The Michigan Department of Agriculture may be getting more than it bargained for in the fallout from its raid last October. Rather than sitting around waiting for prosecutors to decide what charges to bring, supporters are pushing politicians on raw milk and related issues.
The MDA continues to hear from state politicians wondering what the hell it was thinking when it pulled its sting on Richard Hebron and the Family Farms Cooperative. The latest politician to weigh in is an Upper Peninsula representative, Gary McDowell, who contacted the MDA for information. In a letter to a constituent forwarded to me, he provided a recounting of the party line about selling misbranded food and distributing raw milk in a retail establishment. But he also stated that, "MDA has recently met with advocates of cow shares and agreed to look into this issue and suggest updates to the dairy laws which would clarify the legal rights and responsibilities of cow share operations." He added that the MDA is planning recommendations early next year to clarify the murky area of cow sharing, and invited supporters of the Family Farms Cooperative and others to provide suggestions to him.
Separately, many supporters of food choice trekked to Lansing last week to a legislative hearing to express opposition to the MDA’s plan to begin implementing the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Information System (NAIS) next March. According to several individuals who were there, something in excess of 100 people showed up, including owners of small farms and representiatives of consumer groups. They expressed concerns about the hassle, costs, and privacy infringement risks of the new regulations. This outpouring isn’t unique–there have apparently been some contentious sessions in Texas and Tennessee as well.
I found myself wondering if the expanding activism in Michigan and elsewhere against agriculture abuses could bear at least a tangential relationship to the phenomenon of Barack Obama wowing the crowds in New Hampshire this weekend. Maybe activism isn’t as dead as some would wish.
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