Vernon Herschberger’s court victory reported in the Wall Street Journal

Unlike the recent worldwide March on Monsanto, Vernon Herschberger’s recent court triumph is getting ink in the mainstream media. Here’s an excerpt from a story in the Wall Street Journal, of all places:

“Raw-milk proponents celebrated a Wisconsin farmer’s acquittal on three of four counts related to selling unpasteurized milk and cheese, bolstering their hopes of legalizing the products in America’s Dairyland.

Jurors found Vernon Hershberger, a 41-year-old Loganville, Wis., farmer, innocent of producing milk without a license, selling milk and cheese products without a license, and operating a retail establishment without a license. He was found guilty of one count of breaking a holding order issued by the state in June 2010, which barred him from moving any of the food he produced without a license.

“March against Monsanto” in Toronto and Vancouver and around the planet

Toronto March on Monsanto Saturday May 25. Local citizens march in solidarity with others around the world. Photographer Robert Bright wondered where the media were. Is this not news?

Robert Bright reports on the Toronto March against Monsanto:

SPECIAL TO THE BOVINE: On a chilly, but sunny Saturday afternoon in Toronto, I made my way down to St. James Park on King Street East between Jarvis and Church Streets.  Despite the chill, I decided against wearing a jacket so I could prominently display my snazzy, new “Monsanto – Biohazard” t-shirt.  (It was a toss-up between this shirt or my, “OMG! GMO! WTF!?” t-shirt.)  Strolling up Jarvis Street from The St. Lawrence Market I felt exhilarated to be going to my first protest march in years.

Three out of four not guilty for Vernon Herschberger in raw milk jury trial

From Rick Barrett, in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Image via Peace News Network. Click pic to go there now.

Baraboo — Dairy farmer Vernon Hershberger was acquitted on three of four criminal charges early Saturday morning in a trial that’s drawn national attention from supporters of the raw, unpasteurized milk movement.

Jurors in Sauk County District Court deliberated about four hours, until nearly 1 a.m. Saturday, before returning a verdict of guilty on one charge of violating a holding order placed on products on the Hershberger farm, following a raid on the farm in the summer of 2010.

The 41-year-old farmer faces up to a year in jail and $10,000 in fines on that conviction. A sentencing date will be announced later, said Judge Guy Reynolds.

Baraboo raw milk trial calls to mind George Orwell and Franz Kafka

From Daniel McAdams, writing for the Ron Paul Institute blog:

Vernon Herschberger and family. Photo via Complete Patient blog. Click image to go there.

“The trial of Vernon Hershberger for the crime of selling healthy, unprocessed milk to informed and willing customers is sadly a damning commentary on the times in which we currently live.

This humble yet learned Amish farmer faces the ruin of his farm, his family, and jail time in a trial that highlights the utter depravity of the so-called authorities who claim the right to rule over the rest of us.

From the Vernon Herschberger trial still going on in Baraboo Wisconsin

From David E. Gumpert on the Complete Patient blog:

“Defense testimony from one of Vernon Hershberger’s buying club members since 2004, Joseph Plasterer, as to how he came to seek out the farm’s food.

Plasterer: “We were looking for some natural milk sources, in early 2004.”

Defense lawyer: Did you come and meet the Hershbergers?

Plasterer: “Yes. We asked if we could be part of the farm…

Defense: Did you have a reason?

Plasterer: “My son was not thriving…”

Prosecution: “Objection!”

Judge Guy Reynolds: “Sustained”

Plasterer: “We wanted access to unprocessed food that was higher quality than would not be available from the stores.”

Prosecution: “Objection!'”

Judge Reynolds: “Sustained. Strike the answer. The jury is to ignore that.”

Dr. Thierry Vrain on GMO dangers; March against Monsanto May 25th

A: Introduced and compiled by Raoul Bedi, BASc:

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In my May 1, 2013 two part article, on the work of Vandana Shiva and major milestones achieved in the overall anti-GMO  movement, that was published exclusively in The Bovine, and that has since gone viral across North America, I acknowledged some of the major food security and anti-GMO activists of our time.

“Rawsome” co-founder is in Baraboo for the Vernon Hershberger raw milk trial

Here’s the message Rawsome foods co-founder Aajonus Vonderplanitz sent out to people on his email list recently in connection with the Hershberger trial. Presumably, this represents his own views on the case, and the issues around it:

“Hi, healthy-food lovers,

I am in Baraboo, Wisconsin immersed in a real-life satirical trial, droning with irony. The trial is the persecution of our dedicated and brave farmer Vernon Hershberger. This jury trial is about food-safety but the judge ruled that food-safety cannot be discussed in the trial. The charges are about contaminated RAW MILK but the judge ruled that raw milk cannot be discussed in the trial.

Governments do not want a true and factual hearing on raw milk in this Hershberger-case because their raw-milk junk-science would not hold to rational jurors minds. Thankfully, we have four very good attorneys representing Vernon that are working diligently for him/us in the midst of outrageous and incoherent courtroom injustices. Of the first 2 days of trial, I estimate that the judge has illogically ruled 65% for the irrational requests of the State and 35% for rational requests of Vernon. Fair trial?

Herschberger raw milk trial looms large

The trial of Amish raw milk man Vernon Herschberger is unfolding this week in Baraboo Wisconsin. American food rights journalist David E. Gumpert has published many blog posts detailing the pre-courthouse skirmishes in the case, intended for the most part to avoid dealing with the larger raw milk and food rights issues at stake and focusing the case purely on the purported regulatory improprieties Herschberger is charged with. If you haven’t been following David’s “The Complete Patient” blog lately, do scroll down there to read some of the backstory. Here’s an excerpt from David’s latest report from the Baraboo courthouse:

Raw milk farmers Michael Schmidt and Vernon Herschberger, at a raw milk event in Wisconsin, from when Michael was still allowed to travel. Photo via Modern Farmer. Click to go there.

“I had assumed that the tension and drama in the Vernon Hershberger raw milk trial would build gradually over the expected five days of the proceedings, culminating in a verdict that would either acquit him or possibly send him to jail for up to two-and-a-half years.

Some of his best friends are germs

Archigram’s “Walking City” image via Technoccult. Click image for more on that.

From Michael Pollan in the New York Times:

“I can tell you the exact date that I began to think of myself in the first-person plural — as a superorganism, that is, rather than a plain old individual human being. It happened on March 7. That’s when I opened my e-mail to find a huge, processor-choking file of charts and raw data from a laboratory located at the BioFrontiers Institute at the University of Colorado, Boulder. As part of a new citizen-science initiative called the American Gut project, the lab sequenced my microbiome — that is, the genes not of “me,” exactly, but of the several hundred microbial species with whom I share this body. These bacteria, which number around 100 trillion, are living (and dying) right now on the surface of my skin, on my tongue and deep in the coils of my intestines, where the largest contingent of them will be found, a pound or two of microbes together forming a vast, largely uncharted interior wilderness that scientists are just beginning to map.

Nadine Ijaz’s recent presentation to the BC Centre for Disease Control on raw milk myths and science

Nadine Ijaz was invited to present on raw milk science to the BC Centre for Disease Control. Watch Nadine’s presentation online. 

Click image to go to site to see video of Nadine’s presentation on raw milk.

Not sure how long this presentation will be available for viewing.

Earlier post on The Bovine about Nadine being invited to give this presentation.