© AgMedia Inc.
by BETTER FARMING STAFF
The provincial government is “disappointed” by a Newmarket Justice of the Peace’s ruling today that raw milk advocate Michael Schmidt’s cow share agreements are legal.
“We are disappointed in the court’s ruling,” says Brent Ross, spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. “The government will review the court’s decision and determine the next steps.”
Ministry of Natural Resources officers raided Schmidt’s biodynamic farm operation north of the town of Durham in 2006. Schmidt was charged with illegally operating a milk processing plant as well as selling, offering for sale, transporting and distributing raw milk, as well as breaching previous orders prohibiting him from marketing raw milk.
Schmidt claimed that he ran a cooperative and distributed milk to families who owned shares in the cows he managed. He was producing milk without a quota or a license issued by the provincial marketing board.
Dairy Farmers of Ontario did not respond to requests for a comment on the court decision on Thursday afternoon.
During his trial last year, Schmidt challenged the Constitutionality of section 18 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act and section 15 of the Milk Act, both of which prohibit the sale and distribution of raw milk.
A court document filed by the Attorney General’s office on the charter issue said the provisions prohibiting the sale and distribution of raw milk “are intended to address a clear and serious risk to public safety in Ontario. The evidence demonstrates that the sale and consumption of raw milk constitutes a significant public health hazard not only to those who choose to drink it but also to the broader community given the risks posed by person to person transmission” of diseases.
Sally Fallon, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Weston A. Price Foundation, calls raw milk “the wave of the future.” She says it’s where the organic movement was 20 years ago: “a fringe movement poised to become mainstream. I think it is kind of an irresistible force, at least in the United States.” The foundation, a registered charity with a budget of US$1.2 million last year, recently opened a chapter in Canada.
Fallon says raw milk sellers are being “harassed” even in states where selling raw milk is legal. Cow share arrangements similar to Schmidt’s are springing up in states where raw milk sales are illegal. One of the reasons for its growing popularity stateside is because conventional dairy producers are paid so poorly for their product. A conventional farmer gets about US$1 a gallon for milk. A raw milk producer gets $4 to $13 a gallon.
Fallon says no industry groups support her foundation. “We don’t believe food should be made by an industry,” she says. “We believe food should be grown by farmers, prepared by artisans, and cooked in your own home.”
Fallon says the foundation does not recommend selling raw milk from a confinement operation. “The milk will be much healthier if the cows are on grass.”
More than a third of 2,000 Canadian dairy producers responding to a survey published recently in the Journal Preventive Veterinary Medicine thought consumers should be able to buy unpasteurized milk in Canada.
“There is quite a turnout of people here for Michael Schmidt. This is quite an issue,” Jack McLaren, president of the Ontario Landowners Association said outside the courthouse on Thursday morning.
Michael Schmidt, who represented himself during the trial last year, “did a wonderful job of defending himself,” McLaren adds. Government “is out there to destroy (his) business.” BF
Comments
This judicial decision isn't about raw milk at all, it's about the legality of "mutual fund" types of fractional cow ownership scenarios which circumvent the stranglehold supply management has, not just over consumers, but over the entire milk industry. The implications of this decision on supply management are huge, and devastating.
This decision is already over-ruled by the higher courts.Look at what was done to the export only group.No politican will go up against the system,,theres too many votes at risk.A DFO EMPLOYEE once told me,,dont worry Quebec will save the system ,,they have all the power. The financial industry will also lobby government strongly to stop any threat as they use quota values as their MAJOR source of security.I dont favor either side,just voicing my opinion.
The judicial system could be just exactly the white knight the government needs to extract itself from the supply management quagmire. It's easy, and very popular, to blame the judicial system when things go badly for your most-vocal constituents, yet governments rarely challenge court decisions. Who'd have ever thought the Canadian judicial system might torpedo supply management before the WTO did?
Quite frankly I do not see how it is devastating. If I want to own part of a cow (just as I can own part of a horse!) I damn well should be allowed and dairy monopolies be damned! If the dairies would fight for what a large section of the population wants, then I would support them!
If this milk was pasteurized before it was distributed to the share holders, what legal approach would the milk marketing boards take.
I think we should be all worried about the government intrusion in people's affairs. I the only danger for public health is the government itself. It is nor concerned that our guys are being killed in Afghanistan, nor does it care about Afghani civilians killed due to illegal invasion. But it is “concerned” about consumption of fresh milk. They don't give a f&ck about GMO crap poisoning the population but they are poring the crocodile tears about the public consuming “dangerous” fresh milk. To me it is a lunacy of the highest degree. I am not even talking about bill C-6.
I've obtained a mater's degree in Public Health, I've worked as a Public Health Inspector, I grew up on a farm, and I do not see a problem with a cow share. Of course, I still believe that it should be baned in food premises but since when is the government allowed to infringe on freedom of personal choice? The government allows tobacco products, which has no benefits at all for consumers and can damage other people's health through 2nd and 3rd hand smoke. However, the government does nothing to stop this because it plays into freedom of choice. At least raw milk can provide many benefits as it can help develop immunity to food pathogens (e.g. E coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter, etc). My grandparents grew up on farms and always drank raw milk. They both lived to be over 100 years old because their immune systems aren't weak. Today our immune systems are weaker than ever because we "bubble wrap everything" and we do not let our bodies develop natural immunity to these pathogens. Based on my knowledge and experiences, I believe that public health efforts are unintentionally creating threshold effects.
You are absolutely correct regarding raw milk's ability to build natural immunity. And the taste can't be matched! If canadians want to purchase raw milk, we should be allowed to. It is our right as consumers! And if we can support our Dairy Farmers in a more direct way and encourage them in what they do, as we purchase our raw milk, all the better. The relationship between farmers and consumers should be closer and the available choices of our food supply should be broader. And if raw milk from cows is best only if those cows are able to graze on real grass, out where they really belong, then all the better for the cows too! Why is the government so afraid of consumers actually having the power to choose what we want? Thier so called "health concerns" are not founded in solid science, and they know it!
We need to keep pressing for the freedom of choice, it's bigger than just raw milk!
Regarding tobacco: it's the stuff the add to the tobacco products that are extremely harmful, not the tobacco itself. it was probably far healthier to smoke tobacco before they started adding crap like arsenic to it... the native peoples considered tobacco to be a sacred plant! They wouldn't designate a poisonous harmful plant as sacred! As for not selling raw milk on food premises: did you know they have vending machines for raw milk in Europe? They sterilize themselves, people love it and obviously they aren't dropping like flies. If Europe can do it, we can do it. There's youtube videos about them, from tourists and such that used them, there's info online you can look up. Our Public Health info is bullshit. It's based on the fact that in the past some farmers used unsafe practices so instead of force stopping it, Public Health forced us all to stop drinking it en masse (there may be other info I'm not aware of, but this is something I read) ... well, that's like punishing everyone for the crimes of a few. It is proven, with these machines and with our history even, that raw milk is safe to drink if dispensed and handled safely, and I am very much wanting to try some but live in the city :( I do NOT appreciate the government keeping me from healthy food just because SOME people were irresponsible in the past with the distribution of it, and the farmers that are willing to do the safe practices should be able to do so, not be banned and punished as if they are irresponsible outright! I know you are saying the same in your own words, I just wanted to get the info out and rant a bit :)
So I hope we can get the government off our back where our choices of what to eat, drink, etc are concerned. They are NOT helping and are just causing undue hardship, unhealthy situations (ie weakened immune systems), and costing good farmers their livelihoods over untrue, outdated information.
If you want to smoke and drink its your business,as long as it doesn,t interfear with any on else. If its does interfear its everyones business. I myself don,t what to breathe in the smoke and doesn,t want to be around a drunk and that goes on the road as well. Drink the raw milk if you want but I like it clean I hope out of the stores.
People should have the Freedom to choose
What to eat & how to nourish themselves.
Politics & corporate greed should not
intrude on this most basic human right.
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