LIKE the new Support Vernon Herschberger Facebook page. Click image to go there.
Verner Herschberger seems to be the man of the hour these days on the North American raw milk scene. Now that Amish dairyman Dan Allgyer has (quite understandably) thrown in the towel after years of harassment over supplying raw milk to a private buying club in another state, lots of people are wondering how Vernon Herschberger is going to fare in his ongoing struggle to follow his conscience and continue supplying people with whom he has privately contracted.
Organizers of the Mar 1 & 2 rally. See complete details below.
People like the Raw Milk Freedom Riders are throwing their support behind Vernon, and looking to rally others to the cause, notably to show up for the March 1st and 2nd rally which they are planning. So it’s only right that Summer (whatever her last name is) once again has started a Support Facebook page, like she did for Michael Schmidt when he was on his hunger strike. Even if you can’t make it to the rally, you can show support by “Liking” the “Support Vernon Herschberger” Facebook page, which Summer is most graciously “hosting”.
From the Raw Milk Freedom Riders website:
“Join the RAW MILK FREEDOM RIDERS and Farm Food Freedom Coalition for an incredible two-day event Thursday, MARCH 1 and Friday, MARCH 2, 2012 in Sauk County, Wisconsin.
DAY ONE: Rights Workshop
Thursday, March 1, 2012 2:00 PM-5:30 PM followed by a Farm Food Dinner
(Space is limited. Reserve your seat today. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how to exercise your right to the foods of your choice!) RSVP: RawMilkFreedomRiders@gmail.comSPEAKERS and RIGHTS TRAINERS INCLUDE: Raw milk activist, Max Kane. Canadian farmer and raw milk speaker, Michael Schmidt, Food Freedom Activist, John Moody, Author and blogger, David Gumpert, Dairy farmer and speaker, Mel Olsen and Raw Milk Freedom Riders/Farm Food Freedom Coalition Co-founder, Liz Reitzig and freedom activist and Constitutional scholar, Michael Badnarik .
Learn about a history of peaceful non-compliance, how to peacefully stand up for your rights in confrontational situations, how to take responsibility for your freedom. Farm-fresh dinner to follow.
DAY TWO: Food Freedom Rally in Support of Vernon
Please also join us the following day, Friday, March 2nd, (11:00-1:00) for a FOOD FREEDOM RALLY in support of Wisconsin dairy farmer, Vernon Hershberger who faces criminal charges, and possible imprisonment, for providing raw dairy to his community via a private herd-share agreement. Vernon courageously stands for food freedom and sets a new standard for farmer’s response to these egregious government violations.
Put into action your right to demonstrate as instructed in the workshop and show solidarity with all independent farmers everywhere prior to Vernon Hershberger’s 1:00 PM hearing.
Food Freedom Rally: Friday, March 2nd, 2012 11:00 AM-1:00 PM at Sauk County Circuit Court 515 Oak Street, Baraboo, WI 53913-2416
Video of a recent attempt to “regulate” Vernon’s operation:
The Bovine 
Where was the freedom riders, Michael Schmidt and others when it came to supporting Dan???? In reference to the statement,”he threw in the towel” seems extremely disrespectful to Dan and his family after their long struggle. Maybe I am missing something here but I doubt it.
Maybe it was the lesson of seeing what happened to Dan, that has helped galvanize all this support for Vernon. The realization that a farmer can’t do it all himself. That he needs a strong support network. That’s my take on events.
Carol I don’t see why you would think that we would be disrespectful to Dan Allgyer. I don’t think anyone could blame him for the difficult choice he’s made to shut down his farm in the face of overwhelming harassment and pressure from government organizations. Why should anyone have to put up with all that just to make a living as a hard working farmer?
It was the term”threw in the towel” that seemed disrespectful to me because in my experience that term has been associated with someone giving up easily and I am certain this was not the case. Mennonites/Amish are my neighbors and friends and I can only imagine the hardship this has caused as well as conflict in their Church Community.
I wonder how many people are there to help this family pick up the pieces of their life as well as their finances or is it just a new day in search of someone else to make the sacrifice for them(the consumer). As stated in another article on the Bovine,”They are afraid to stand up in case the FDA comes after them”. You are right, why would anyone want to do this and in my humble opinion why should they if the consumer is not going to stand with them.
I am not to familiar with face book but it seems to me that it gives people the illusion they are doing something. It reminds me of a friend who jokingly said, “I have 800 plus friend on face book but no one to help shovel the manure”
I can only think if what you say, “that it took Dan Allgyer to go down for people to galvanize support behind Vernon Herschberger” is true, it is shameful.
Carol, I doubt either of us know much about the situation around Dan Allgyer’s decision (beyond what we’ve read in the news and on blogs) so I don’t think we’re in much of a position to judge.
I agree with you though that it was a sad ending to a difficult trial and wish things might have turned out differently for Dan and his customers.
The sad thing is that the story of farmers being driven off the land is so common, yet we only get upset when it happens to someone we are associated with.
Wisconsin had over 150,000 dairy farms in 1950. All of them small, family-run farms. Today we have less than 13,000. Though there are just as many dairy cows in Wisconsin as there were in 1950, the number of farms is less than 10% of what it was then. The 1980’s (in particular) saw a major farm crises in Wisconsin — many farmers had their land seized by the banks and auctioned off, or were forced to sell it and get out of farming.
There is a reason that farmers and peasants often take leadership roles in protests against the World Bank, IMF, WTO, and other neo-liberal global trade organizations. It was, after all, the ELZN in Mexico (more popularily known as the “Zapatista’s”) who first declared war on the Mexican government shortly after the passage of NAFTA in 1994. The peasants of Chiapas knew that their way of life was under seige by the corporate elites.
Allgyer’s and Hershberger’s situation are not unique. The war against farmers is a long-standing policy of the Western elites. Just ask the diggers!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers