us and said: 'I've never been in trouble with the law. I'm going to be a criminal.' And I said: 'Well, join the club. We're all criminals.' "