Big Mo’ Shifts to Organic Pastures

Mark McAfee is breathing a lot easier today than he was just 24 hours ago. So much so, in fact, that he’s predicting with a "high level of confidence" that Organic Pastures’ raw milk will pass the second, and deciding, test tomorrow carried...

It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over for Raw Milk Dairy

Last Friday, when a spokesperson for the California Department of Food and Agriculture told me the agency had lifted its quarantine of Organic Pastures Dairy Co. raw milk, I took that to mean the dairy was back in business. So did Mark McAfee, the co-owner, who...

Raw Milk Dairy Stays on the Offensive

You can tell in Mark McAfee’s rapid-fire-staccato speaking style that the head of Organic Pastures Dairy Co. is a no-nonsense type. He doesn’t take well to being screwed with, as California’s Department of Food and Agriculture did in closing his...

Raw Milk and Spinach: The Double Standard

Curious developments on the tainted food front. 1. Just a day after my article about the shutdown of a California raw milk dairy appeared on BusinessWeek.com, California’s Department of Food and Agriculture lifted its quarantine of Organic Pastures Dairy...

Government Regulators Step Hard on an Honest Farmer

It’s difficult not to feel badly for Mark McAfee and his family. Together they run Organic Pastures Dairy Farm, a 300-cow farm near Fresno, CA, that has become California’s largest provider of raw milk. As I detail in my latest BusinessWeek.com column,...