SPRINGFIELD — A bill that would lift long-standing restrictions on small poultry farmers in Illinois, reducing red tape and transforming the way local farmers process and sell their products, is heading to the governor.

Under a measure dubbed the “chicken bill,” farmers who process fewer than 7,500 birds annually would be exempt from state and federal inspections of their poultry operations or from having to send birds to USDA-approved processing facilities — an increase from the previous 5,000-bird threshold. The change, part of an update to the Illinois Meat and Poultry Inspection Act , also allows these farmers to sell their poultry beyond their own farms — including at farmers markets, roadside stands and through delivery — a major shift from earlier restrictions.

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