Monday, June 3, 2013

Raw Milk In The News

Some updates on what's been happening in the raw milk world. In Wisconsin, Vernon Hershberger was acquitted of selling milk without a retail dairy license, because his milk sales were not retail. This is a Big Deal for folks who choose to buy their food directly from a farmer. As I understand it, it is consistent with basic principles of contract law. For its own reasons, the State of Wisconsin is still trying to jail Hershberger for continuing to sell food after they ordered him to stop, but since the jury has found that the state had no basis for this order, there is no legal reason why he should be jailed. On Food Safety News…on The Complete Patient…(and here)…on Reason.com…on Health Impact News.

In Maine, my classmate and friend Rep. Craig Hickman has been working hard to create sensible regulations for small farmers. Despite the best efforts of Rep. Hickman and many others, and despite a local food sovereignty ordinance, Maine farmer Dan Brown was convicted of selling raw milk without a license, in a ruling that seems to me to defy logic and common sense.

Right now there is a lot of motion in the raw milk universe. If you are interested in following it, I'd recommend keeping an eye on the following people and organizations (in addition to Feed Me Like You Mean It!):

1 comment:

NDE said...

"convinced" ← convicted, you must mean. You're the one who's *convinced* of [the merit of] selling raw milk without a license.