Food rights declaration signing Nov. 26

QUEENS PARK, TORONTO: An estimated 80-some food rights supporters converged on Queen’s Park for a rally and food rights declaration signing today. Elisa and Michael Schmidt started things off by speaking briefly about recent developments in the ongoing raw milk saga.

Michael Schmidt speaks to the crowd, prior to the signing of today’s Food Rights Declaration, flanked by his wife Elisa and farm share member Mascha Perrone. Nov. 26th, at Queen’s Park in Toronto.

Michael then read the text of the Food Rights Declaration, which was also printed on both sides of the milk truck, which had been brought to Queen’s Park for the occasion. After that, folks were invited to sign both a smaller copy of the declaration to be presented to Premier Wynn and then the large copy on the side of the truck.

Citizen activism DID stop the quarry

There are times, like this one, when concerted action by concerned citizens can made a difference in the political process. Remember the Foodstock event last summer? That was one of many citizen actions that led to this result:

From Orangeville.com, Nov. 21, 2012:

Photo via Orangeville.com

“Melancthon isn’t destined to become a mining town, at least not anytime soon.

The Highland Companies dropped a bombshell, sending quarry opponents into a frenzy on Wednesday (Nov. 21), when the company declared it has withdrawn its application for a licence to mine 2,316 acres of land for limestone in Melancthon.

“They thought they could just blow into Melancthon,” exclaimed Carl Cosack, chair of the North Dufferin Agricultural Community Taskforce (NDACT). “You can’t force something on a community of this nature without having repercussions.”

Government social media sites deluged with citizen feedback on raw milk and the case of Amish farmer Dan Allgyer

From Federal Computer Week, a story titled “Government learns social media has a double edge”:

“….A few supportive comments were mixed in, but the critics dominated the page.

The Food and Drug Administration had a similar experience recently when it announced it was seeking an injunction against an Amish farmer in Pennsylvania for selling unpasteurized milk to a buyer’s club in Maryland.

Such “raw milk” is legal in many states, but not in Maryland. Advocates argue that pasteurization destroys beneficial properties as well as pathogens, and that proper production techniques can keep it safe to drink. The FDA disagrees, but what really angered the agency’s critics was the revelation that it had been targeting the farmer for more than a year, including infiltrating the buyer’s club with undercover agents.