The “live blogging” obviously didn’t work out (sorry to those who stopped in for it)
Honestly, when we walked in to the meeting I was so shocked by what I was hearing, I forgot I even had a laptop.
My son, Joey, and I carpooled with Armand Bechard and his daughter Kezia.
Because I was driving we were, of course, a few minutes late. when we walked in the door of the tiny conference room Bruce Salsbury of * Lorenae Dairy was addressing the board, saying things about people selling milk without a permit and basically how *dirty some of the farms and cows are ( I can’t remember exactly how he worded it), how this wasn’t right and needed to be stopped.
My mouth had to have been hanging open.
After rambling like this for a couple of minutes one of the Milk Board members asked Bruce what it is that he wants from the Board and he said (notice the quotation marks) “ I want you to stop the milk pirating.” Another member then asked him what he meant by “pirating” and he replied “No milk should be allowed to be sold unless it is grade A. People are selling milk to their dairy co-ops and then dipping out of the tank and selling directly to customers, that’s pirating.” ….”I want you to stop it from coming in to Greene County” “No one should be able to sell milk without a permit.” …..”I’ve got 1/2 a million a year invested in this and I’m losing 50 thousand a year” (not sure what he meant here). I got what I needed (equipment? bottler? not sure which one he said) and you (meaning the board) said I could only sell at the farm, then I got a permit and was allowed to sell at the Farmer’s Market and now I’m selling so much raw milk I don’t have enough for the co-op (I’m assuming he has contract for a certain amount for the commercial dairy co-op he belongs to). I need you to require anyone selling milk to have a permit and stop any other milk from being brought in. Then, you can loosen the regulations and I’ll be able to do the marketing I need to do (no one is allowed to market raw milk.)
I kept having to lean over and ask Armand “did I just hear that right?” I couldn’t believe it!
Armand then addressed the Board and gave the perfect response when he said “ I’ve been self employed in one way or another most of my life, and I would be ashamed. I think it’s a problem that because Bruce isn’t making enough money he’s asking the government to shut down his competition.”
Oh yes he did!
That’s all I can post for now, I’ve been gone all day! More tomorrow!
*(if you click on the link above it will take you to a video of Lorenae Dairy, is it just me or does he stick his hands in to the cheese after it was pasteurized? too bad there’s not any beneficial bacteria left in there to fight off any germs he may have accidently introduced)
April 23, 2010 at 7:02 am
Oh my word… See if I will be caught DEAD buying anything from Lorenae Dairy. I am SO glad that you and Armand were there!
April 24, 2010 at 1:31 am
We need to educate more for this very reason! People assume because they’re getting raw milk from the FM it’s really healthy and they are supporting local farms and all that. Not knowing that they are actually supporting the corporate agenda and buying commercial quality milk that just hasn’t been pasteurized.
There is a big difference in milk from farm to farm.
April 23, 2010 at 10:04 am
I wish this issue could be dealt with without raw milk producers being pitted against one another. Am I the only one who wonders why this is? We might learn a lot from the California victory- which, if I am not mistaken, resulted in only graded bottlers distributing off farm, right? I guess my dog is not in this fight: as a consumer, I buy right from the farm and as a farmer I only sell straight from my farm.
I sell eggs right from my farm, too. But if I wanted to sell them at the market I would have to get an egg license, grade & candle them, and buy new cartons for every dozen. I don’t do that- but some folks do.
The most confusing issue here: is raw milk legality being questioned or are we talking about off-farm distribution, or both? It is important, I think, to know. Otherwise we are weakened as we question ourselves.
April 24, 2010 at 1:24 am
Unfortunately there is alot to be gained by the milk board if we are all pitted against each other, divide and conquer.
The surface issue, if you ask the board, is off-farm distribution, that’s what they’ll tell you.
However, they have made several recent, documented, attempts to halt raw milk sales from the farm as well.
We live in a big corporate dairy part of Missouri and although one of the board memebers assured me “this is NOT a political issue”, ahem, “it is a public health issue”, none of the steps they have taken would protect the public health.
I don’t want my health or food choices made for me, my dog is in
April 24, 2010 at 1:58 am
I understand. But I have absolutely no problem with legislation that would only allow graded raw milk to be taken off-farm ( at farmer’s markets and health food stores, for example). I just don’t. Buying right off the farm is easy… so is selling that way. What is there to be gained by attempting to stretch the law to become the most liberal raw milk state, even beyond California?
I also prefer to be free to make my own choices. But, to bring up the egg metaphor, I am not oppressed by those laws. If I want ungraded eggs, I buy from a farmer. If I want to buy my eggs at market, I have to buy graded eggs.
That said, if direct from farm raw milk sales are in danger, I am livid.
April 24, 2010 at 12:42 am
It would appear that Mr. Salsbury is no better than the corporate giants that use gov’t muscle to shut down he competition. This is infortunate. It would be much better for our cause if large and small producers could stick together. Does anyone besides myself think that he might have been put up to making this statement so taht the milk board can say that raw milk producers want to be regulated?
April 24, 2010 at 1:27 am
Makes one wonder.
I think he just made the common mistake of assuming if he jumped through the right hoops, the gov’t would take care of him.
Armand said it best.
April 26, 2010 at 5:35 am
[...] April 26, 2010 Milk Board Meeting Posted by luvbnmome under Food Politics, Raw Milk Leave a Comment If you missed the first part of the meeting, you can read it here [...]