Who's defending our raw milk farmers' rights?

Step into someone else’s muddy boots for a bit. Imagine you are a small dairy farmer (if that’s the case, your father was probably a farmer, too). You made the choice to produce a product that you believe in – nutrient-dense raw milk. It’s what your customers want for optimal health, and you can hopefully break even every year (most farmers don’t make much or are in debt). You raise naturally healthy cows on a natural diet of grass. Your milk is clean (and you know it, because you have it tested regularly). One day, seemingly out of nowhere, someone writes you a letter or comes to your farm. They say what you are doing is wrong and threaten lengthy legal action. With little money (if any at all), what do you do?

It’s unfortunate that small farmers across the US are put in this position quite often. Some farmers stand up and fight, and some choose to stop completely (or have no choice but to do so). All of them (and their families, too) are put through a tremendous amount of stress, both emotional and financial. Luckily, there are organizations that exist to protect our small farmers in these precarious situations.

Pro real food organizations believe that our current raw milk regulations are unconstitutional and that consumers should have access to clean unprocessed nutrient-dense foods. In some situations, these organizations help provide free or reduced rate counsel, legal or otherwise, to farmers in need. In other situations, they raise funds and support to challenge a state’s policies or the FDA’s ban on interstate commerce of raw milk. Although each organization may have different strategies, their collective end goal is the same – allow consumers the right to choose healthy food, and that includes raw milk.

The Real Food Consumer Coalition (RFCC) is currently helping our farmer. In April 2017, RFCC filed a Citizen’s Petition with the FDA requesting exemption from their ban of raw milk interstate commerce as long as milk is labeled as such. The FDA has a 180-day time frame to respond. However, after 9 months, RFCC has not gotten a response.

There are many others working on the cause, too. The Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, which provides free or reduced legal counsel to its members, filed a lawsuit challenging the FDA’s ban in 2010. After numerous appeals, the case was officially dismissed in 2012. The Weston A. Price Foundation has a Campaign for Real Milk, which aims to provide accurate information to the public and help change raw milk policies state by state. Realmilk.com provides a wealth of information for raw milk consumers and producers. And, there are many more, but I will stop here.

I tip my hat to these organizations who work passionately and meticulously to challenge modern society’s understanding of the dairy industry and the policies created because of this often misconceived beliefs. Thank you for the important work you do.