Calif. bill would allow roadside farm stands to expand sales

Armed with buckets, the customers at Bacchini's Fruit Tree orchard like to pick the best-looking cherries, nectarines or plums, leaving those that are split or damaged on the trees.

The fruit left behind could be a moneymaker for owner Ken Hagen and others who operate small farms in California and sell much of their produce directly to consumers. Instead, it mostly goes to waste because state retail regulations make it difficult for those farmers to package their produce and sell it in pies, jams or bags of dried fruit at their roadside stands.

"The way the law is, you'd have to put in a septic system, a clean water system," said Hagen, whose wife's …