Thanks to Gary Cox, the defense lawyer, for filling in detail about the infiltration of the Meadowsweet Dairy LLC by an undercover agent of the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets. I hadn’t been aware of the entrapment dynamic underlying “confidential investigator” Dennis Brandow’s efforts to obtain raw milk from Meadowsweet at a farmer’s market last June.

It provides more of a context to the state’s desperation in trying to “get” Meadowsweet and its owners, Barbara and Steve Smith. And as I point out at the conclusion of this testimony excerpt from a NY Ag and Markets hearing last January, it helps explain some of the more significant damage of New York’s obsession with punishing raw milk producers. Let’s continue with Gary’s cross examination of Brandow, which begins with Gary confirming that Brandow didn’t check off anything on his LLC membership application that related to “purchase.”

Q. So you didn’t actually purchase anything, did you? You gave money to an LLC, right?

A. I did give money.

Q. Right. $50, right?

A. Yes.

Q. To become a member?

A. Yes.

Q. Did you get any products from the LLC before you paid your $50 membership fee?

A. No.

Q. So it was only after you became a member that you got some of the product, right?

A. Correct.

Q. Did you know of anybody else that has received products from the LLC who wasn’t a member of the LLC?

A. No.

Q. When you became a member of the LLC, did you tell them that you were going to be a snitch?

(At this point, there’s an objection by the Ag and Markets attorney, which is sustained by the hearing officer.)

Q. Did you tell the Smiths at the time you joined the LLC that you were an employee of the Department of Ag and Markets?

A. No.

(There’s another Objection by the Ag and Markets lawyer, which is overruled.)

Q. Did you tell the Smiths at the time you became a member that you were intending to collect evidence against them to bring an enforcement action?

(Yet another objection by Ag and Markets, because “the bringing of an enforcement action is not within the bailiwick of this witness,” but it is overruled.)

Q. Did you?

A. No.

Q. Now, in your testimony, you used the words that you were trying to “obtain” products, right, is that correct?

A. Yes, I did.

Q. Not to purchase products, correct?

A. Yes.

Q. Any you testified that when you wanted to become a member at first, Ms. Smith said you couldn’t get products at first, correct?

A. Correct.

Q. And she told you to go away for a while and come back, and if there were other products available, then you could have some, correct?

A. Yes.

Q. So she told you upfront that it’s illegal for her to sell you raw milk products, didn’t she?

(There’s another objection because “there’s no foundation in the record for the premise of that question,” and it’s sustained.)

Q. Did she tell you why you couldn’t get products at first?

A. No.

Q. Oh, she didn’t.

A. Just that I had to become a member.

Q. Right. So she explained you had to become a member first…

A. Yes.

Q. …before you could have access to the products?

A. Yes.

Q. And you knew that. Once she explained that to you, you knew it, right?

A. Once she said it to me, yes.

Q. Now, the $50 that you gave, was that your own $50 or was that Department money?

A. That was my own $50.

Q. Let’s talk about the samples you got on June 23, 2007.

(At this point, there is a series of questions, in which Gary determines that the agent never measured the temperatures of the dairy products he placed into coolers and took to the state lab.)

Q. Do you know how Meadowsweet Dairy LLC operates?

A. No, I don’t.

Q. Do you know anything about the LLC, like in terms of who the members are, if there’s classes of members, what decisions are made, who makes the decisions. Do you know any of that stuff?

A. No.

Q. When you paid your $50 membership fee to become a member, do you know what that money was used for?

A. To become a member.

Q. Well, how was that money applied once the LLC acquires that money?

A. Then I’m able to obtain the products.

Q. That’s your understanding?

A. Yes.

Q. Okay. Based on what?

A. Based on what I was told.

Q. Okay. Do you know if the $50 is used for maintenance of the herd?

A. I’m not aware of that.

Q. Do you know if the $50 is used to pay the Smiths a guaranteed payment under the LLC’s operating agreement?

A. No.

Q. Do you know if the $50 is used to offset the costs of the feed given to the cows or the rental of the equipment that is used to milk the cows?

A. No.

Q. Okay. And then the $20 that you paid. I believe you said in June, at the time you became a member, do you know what that $20 is for?

A. For the product that I obtained.

Q. That’s your understanding, right. Do you know if that $20 is used for the maintenance of the herd?

A. No.

Q. Do you know if that $20 is allocated towards compensating the Smiths to their guaranteed payment that they’re entitled to under the operating agreement of the LLC?

(There’s an objection, and Gary is asked to re-phrase his question.)

Q. Do you know whether or not the $20 that you contributed was disbursed according to the terms of the LLC’s operating agreement?

A. No.

There is further questioning about money the agent paid for milk some weeks later, and then questions to confirm that Brandow received a partial refund of his membership fee some months later, when Barbara Smith deduced that he was an undercover agent, and booted him out of the the LLC.

As a few people noted following the previous excerpt, there are some lessons here for dairy farmers about conducting their herdshares. Key among them is that, unfortunately, you can’t be too trusting. Big Brother really could be looking over your shoulder, prepared to pounce and frame you for something so simple as making unpasteurized milk available to willing consumers.

And that truly is unfortunate. Farmers are usually neighborly people. They are extolled in the Old Testament not to harvest everything in their fields so the less fortunate can partake. There’s a tradition of farmers and ranchers hiring transients to help out, without asking questions about their backgrounds. The agriculture bureaucrats and public health professionals can’t allow any of that in their regimented, sanitized view of the world.