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.

I’d like to make all these folks visit a dairy barn at milking time. It might open their eyes to the blunt facts — in the cleanest barn on earth, the chances of disease being transferred from cow to milk are huge.

Cows in the barn can lie in their own feces, no matter how often the stable cleaner runs. Particularly in winter, their bodies are often coated in filth. Cows allowed out frequently can be seen lying on the nearest manure pile. And then there’s the possibility of rat bites, open cuts and you name it.

Don’t believe me? Go look for yourself. The possibilities for contamination are endless. Tuberculosis, listeriosis, E. coli, coliforms — just a few of the diseases carried by raw milk.

But hey, you want food freedom. And besides, raw milk tastes so good, right?…”

“….His win means he’ll carry on with his co-operative and others likely will follow.

The Ontario government has 30 days to launch an appeal and the Dairy Farmers of Ontario are already pressing for one. The DFO says it “expects the Ontario government will appeal the decision to a higher court, defend the legislation and take all steps necessary to protect the public by ensuring the safety of the food supply.”

But there’s another issue in the Schmidt case that’s seldom mentioned — the undermining of the overwhelming majority of Ontario dairy farmers who obey the law.

For 40 cows, Schmidt would have to spend nearly $1 million to acquire the quota that would allow him to sell milk to the DFO. Apparently he doesn’t want to do that. In Ontario, you can only sell raw milk to the marketing agency. And you can’t just decide to buy some cows and start shipping milk. You have to be licensed and purchase quota, a supply management system that has worked for decades.

But Schmidt, the people’s hero, apparently wants a free ride…..”

And now a few comments:

MMMark: “Connie laments the “undermining of the overwhelming majority of Ontario dairy farmers who obey the law,” but not the undermining of freedom that very law is the cause of.

That law was put in place by Big Dairy, for the benefit of Big Dairy, to protect Big Dairy from the competition of those annoying, small-scale dairy farmers. And everyone else is forced to pay the price.

That law is mercantilist, food-fascism, unjust, and anti-liberty.

That law should be abolished.”

“I know a woman who sells soup. She started small, but after years of hard work, she grew, and grew wealthy. Had she been required to spend a million dollars to sell quota to some provincially-mandated “soup marketing board,” her success story would never have been.

According to Connie, this woman “wanted a free ride.”

According to Connie, Michael Schmidt, a man who has worked long and hard to compete on an un-level playing field, “wants a free ride.”

Connie got one thing right, however. Michael Schmidt IS “the people’s hero” — just as surely as Connie Woodcock is the Milk Board’s apparatchik.”

“The claim that the Milk Monopoly Boards exists to protect “public health” and “safety” is pure propaganda, parroted by industry shills and hacks like Connie Woodcock, and promulgated to obfuscate the DFO’s TRUE interest: protecting the “health” of its bottom line.

Socialize the costs, privatize the profits, quash the competition and protest a public conscience; that’s the way to play Milk Monopoly.

New MFA Investigation Reveals the Sour Truth Behind Milk Production: http://www.mfablog.org/2010/01/new-mfa-investigation-reveals-the-sour-truth-behind-milk-production.html”

Kristine: “As for this article, it is inaccurate, baseless and should be taken down. It is people like this that deny people food freedom and personal rights. Whether I prefer to drink Raw Milk (mind you it is legal in all countries of the G8 and is still a staple in diets around the World and has been for centuries) is not up to the Government or a milkmaid who obviously did not take care of her herd properly. It is my choice and mine alone – take that right away and we might as well be living under a dictatorship.”

Bob: “Bullshit, Connie. I have seen the inside of a dairy barn many times. I lived beside one for years. I am now 64 years old and have been drinking raw milk for about 40 of those years. Neither myself nor any in my family have ever been sick from drinking raw milk. Neither have any of the many people in the area that get their milk from the farm. Apparently none of the customers of Mr. Schmidt have died yet, either. All dairy farmers drink their own milk. Why buy the crap in the stores that is so full of preservatives that cream won’t go bad for a month? How dirty the cow gets has nothing to do with her milk. The udder is cleaned before the machine is attached. If raw milk is so bad, why do we not see hospitals overrun with dairy families?”