Connie Woodcock re-ignites raw milk debate in Toronto Sun, asking “have you ever looked inside a dairy barn?”

These days, Connie seems to be the one lone journalist left touting the DFO (Marketing Board) line. Here are some excerpts from her story and from the seventy-some comments that follow it:

Raw milk farmer Michael Schmidt shows writer David E. Gumpert the inside of his dairy barn.

“….. So it always amazes me to hear people extolling the benefits of raw milk — the taste, the extra nutrients, the purity, blah-blah-blah.

And even though everyone from Health Canada to your local health unit will tell you that’s not the case, Ontarians are beginning to buy the argument. Several online media polls show many believe in the right to choose what they eat, safe or not.

Food Crimes? — FDA agents attempt investigation of Amish farmer in PA and Seize Cancer Curandero in Ecuador

Here’s an excerpt from a recent story from the National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association:

Is this an unAmerican way of farming? Amish farmer tills crop without involving petro-chemical or pharmaceutical or agribiz products. What is the world coming to? No wonder the FDA investigates.

“Kinzers, PA – At 9:40 a.m. last Thursday, February 4, only a few miles from the scene of the Nickel Mines Amish massacre of 2006, another drama against the Amish began as agents of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) came onto the property of Amish farmer Dan Allgyer, without permission, claiming to be conducting an investigation.

N.A.I.S. undead in regulatory limbo?

David Gumpert cautions those who would like to feel optimistic:

Much ado about Animal I.D. -- Front Porch Republic photo

“One of the sad realizations I’ve come to over the last few years in writing about raw milk is that proponents can’t let their guards down in battling with government officials.

Farmers and consumers alike want so badly to believe that public officials are decent, reasonable, and benevolent, and I have no doubt that some are. But if you look at what’s happened in Wisconsin—and it’s not an isolated example—the relationship between the regulators and the people being regulated is totally adversarial.

The regulators are cold, hard-edged battlers who see the people as an enemy, to be beaten into submission. Any pulling back by the people is interpreted as weakness, an opening to be exploited.