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MA Raw Milk Farms Threatened as State Moves to Make Buying Clubs Illegal
For those of you that do not know, the State of MA is proposing new language to be added to the regulations that govern the sale of raw milk, which would make it illegal for consumers to entrust another individual to purchase milk from the farm. The proposed language is intended to make carpooling and milk groups illegal.
We prefer to stay out of politics and not to intrude on our friends and customers with our personal political challenges, but this issue is not about food or even about the safety of raw milk, but much more about our rights as American's to choose healthy food. There are inherent risks in all of the foods we eat, raw milk being no more dangerous than going "out to eat" or any (dead) food you can buy at Walmart. Whether or not you are a raw milk drinker please consider protecting your right to choose and not allow regulatory changes that decrease the access to raw milk for the many people in MA that now depend on it. This is about large AG business and food factories pressuring the government to control all of our food. We cannot only eat sterile, dead food, we will not survive!
The success of our organic farm and the 25 other MA farms selling raw milk are directly dependent on our milk groups. For us 50 percent of our income is from groups. Even once we finish building our cheese operation, our future success is dependent on their continued support. Not enough customers can manage the time, or should have to waste the gas, making the trip to the 26 rural MA Farms that sell raw milk. Please contact your Representative, & State Senator and attend the hearing or write a letter for the May 10th hearing. We have also attached a sample letter to help make it easier.
Below is an excerpt from the NOFAMass web site which explains all this in more detail, includes talking points and links for you to contact your Senators & Representatives, as well as a list of other things you can do to help.
- Buy raw milk from a licensed raw milk dairy. This supports the farmer and demonstrates demand.
- Tell your friends about raw milk and encourage them to buy raw milk from a licensed raw milk dairy.
- Come to the hearing on the proposed changes on May 10 or submit comments in writing. Details are at www.nofamass.org/programs/organicdairy/buyingclubs.php.
- Write to and call your legislators and the governor, asking them to express their opposition to the proposed change in the regulations
- Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper and use comment sections of the newspapers, blogs and online forums to draw attention to this issue.
- If you’re not already on our email list for action alerts, please email winton@nofamass.org so we can add you. Encourage your friends to do the same.
- If you are an attorney or have connections with one who could offer pro-bono assistance, please contact winton@nofamass.org.
- Contribute to the NOFA/Massachusetts Raw Milk Network. We operate on a shoestring budget, and every little bit helps. Checks can be made out to NOFA/Mass and sent to 411 Sheldon Rd., Barre, MA 01005. Please indicate that your donation is for the Raw Milk Network.
- Join NOFA/Mass. You’ll be helping the Raw Milk Network and you’ll get great benefits for a full year. See here for details: www.nofamass.org/about/application.php
- If you know of dairies that are selling raw milk without a license (you can see the list of licensed dairies here: www.nofamass.org/programs/organicdairy/consumers.php. Please encourage them to get licensed. Urge them to contact winton@nofamass.org for more information.
- Join or contribute to the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund www.ftcldf.org to help protect our local food sources.
The Massachusetts Raw Milk Network is now on Facebook. Please join our page for regular news and updates about raw milk in MA. |
There will be a public hearing on this proposed change on May 10 at 10:00 a.m. in Conference Room A on the second floor of 100 Cambridge Street, Boston, MA. We are urging everyone who is concerned about food rights, access to healthy milk, and the preservation of Massachusetts dairy farms to attend and be heard. Written comments will also be accepted up until May 10, and may be sent to Scott J. Soares, Department of Agricultural Resources, 251 Causeway Street, Boston, MA 02114.
We are also urging people to contact their legislators to express their opposition to this proposed change. (To see who your representatives are, see here.) Educate your senators and representatives with the following information:
- MDAR supports the sale of raw milk at the farm and regulates it to ensure its safety. There is no valid public health reason to distinguish between a person going to the farm to purchase milk for themselves, and having someone else bring it to them.
- Raw milk for sale at the farm must meet the exact same testing requirements for pasteurized milk sold in grocery stores, yet there are certainly no restrictions on buying pasteurized milk for others.
- These clubs have been in operation for years, some of them very publicly. MDAR has certainly known about them. During that time there have been absolutely no public health problems. That kind of success should be rewarded with an expansion of markets, not a reduction.
- The clubs do not sell or distribute milk - they do not maintain an inventory, mark up their product, or offer it for sale to the public. They are acting as agents of individual consumers who contract with the private club to provide a service.
- The proposed change is so broad that it would make it illegal to pick up a gallon of milk for your neighbor.
- Buying clubs save gas and the environment, just like carpooling.
- Buying clubs support the farmers, which means protecting jobs, preserving farmland and helping the economy.
No state in the nation has acted in this way to make milk buying clubs illegal. It is short-sighted and counter-productive on the part of Massachusetts officials to try to do so, as it will harm dairy farms and likely result in consumers purchasing milk from dairies that are not licensed to sell raw milk. Milk from these dairies is not tested by MDAR to ensure that it meets the standards for human consumption, and a regulation that would result in people drinking milk from these farms is unacceptable.
The proposed change would have negative effects on other farms and farm products as well, as the clubs often also purchase produce and other products from neighboring farms for their members. With milk being the main product for these clubs, if they are no longer allowed to purchase milk for their members they may well also stop buying other products.
The full text of the proposed language to be inserted is:
"No person shall sell, distribute, provide or offer for consumption to the public any raw milk elsewhere than on a dairy farm where that raw milk was produced provided that to such farm a Certificate of Raw Milk for Retail Sale has been issued by the Commissioner. For the purposes of these Regulations the term "offer for consumption" shall include any sampling of milk by the public or offering of samples to the public."
The full regulation is available at:
http://www.mass.gov/agr/legal/docs/330-CMR-27.00-Proposed-Raw-Milk-Regulation.pdf
For more information, or to find out how you can get involved in the Massachusetts Raw Milk Network, a program of NOFA/Mass, please contact Winton Pitcoff at winton@nofamass.org. |
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