(Des Moines) A bill advanced from the Iowa Senate floor Monday that would protect home gardens from state and local ordinances.
Sen. Cherielynn Westrich, R-Ottumwa, said the bill hits at a “growing concern” that home gardeners are blocked from growing their own vegetables and food on their properties.
Westrich noted that similar bills, often known as right to garden bills, passed in Illinois and Florida. The Florida law, for example, ended a previous ban on front-yard vegetable gardens. She did not cite any Iowa restrictions on gardens. A Des Moines resident requested a front-yard ban on vegetable gardens in 2013 but the city did not act on it.
“State law should encourage and protect, not (be) limiting home vegetable gardens,” Westrich said.
Senate File 494 holds that state and local governments cannot enact rules or ordinances that prohibit Iowans from establishing or maintaining a garden located on residential property they either own or lease.
Senators also approved an amendment to the bill which stops local regulation from prohibiting a gardener from marketing the items grown in a residential garden.
The bill would void any existing regulation prohibiting a residential garden.
The bill also establishes a general principal that Iowans have a “natural, inherent and unalienable right” to “save and exchange seeds,” as well as to “grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume” the food of their choosing.
The bill advanced from the Senate with unanimous approval and moved to the House Local Government Committee.
Tomato and pepper seedlings started for a home garden. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
