Grass-fed fluid milk producer in Ohio takes on the big-dairy monopoly

This story about Snowville Creamery is originally from Graze magazine and appears on the Snowville Creamery website under the title “Grass-Fed Fluid Milk in Danger“:

Building a dream for grass-fed fluid milk:  Snowville Creamery wants to return taste and value to milk

By Joel McNair

Pomeroy, Ohio

The dream is big, the vision wide, the obstacles great. Warren Taylor wants nothing less than to resurrect American fluid milk quality and consumption from sorrowful depths.

Warren believes that a product that has become a standardized, industrialized and sometimes sterilized shadow of its former self can be returned to the wonderful food that so many mothers and children enjoyed in the days of his youth. Milk made with grain, hormones and stressed-out cows can instead come from contented animals grazing lush pastures.

Would Bill HR875 outlaw Raw Milk?

We’ve done a few posts now on proposed bill HR 875 and it’s implications for small scale organic farming, backyard gardening and other good things. This latest (March 23, 2009) excellent summary of concerns around this bill from Sarah Foster at newswithviews.com includes the following discussion of possible impact on raw milk availability:

Could “Raw” Milk Take a Hit?

Many critics are wondering whether they’ll be able to buy “raw” milk if HR 875 becomes law. According to the FTCLDF it’ll depend on the regulations, but the future doesn’t look good. Right now it’s illegal to sell unpasteurized milk across state lines, but some states allow its sale within their boundaries, albeit grudgingly and with heavy restrictions. HR 875 puts even this limited market in jeopardy.

FTCLDF explains:

“FDA has long wanted a complete ban on the sale of raw milk. The agency’s mantra is that raw milk should not be consumed by anyone at any time for any reason. The agency does not consider this subject to be debatable…Under HR 875, FSA is given statutory authority to unilaterally impose a ban.” [Emphasis added]

Fraser Valley Health Authority in B.C. won’t rescind Cease and Desist order against Home on the Range cowshare

Further to our post from yesterday, here’s the latest news from Gordon Watson in British Columbia:

I received a letter tonight in which lawyer Guy McDannold tells me that his client – the Fraser Health Authority – will not be rescinding the Cease+Desist Order which was issued to our depot at Rockweld Farm, Abbotsford, last Wednesday

So the battle is joined. I’ll start composing the documentation for appealing the Order, this evening. I may get it in to the Court Registry by tomorrow close of business … but if not, then by Thursday.

I am quite irritated with these people = the bureaucrats. It galls me the way they play the silly-bugger … pretending not to understand simple logic. A child can read my explanation and see that milk from our cowshare is not caught by the Milk Industry Act nor the Health Act. I guess one of the qualifications for receiving a law degree is the candidate’s ability to stifle common sense.