Small-scale farmers who raise and slaughter poultry in Maine may flock to Augusta on Monday for a hearing on proposed new rules governing the industry. Farmers say they are frustrated by too much government interference.

The complex and often confusing federal and state rules governing the slaughter and sale of chickens, turkeys, ducks and other poultry in Maine have left some small-scale farmers wondering why the state is proposing a new level of regulation.

"There already are sufficient checks and balances," says Bob St. Peters, director of Food for Maine's Future, a statewide food and advocacy organization. He also works on a small, organic poultry farm.

"The people who are producing the food and the people who are buying the food have an understanding, they know each other, they see each other and and often cases people who are going to small scale family farms are doing so because they're seeking out safe, nutritious food and they want to support their community," St. Peters says.

But this past year the Maine legislature passed a rule that affects all small-scale farms. That is those producing fewer than 1,000 birds each year.

"Before you had to have a facility that met our food processing regulations...and you had to have a regular inspection..or whenever an inspector showed up," said Hal Prince of the state Department of Agriculture's Division of Quality Assurance and Regulations.

Prince said the new bill passed by the Legislature last year exempted those smaller operations, ones that chose not to sell to retail stores.

Prince describes the bill as saying "you have to be licensed by the state, you have to have a facility, but you can only process less than a thousand birds, you can't cut them up, they have to be whole birds, and you can sell them at farmers markets, your farm, or you can sell them to community supported agriculture."

Prince says that while the new rules limit the amount small-scale farms can produce, they also lower the commercial processing standards.

"What we're asking for is some real basic public health safeguards and some real rudimentary equipment or facilities to do this slaughtering processing," Prince says."We're talking about an 8 by 8 room, at best."

"Farmers have been processing without a special facility in open air using very clean practices," says Laura Millay, a former organic farm manager in the Bangor area who's speaking out against new regulations.

"Small farms do not have the problems associated with huge processing facilities," Millay says. "We're not hearing about hundreds of people getting salmonella as a result of eating birds that are processed on small farms because they don't have salmonella."

Even though small and large poultry farmers have technically always been required to hold a state license and operate out of an approved facility, many small-scale farmers say they'll be forced out of business if they have to spend money to build a facility or change their operations. Many small poultry operations have gone unregulated for years.

Hal Prince of the Maine Department of Agriculture says that's part of the problem.

"Unfortunately, there's a large movement of unlicensed, small poultry operations in the state of Maine," Prince says. "People were killing the birds and preparing them in their kitchen and selling them. Selling at farmers markets, selling them to friends and neighbors and things like that, maybe even selling them to some retail stores. But we don't know that they're there. We only happen on to them if we see the birds offered for sale at a farmers market or something like that."

Both the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and Food for Maine's Future were in favor of the legislation, but say they want farmers to also be involved in crafting the Department of Agriculture's proposed regulations. Farmers are encouraged to talk about their current safety measures and the changes and expenditures they'd have to make to comply with the regulations.

The hearing is scheduled for Monday at 10 a.m. in Room 208 of the Cross Building in Augusta. Written testimony can also be sent to the Department of Agriculture's Division of Quality Assurance and Regulations.