Overall, this is a great article, Sharon, but I must ask, Where is our freedom in “industrial food’s health costs and contamination problems”? We all pay directly and indirectly for the CAFOs’ “right” to exist, don’t we? We in the Mid Atlantic states have paid for it in terms of water contaminated by poultry concentration camps and hog farms whose waste lagoons are breached when hurricanes roll through. I fail to see any freedom connected with these.

“As above so below” and the reverse is true as well. When domesticated livestock cannot express their “isness” by having access to grass and sunlight, neither can the folks who eat them. And the rest of us pay both in higher healthcare costs as well as a general degradation in the productivity and well-being of our fellow humans.

Where is my “freedom” to drink raw milk? I used to be in a share program in Virginia, but it became too far for me to drive to pick up the milk. Now, I live in Maryland, where even share programs are illegal. If we’re going to outlaw such a wholesome product — I felt better drinking it and never once got sick while drinking it, and I mean not sick at all, not even a cold — then we may as well bring back Prohibition. Alcohol will kill us far more quickly.

Thanks,
Leigh

Listeria is the least of my worries, at least with the raw milk suppliers. They are scrupulous with cleanliness. I did however get milk from Costco recently and had to throw it out due to the black mold growing on the top of the milk, that stuck to the sides of the jug.

These regulations are designed to run small, sustainable farmers out of business and allow only for the industrial ag producers to run the country.

These laws and regs are pretty much exactly what has convinced us that we cannot open a goat dairy the way we’d hoped to. We simply don’t have the upfront money, nor the optimism to take out large loans.

It’s a pity. So we focus on feeding ourselves for the time being, waiting for the oil to fuel regulatory acitivity to run out. At least that way we’ll have accomplished some of the steepest learning curve ahead of time.

Also worth noting – aged cheeses are not a major risk, even if made with raw milk. The FDA lists aged raw milk cheeses last among its list of potential listeria carriers.

Again, I’m not arguing with you, Greg, about the risk of listeria, nor do I object to pasteurizing my own milk for sale (I can’t sell it raw or pasteurized in NY), or teaching my customers to pasteurize before they drink if they have risk factors. Just observing that raw milk is itself not the biggest actor in this drama.

Sharon

As the economy declines, governments are going to find it impossible to keep up their enforcement efforts. Eventually, it will be pretty much back to the unregulated market that used to be. Hopefully we will have learned a little bit about public health and can manage to keep a few wise and effective practices in place (maybe informally applied and enforced by local guilds or something) to protect people from the worst health risks.

Right now, the problem is that we few far-sighted individuals already see the direction things are heading, and want to get a jump start into the new paradigm. Meanwhile, the mass of society, and especially government at all levels, is still mired in the old paradigm, and cannot even realize that it is shifting, let alone imagine what the new paradigm is shaping up to be. Somehow, we need to figure out how to position ourselves to be ready when things have relaxed to the point where new opportunities open up, while meanwhile living within the constraints that our excessive regulatory regime imposes upon us.

Food-borne illness has been marketed well to keep the masses buying from the big institutions, rather than doing our own canning, enjoying our farm production and that of our neighbors. We are all going to die of something…most likely it’s not going to be food. The odds are much more in favor of cancer, heart disease, automobile accidents…you don’t see too many people telling you how dangerous it is to ride in that car do you? “Statistically” speaking, food-borne deaths and major illness are a NIT!

Even we farmers have bought into the advertising campaigns against our own products and to the one-in-a-million odds of getting sued and loosing our land and livelihoods. The lack of personal responsibility, ability to sue for the least issue, and the entitlement generation are going to break us, if the collapse doesn’t come soon. If the collapse is too slow then the regulators will try enforcement as revenue generation and control. If it hits hard, then all bets are off and people will want food enough to value our products, even if they don’t have any money to pay for it. No matter what happens, producing your own food, giving it to neighbors and telling our politicians to BACK OFF! is the right thing to do, so we must be persistent and LOUD. My representative here in OK, says it’s really not the battle of Dems and Repubs, rather a battle of city v. country since the city thinks all food magically appears in grocery stores.

Our job is education! We need to be taking every opportunity to teach kids about farms, educate parents about food laws and why we need to be ACTIVISTS in this particular area, speakers at community forums and using every soap box we can find. This is too important to let someone else take care of it.

On the subject of NAIS, I count myself a resistor as well. If you haven’t read Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal, I suggest you do so. Farming in any form is becoming more and more costly and difficult, and this is a time when we need young, dedicated farmers more than ever. The government should be encouraging small farmers, not discouraging them with senseless, overbearing regulation and escalating costs of business.