Okay, I’m back to reality. Not sure where all that Mitt Romney stuff came from—dreams are funny that way. Maybe because he was a skillful venture capitalist in his day (and made all the millions he’s now throwing into the presidential race), I had him buried in my subconscious.
In the real world, small dairies struggle, whether they sell pasteurized or unpasteurized milk. If they sell pasteurized milk, they struggle with trying to make it in a factory system that pays them commodity prices geared toward large farms. If they produce raw milk, they struggle with hostile regulators.
Whittier Farms, the Massachusetts dairy that tried to get around the commodity system by pasteurizing its own milk and wound up sickening four people with listeriosis—three of them died while the fourth, a pregnant woman, had a miscarriage—is bowing out of processing. The latest news is that it has shut down its processing plant—apparently the owners, the fourth generation of the Whittier family, decided they couldn’t de-contaminate the processing plant enough to satisfy regulators.
On the raw milk front, Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures, has taken to posting messages on YouTube, and his latest one summarizes the discouraging state of affairs with coliform counts and AB1604. He tries to paint an upbeat picture about the coming commission investigating raw milk (it “will be very friendly,” he says) and he expects Assemblywoman Nicole Perra to introduce a new law in a month or two “with maybe even more protections” than the repeal of the coliform standard would have provided.
But as for the coliform inspections that have begun, “We’re getting by,” he says, but, “Our long-term survival is in jeopardy.”
I decided to do some checking on the state of the dairy industry in the U.S., and it seems even worse than I imagined. Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that between 1970 and 2006, the number of dairy farms declined 88%. Yet because milk production per cow doubled during that time, production per farm increased twelve-fold.
That’s supposed to be good news, I suppose, because high supplies means low prices. That increase in productivity per cow didn’t just happen, though. I wonder how much came from all the hormones pumped into the cows. I can’t wait for cloning.
In other news — Nicole Parra, sometimes called "our raw milk champion" in the California legislature, announced on Friday, Feb. 1st, that she will be resigning as a legislator. It makes sense, she’s 38 and wants to marry and have a family and work as a consultant. However, since the commission on raw milk standards is her project, I was concerned enough to call her office and ask them a few questions.
The retirement won’t go into effect until November. I asked if that would be enough time to complete the commmission process and the staff member said, she will be able to start it, but someone else could always take over and finish it — if it’s that lengthy (which it could be, because of the amount of contention). I asked if there were any successors lined up and speculated that many people might not be that eager to associate themselves with the issue, and she acknowledged that and said there is no one designated yet. But it’s still early.
All of this is still being discussed with various parties behind closed doors — the current standard, the commission process, everything. I was told that legislative business doesn’t really get going until March or April, so I should definitely check back.
Finally, I asked her whether AB1604 going to the Appropriations Committee was standard procedure or not, and she said that the Rules Committee decides those questions, and that it was normal for them to send it to Appropriations because it did involve a cost. I asked about the fact that 1735 had already gone through and she explained that 1604 was a new bill (new #, new bill) and therefore had to go through again — or at least that was the Rules Committee’s reasoning. And it’s their call.
So whether there are raw-milk foes on the Rules Committee or not, it wasn’t in conflict with normal procedure.
This was a very nice lady and very helpful. I think she gave me the best information she possibly could, I appreciated her help and thanked her wholeheartedly for it. Things are still moving slowly and behind closed doors. I will definitely be checking back with them. Meanwhile, be aware that we only have Ms. Parra for a while longer.
I would love to know what is happening with the producers’ legal team and the injunction process, but I understand that legal teams often have to keep quiet about what they’re doing. Wish they didn’t!
All for now,
t.j. jackson
NAIS-avoidance does not account for the statistics going back to 1970, but I feel safe in assuring you that the small farmer – perhaps to his own detriment, because he disappears from the radar – has never been particularly inclined to spend 8 or 10 hours (the NASS survey is very complex) filling out this kind of paperwork, which asks, among other things, such intrusive and pointless questions as whether you have high-speed internet access (this has WHAT to do with farming?), your income, employees, number of animals, etc etc etc.
So don’t be too gloomy. There are a lot more small farmers than you think. They just don’t participate in the NASS surveys, and that is where all of these "official" statistics come from.
Wow, six times more! I can see why ultra-pasturizing is becoming more popular.
Plan A–buying raw dairy of my choice in the store.
OK,Plan B…I believe in having back-ups. If this fight fails for raw dairy (I do believe if it does, it won’t stop at milk being regulated) Cow shares? Heard shares? Where can I learn more about them? Currently I am in CA, are they illegal in other states?
Plan C? Buy my own cow.