Where the Rubber Meets the Road, Will Raw Milk Consumers Lay Aside Their Fears to Back Up Resisters?

One of the reasons Vermont’s new raw milk regulations have attracted so much favorable attention is that they are based on production versus process standards. In other words, let farmers feed their cows or cool their milk according to any of several processes, just so they achieve the needed standards. 

Tim Wightman makes that same point in his comment following my previous post: “Set the standards on a production model, not a process model. Research what constitutes quality milk, actually ramp up the old tests used to do so in the 50's through 70's, apply those, and there is your standard. How one gets there is up to the producer..not the consumer but the producer. IF we apply a process model the conversation will only get bogged down in emotional responses and a mis-informed consumer base as it relates to the animals needs to produce a quality product. Grass can be in that production model..but cannot be the only process to achieve quality milk.”

But before we can get to the point of setting standards, we need, as Steve Bemis suggests, the freedom of access to raw milk. The matter of setting standards is a productive discussion to have, yet all involved in this arena need to appreciate that the standards won’t do a lot of good if governmental authorities are conducting harassment and interference exercises. While consumers may have limited knowledge to help set the standards, consumers need to be prepared to help producers win the battle for access.

Just in the last few weeks, we’ve seen at least three raw milk advocates challenge authorities’ efforts to interfere with supplies.

There’s been Scott Trautman, a Wisconsin dairy farmer; Max Kane, a Wisconsin buyers club owner; and now, Bob Hayles, a Georgia farmer and raw milk advocate.

Per his comment following my previous post, Bob has just written a letter to Georgia’s agriculture commissioner, essentially warning him that consumers will be buying milk in neighboring South Carolina, and bringing it back to Georgia—following the same routine as members of a buyers club recently forced by the Georgia Department of Agriculture to dispose of their South Carolina milk.

News of Bob Hayles’ challenge was tweeted far and wide yesterday.

But the big question for not only him, but Scott Trautman and Max Kane, is whether consumers care enough and are brave enough to actually show up and provide in-person backing to these resisters. In the case of Bob Hayles, consumers need to both buy milk and then possibly defy regulators and/or law enforcement representatives.

While yesterday’s tweets suggested much initial enthusiasm for Bob Hayles' approach, there is reason to suspect it could be of the mile-wide-inch-deep variety.

While the market for raw milk seems from all signs to be expanding significantly, the record of raw milk consumers in backing raw dairy victims has been tenuous, at best. Richard Hebron, the victim of a 2006 “sting” operation while delivering raw milk to Ann Arbor, MI, herdshare owners, saw his deliveries sliced up to 20% in the immediate aftermath of the seizure of $8,000 worth of consumers’ products. Many consumers apparently feared they could be hauled in by police or regulators, and abandoned Richard.

When Greg Niewendorp, a Michigan cattle farmer, resisted the state’s efforts to implement the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), he was similarly left pretty much on his own by other farmers. Turnout at courthouse rallies in New York for Barb and Steve Smith, who have been fighting to maintain a type of herdshare arrangement for Ithaca, NY, consumers, has been tepid, at best.

My sense is that we’re going to see more such open challenges to the authorities mounted by raw dairy producers and distributors, as authorities in places like Wisconsin and Georgia seek to tighten the screws on consumers. But these challenges will only succeed if consumers are willing to stand up and be counted, and maybe even be arrested in the process.

The unfortunate reality is that we’ve given up or lost key rights when it comes to choosing and controlling our food. Once you lose rights, you almost always have to fight to get them back. Fighting means sacrifice. Are raw milk consumers ready to make the necessary sacrifices? The jury is out. One thing is for sure: The opposition is watching closely (and nervously) for signs that consumers are serious about securing their rights. Lots of bravado without follow-through will only strengthen the opposition's sense that consumers aren't truly serious about fighting the battle.

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Thanks to Kimberly Hartke for her nice writeup of my talk Saturday at the Weston A. Price Foundation.

In the same vein, thanks to everyone who’s had nice things to say about my book on this blog over the last few weeks. It’s been very gratifying (though I promise not to remove comments that include criticisms).

I also wanted to say how great it was to see so many bloggers at the Weston A. Price Foundation’s Wise Traditions conference over the weekend. I knew many by name from their comments, but quite a few came up to me to say they were readers who hadn’t yet commented. I encouraged them to join the fray.

Can a Raw Dairy Association Bring Order to Chaos of War? Children as Political Pawns; Defense for Michael Schmidt

One of the points I emphasized during my talk at the Weston A. Price Foundation Saturday evening is that not only are we in the midst of a war over raw milk, but that we’re at a possible turning point in the struggle.

In the smoke and blur of war, though, it can be difficult to gain perspective. Blair McMorran takes note of this phenomenon in her comment following my previous post: “Wisconsin might legalize raw milk, and the Feds want to regulate it?… Seems to me like the pavement is cracking and there's some weeds pokin through. But maybe I'm naive.”

I agree that this war’s situation map has become quite confusing. Efforts to make raw milk more available are moving forward in a couple states like Wisconsin (to legalize the sales from the farms of Grade A dairies, many of which have long been selling raw milk informally or via herdshares) and New Jersey (to reverse a long-standing ban on raw milk sales). Idaho is moving to make sales more difficult.

But while these local struggles are going on, the enemy is moving in with an attempted surgical strike to render the whole situation moot. The last-minute push by two big dairy trade organizations to make raw dairies subject to the rules of the food safety legislation currently speeding through Congress could be the equivalent of a knockout punch. Here’s the problem:

The food safety legislation moving through Congress appears to give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authority over food producers, regardless of whether or not they’re involved in interstate commerce—in other words, over intrastate commerce. By throwing raw dairy producers into the mix, you’re suddenly subjecting them to regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as in John Sheehan, notorious head of the agency's Division of Plant and Dairy Food Safety, and most famous for his statement, “Consuming raw milk is like playing Russian Roulette with your health.”

Call up the image you want—end run, letting the fox into the chicken coop, wolf in sheep’s clothing—it spells disaster.

This push by the dairy trade groups against raw milk producers is an explicit acknowledgment of their ever-more-serious about the rapid expansion of the raw milk marketplace. For them, this move is a marketing maneuver--squeeze the competition. But for raw dairies, it could be a disaster.

If it fails, it should serve as a wakeup call to raw dairy producers to organize themselves into a private association committed to developing serious safety standards and lobbying for the interests of raw dairy farmers. Scott Trautman, the Wisconsin dairy owner who lost his dairy license recently, is pushing for such a group. He writes on his blog: “I am working on a Professional Raw Milk Producers Association: guidelines for safe production of healthy raw milk for people, when they will never be able to breathe, 'We made children sick.' What we do now is good: what we will do in the future will be astounding.”

He’s getting backing from Mark Kastel, head of Cornucopia Institute, the increasingly influential national organization devoted to seeking justice and economic opportunity for small farms. Mark told me he thinks a private association, modeled on the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, which has authorization from California and Arizona to conduct audits and inspections of its members—and leave the government inspectors on the sidelines.

I just hope it isn’t too late.

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If you want to get opponents of raw milk upset, show them pictures of children consuming raw milk. Now it seems there’s a video that’s appeared on YouTube that stokes those fires very well. It shows children at the recent Weston A. Price Wise Traditions conference this weekend chanting, “We want raw milk!”

A blogger on a food poisoning site licked his chops when he saw it. “Shameless exploitation…like the line-dancing instructor shouting out fascist routines, these kids are being paraded and chanting…”

I'm not sure who put the video on YouTube--I don't think it was great judgment if, indeed, it was put up by a raw milk proponent. But it's also clear these kids aren't doing anything inappropriate. They aren't demonstrating in front of opponents. In fact, they’re in a nearly-empty hotel corridor that is host to a gathering of raw milk proponents. Maybe it’s just kids who’ve been raised on raw milk, whose parents believe in freedom of choice. But when it comes to raw milk, as we know, everything seems to become political.

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Michael Schmidt, the Canadian raw dairy producer awaiting a verdict on his trial in connection with violating Canada's raw milk regulations, will get a new defense. The Canadian Constitution Foundation, which sounds like the equivalent of the American Civil Liberties Union, will take on his case, and any appeals associated with the outcome of the trial, expected to be announced early next year.

“This is about the rights of Canadians to choose a product that is safely consumed by tens of thousands of people around the world. It’s also about the right to earn an honest living free from government regulations that are unnecessary, unreasonable and unfair,” said CCF Litigation Director Karen Selick.

“There have been huge technological improvements in refrigeration, transportation and pathogen testing, in addition to the entrenchment of individuals’ constitutional rights. Consumers who want freedom of choice expect their government to make the transition to the twenty-first century and to respect their rights,” added Selick. Right on.

WI Raw Dairy Producers Wait for the Other Shoe to Drop; Seeking Raw Milk at Scrumptuous Wise Traditions Meals

Max Kane of Belle's Lunchbox buyers club interviews Ann Marie Michaels of Real Food Media (www.cheeseslave.com) at the Wise Traditions conference, for a film he is producing about his experiences championing raw milk.What’s going to happen next for raw milk producers in Wisconsin? That was one of the big questions being asked this weekend at the Weston A. Price Foundation’s Wise Traditions conference just outside Chicago.

A number of Wisconsin farmers who have been feeling the bite of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection were at the conference, and they report a combination of pressure and politics. On the pressure side:

-At the Zinniker Family Farm, owner Petra Zinniker reports that the farm, which has been shut down for more than a month after an outbreak of illness from campylobacter among its herdshare owners, is dumping about 150 gallons of milk each day. As yet, there’s been no formal report on the illness outbreak from public health officials, she says. The Zinnikers hope to be able to reopen soon based on a settlement with Petra Zinniker of Zinniker Family Farm.DATCP.

--Other Wisconsin farmers wonder who will be the next DATCP target. Wayne Craig, a raw dairy producer, thinks he's "next on the list," since the agency hasn't renewed the retail license he operates his Grassway Organics Farm Store under. He's expecting a special summary order will be filed, which would shut the store.

--Max Kane, the Wisconsin buying club owner facing a court session next month, is encouraging consumers and farmers to attend his hearing December 21. He will be holding a rally outside the courthouse in advance of when he faces a judge as to why he shouldn’t be held in contempt of court for refusing to provide a list of his members to DATCP. Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures has said he’ll attend, and I plan to be there as well.

Dan Siegmann, a Wisconsin dairy farmer, who is pushing for legislation to provide for sale of raw milk in the state. The savior for Wisconsin farmers could turn out to be legislation expected to move through the state legislature beginning as soon as this week. Dan Siegmann, a Wisconsin dairy farmer, reported that legislators in both the assembly and the senate are pushing bills that would legalize the sale of raw milk by Grade A dairies. That revelation at an informal meeting Saturday at the Wise Traditions conference among Wisconsin farmers and supporters prompted concerns about whether the state’s many tiny unlicensed dairies would get left out in the cold. The consensus seemed to be that it is best to confront one challenge at a time—get the legislation covering licensed dairies passed first, and then deal with unlicensed dairies.

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Kristin Canty, the Massachusetts producer of a documentary about the legal problems confronting farmers and food producers, showed some segments of the upcoming film at the Wise Traditions conference. One segment included footage of one of the raids on the Pennsylvania dairy farm owned by Mark Nolt. (He has been raided three times.) The grainy video shows state police standing guard from the top steps of his farm store, while Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture agents go in and out of the store, removing thousands of dollars worth of equipment and products, while Mark Nolt is advised to stand aside. It’s the first known footage from the Nolt raids. 

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The Wise Traditions conference had about 1,200 attendees, Weston A. Price Foundation president Sally Fallon reported. This was the tenth such conference—the first had about 75 people, and most of  the speakers cancelled out, she recalled after she was presented with a special award in honor of the anniversary at the banquet dinner.

As usual, the food was wonderful. Lots of excellent meats, fresh veggies, fermented veggies, and delicious creamy desserts—a cheese cake and key lime pie that were notable for both their creaminess and crunchy crusts. One missing ingredient, though, was raw dairy. There was lots of butter and whipped cream, and it was all from a local dairy with grass-fed cows. But it was pasteurized.

From various conversations I had, it seems there was some question about whether Illinois dairies could provide enough raw milk for the large crowd, as well as concern about attracting the attention of regulators by serving raw dairy at a large hotel in a state that only allows purchase from the farm.

I was honored to speak at the banquet dinner, and I sought to take attendees “inside the mind of the regulator.” I argued that the conflict over raw milk is part of a larger struggle between  those who value nutrient-dense food, and those who disparage its value. I also argued that the conflict is at a turning point, and that consumers and farmers need to work aggressively to educate consumers at large about the nature of the struggle, while paying close attention to safety. I suggested they use some of the same tactics of the regulators—in particular, monitoring regulator activities by recording their enfrorcement activities with videos and tweets and Facebook posts. A good summary at The Nourishing Gourmet.

More to come from the conference...Also, this wrapup of weekend events from Kelly the Kitchencop.

Uh-oh, They’re Passing My Book Out to WI Regulators; What Happens If They Read About Themselves?

Scott Trautman, whom I wrote about in my Nov. 2 post, is trying every which way to draw attention to the war on raw dairy producers going on in Wisconsin. It’s not easy, because the hundreds of raw dairy farmers in the state are afraid that they’ll be next, and be stripped of their opportunity to earn a living, like Scott Trautman and the owners of the Zinniker Family Farm.

Today, Scott appeared before the Board of Directors of the state’s Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, to make his case that the state is unfairly singling out his and the Zinniker Farm for punishment by suspending their dairy licenses. (For a detailed statement of his objections, take a look at this article by Scott Trautman.)

He wrote me after the session today, “The board members were quite interested, asked good questions…”

I’m not sure whether that happened before or after The Raw Milk Revolution was passed out. Scott wrote that a raw milk supporter with Scott “has a whole case of (the books), and distributed them to the entire board.”

At first I was pleased that Scott and his supporters thought enough of the book to give it to the regulators. But then I went and looked at what I wrote about Wisconsin on pages 225 and 226, and I have a feeling these regulators aren’t going to be real pleased. (By the way, I'm not trying to equate The Raw Milk Revolution with Thomas Paine's pre-Revolutionary War classic Common Sense, the title page of which is shown above; just my sense of what the Wisconsin experience represents.)

I quote from some secret emails recounting conference calls between officials of DATCP and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which amount to a plan for the campaign currently under way in Wisconsin. Two FDA officials were said to “have done some Internet searching and identified about 20 milk clubs in Illinois. They prefer to address one person or group at a time…” 

The key phrase is that last one, the desire to focus on one person or group at a time. The food cops value control above all else, and having to deal with many farmers or buying clubs at one time stretches their resources too thin. So my advice to Wisconsin farmers and buyers club owners: throw your hat into the ring and challenge the food cops to come after all of you at once. Don’t make it so easy for them to pick you off one operator at a time. Play by your rules, not theirs. (If you think I’m tough on the WI regulators, take a look at Marti Oakley’s analysis.

And to the Wisconsin regulators who received the freebies, I’ll be glad to specially inscribe your books if you’d like. Just send me an email.  

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This weekend is the annual Wise Traditions Conference put on by the Weston A. Price Foundation, being held in the Chicago area. I'm excited to be speaking there, and autographic books. There's still time to sign up, I understand.

 

Why It’s Difficult to Disagree with Joel Salatin’s Expectations of Tough Times Ahead for Foodies

Yours truly with Joel Salatin, taking a break from signing books after my presentation at VICFA in Charlottesville, VA, on Saturday evening. I love to visit the Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association (VICFA). I’ve been there twice now over the last few years, and even though raw milk can’t be sold in Virginia, they always have it out for visitors. In fact, this time there was a choice—goat’s milk or cow’s milk. That plus the fact that it is a very committed organization, committed to seeking legislative change to allow the sale of raw milk, and allow for the needs of smaller farms. A big part of that orientation was the result of Kathryn Russell, one of its founders, who was killed recently in an automobile accident.

I was at a VICFA-sponsored book signing Saturday evening in Charlottesville, VA, which had been organized by Kathryn over the previous eight months. I had the honor of being introduced by Joel Salatin, who wrote the foreword for my book, and who’s become something of a rock star in the foodie movement. He had some very nice things to say about my book (“It’s a wonderful book…a wonderful tool in your arsenal.”)

One of the more intriguing things he talked about, though, was how he’s sometimes treated by local business people. “People assume our neighbors love us,” he said, based on all the publicity he’s achieved. He recounted how he sought a delivery of sawdust (his Polyface Farm seeks to vary its use of carbon-based fuels). The supplier refused, recounted Salatin. “He said, ‘You let your chickens run loose. You abuse your cows because you don’t vaccinate them. You don’t want your cows taking antibiotics. I hate everything you stand for.’"

To Salatin, such reactions to foodies aren’t isolated incidents, but rather “illustrative of the pushback to the kind of farming we and many others are doing.”

His conclusion? “I think we are in for some real serious times coming down the pike…that we are Luddites…We’re not playing Pictionary. The industrial food system is playing for keeps.”

Playing on the same theme, I was asked during my presentation about all the publicity being given to Washington’s fascination with sustainability (some of which I discussed in my previou post). One questioner said, “(Agriculture Secretary) Vilsack is running around saying, ‘Know your farmer, know your food.’ Michelle Obama is planting an organic garden. What does it all this mean?”

I answered that this is a classic case of the government speaking out of both sides of its mouth, with forked tongue, shall we say. The real action, I explained, is happening over in Congress, with the focus on food safety. That will put the screws to any farmer who happens to take the Washingon happy talk seriously. High signup fees. Expensive HACCP plans. Huge penalties for supposed violations. Random searches of business records. Easy quarantines of any geographic area judged dangerous.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has never been loathe to throw its weight around, especially against smaller food producers, will have even more money and authority than it has today to do just that.

I have to agree with Joel. We’re in for some tough times ahead. As I've pointed out in the past, when it comes to raw milk, which is a proxy issue for other food issues, a lot of the enmity by regulators is highly personal. They just don't like people who dare to question FDA and CDC prescriptions.

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Everyone at the VICFA event was very impressed to see four of Kathryn Russell's daughters in attendance. They were appreciative to me for attending, and I was highly moved at their resiliency and commitment in attending. They are pictured below. 

From left are Laura, Holly, Emily, and Lynn Russell.