Food Rights Network

Raw Milk in the News

• Wisconsin Raw Milk Association Lobbies Wisconsin Legislature Today, February 22 (Wisconsin Ag Connection, 1/31)
  
• Raw Milk Freedom Riders Plan Workshop and Rally to Support Vernon Herschberger March 1-2 in Sauk County, Wisconsin (The Bovine, 2/21 and 2/15)
• “Study Says Raw Milk Poses Risks,” Seems not to Reflect Corrected Numbers: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article (2/21) quotes a new CDC study published in Emerging Infectious Diseases. Read David Gumpert’s excellent analysis of the study here. The article also quotes a death toll, which doesn’t seem to reflect the correction the CDC made last year.
• Pennsylvania Amish Raw Milk Dairy Farmer Dan Allgyer Shuts Down Farm in Reponse to Court Decision (Philadelphia Daily Enquirer, 2/15; MSNBC, 2/15; and San Francisco Chronicle, 2/14)
• “Indiana Panel to Consider Sale of Raw Milk” (Courier-Journal, 2/14)
• “Iowa House Panel OKs Sale of Raw Milk” (Quad-City Times, 2/13)
• Canadian Raw Milk Dairy Farm Michael Schmidt will Appeal Sentence and Fine (Bayshore Broadcasting News Center, 2/10)
• Rural Vermont Submits Raw Milk Report to Vermont Legislature (Rural Vermont report and announcement, 2/9)
• New Hampshire House Committee OKs Raw Milk Bill (New Hampshire News, 2/7)
• “Kentucky Bill would Allow Herd-Sharing for Raw Milk Products” (Dairy Herd Network, 2/6)
• California Herd Shares “Fight for Survival . . . Despite ‘Buy Local’ Trend’” (San Mateo County Daily Journal, 2/2)

Leave a Comment February 22, 2012

Raw Milk in the News

• New Jersey Battles Over Raw Milk Bill; Academics Divided (NJ Spotlight, 12/21;  Rutgers News, 11/29; Dairy Herd Network, 12/21)
• Canadian Raw Dairy Farmer Michael Schmidt Appeals Conviction; Media Blitz (The Bovine, 12/19; Bayshore Broadcasting News Centre, 12/19; CTV News, 12/19; National Post, 12/19; Montreal Gazette, 12/19; Better Farming, 12/20)
• Canadian Raw Milk Activist Gordon Watson Files Suit Against British Columbia Health Authorities (Vancouver Sun, 12/19 & 12/16)
• “FDA Escalates War Against Amish Dairy Farmers” (Food Freedom Blog, 12/19; Washington Times, 12/20)
• Organic Pastures Dairy Co. Quarantine (Mostly) Lifted, to Political Drama (The Complete Patient Blog, 12/16 & 12/18)

Leave a Comment December 22, 2011

California is Farmer Brown

This is the second in a two-part series by the Center for Media and Democracy’s Food Rights Network (FRN) about challenges to local food sovereignty across the United States. It was originally published on Alternet. For more, see the first article, on the lawsuit against Blue Hill, Maine farmer Dan Brown brought by the State of Maine and Maine’s Agriculture Commissioner, here.

Maine farmer Dan Brown, who milks one cow and sells milk to his neighbors, is being sued by the State of Maine for “unlicensed distribution and sale of milk and food products.” The lawsuit has sparked protest in Maine and concern in communities around the country.

In an interview with the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), Brown said, “One of these times, they’re going to come after one of us, and it’s going to be that Rosa Parks moment . . . [for] the food system.”

The “Local Food and Community Self-Governance Ordinance” that passed in Brown’s town of Blue Hill, Maine, on April 2, 2011, asserting its “citizens’ right to foods of their choice” without impediment by federal and state regulations, served as a model for several counties in California. CMD spoke with three farmers and advocates about the food sovereignty movement there, and how the suit against Farmer Brown may affect their struggle. (more…)

Leave a Comment December 12, 2011