For months, tedious negotiations have dragged on between the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and a group of dairy farmers over the protocol for herdshares in the state.
Some hundreds of tiny California dairies offer herdshare arrangements, enabling small groups of consumers to gain ownership of cows and goats in exchange for regular supplies of raw milk. Only two dairies, Organic Pastures Dairy Co. and Claravale Farm, are licensed by the state to sell raw milk via retail and other public markets.
A working group of farmers and CDFA representatives was formed more than a year ago, after the CDFA and local prosecutors began issuing cease-and-desist orders to several small dairies with herdshares, and one of the dairies filed suit against the state. The state argued that the herdshares were subject to regulation by the CDFA, while the farmers argued that the herdshares were private arrangements between consumers and farmers, outside the scope of state regulation. Adding credence to the farmers’ argument, herdshares apparently aren’t even mentioned in California laws and regulations, which would seem to leave them in the private sphere.
I was initially skeptical of the negotiation effort, but the simple fact that it has continued and the parties are still positively inclined seems a sign of progress The working group has been negotiating over possible parameters whereby the herdshares might carry out some sort of milk and animal testing, but otherwise be free of the sort of expensive facilities requirements and extensive regular testing and oversight for registered raw dairies like OPDC and Claravale. There has been talk of introducing legislation covering herdshares backed by the working group in the upcoming legislative session.
Now it turns out the entire herdshare issue could get a judicial review sometime over the next week, when a pretrial hearing is held in Los Angeles in connection with the Rawesome Food Club case. While many people have focused on internal disputes about outsourcing, the main charges in the original case grow out of a herdshare arrangement Rawesome and its operator, James Stewart, had with Sharon Palmer, operator of a Ventura County farm. Palmer’s Healthy Family Farms provided raw goat milk to Rawesome until a little over two years ago.
The June 30, 2010, multi-agency raid on Rawesome also included a raid by state and local officials on Palmer’s Ventura County farm in connection with her raw milk activities. Within a couple months of that raid, she ended the herdshare arrangement because she felt the state was intent on harassing her out of the raw dairy business, and she concentrated on sales of eggs and chickens.
But as part of the pretrial hearing, scheduled to begin tomorrow, Palmer’s lawyer has subpoenaed Richard Estes, the CDFA’s chief counsel, to quiz him about statements attributed to him that California has no law applying to herdshare arrangements. It’s not clear Estes will obey the subpoena, but the matter will become an issue in the hearing, and the judge could throw out some or all of the charges against Palmer, Stewart, and Victoria Bloch (a third defendant) if he decides that herdshares are, indeed, outside the state’s purview. At the end of the hearing, the judge will be deciding on whether there is enough evidence in the case to send it to trial.
Progress is being made and I really believe that CDFA (with all of their faults)….has made massive change and is quickly becoming an ally of not only Small Herds and also a friend of responsible production of raw milk. I have witnessed an evolution in the last 12 years. In the last three years a massive change has occurred. This change was hard earned and leaves some wounds in some of the warriors….but none the less, this is great and good change.
Mark
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/09/04/2516078/dairy-farm-advocates-file-lawsuit.html
Dairy farm advocates file lawsuit over low milk prices
Agency violated law on pay, they claim
By JOSHUA EMERSON SMITH – jsmith@mercedsunstar.com
Dairy farm advocacy groups recently filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Food and Agriculture, claiming the state’s milk pricing formula improperly undercompensates milk producers.
The legal action is based on the premise that the CDFA violated its legal requirement to calculate milk prices in “reasonable and sound economic relationship” to comparable prices around the country, said Lynne McBride, California Dairy Campaign executive director.
“California dairy producers continue to be paid significantly less than those in surrounding states,” she said. “We strongly feel the department needs to remedy this situation.”…………..
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10151196378451181&id=171911861180&comment_id=24784477&offset=0&total_comments=34
Kaleigh Marie Lutz is Mark McAfee’s daughter and is employed as the OPDC marketer.
In response to the current OPDC recall for campy, Kaleigh posts as if she’s a regular customer:
“I will be enjoying my sept 13th code date of whole milk;) thanks for the caution, but I will be enjoying it instead! Cheers;) thanks for the full transparency;)”
Thanks for the full transparency, Kaleigh!!! 😉
Read Kaleigh’s words carefully: “thanks for the caution, but I will be enjoying it instead!”
Thanks to who? Herself? She is in charge of the FB page.
She’ll be enjoying the milk instead of heeding her own caution?
It appears to me that she’s the first to post on that thread and hoping to set the tone for responses and it appears she was successful. As it is, she and her husband’s income is directly tied to people not returning that milk for a refund. God forbid someone follows her lead and ends up with a campy infection and reactive arthritis. Marler would have a field day.
By the way, I’m not the only one who has asked for OPDC transparency. OPDC got kicked out of the only decent farmer’s market in Fresno over these issues. Maybe her wink is to that market manager.
If Kaleigh’s comment is directed at me or the market manager, are we to assume that her “transparency” is a joke or a barb? Are the customers reading it on Facebook aware of the joke? Which would be more pathetic — a joke or gross lack of disclosure? I’m not really sure. It looks pathetic from each angle, as does any justification of the behavior.
Amanda
Good for Kaleigh that she’s a customer of the product that pays her a full-time wage to be its marketer. I haven’t argued here that she is not a consumer of the milk, just that the lack of disclosure is uncool.
If she posted on FB that there was a recall, in a timely fashion as it appears, why is that lack of disclosure just because she didn’t start out with “I’m Mark McAfee’s daughter”??? Jeepers, I guess she’ll have to start all of her OPDC posts with that sentence from now on in order to satisfy you and your ilk. Someone should let her know that, I guess.
I would guess most people who visit that page know who she is, even though I didn’t know because I don’t spend time on FB (not even a member, sorry) and I don’t spend time at the OPDC site either. I simply don’t have that kind of time, nor do I care because I don’t live in CA so therefore I don’t consume OP products. One thing you can probably start a ruckus about, however, and be my guest if you don’t believe in coincidence, is that I have a daughter by the same name (different spelling however) and she will be 37 years old on Monday Sept. 10th. Do I sound like I’d be the right age to be Kaliegh McAfee? Good grief, get a grip.
I worked with Mark on a political campaign five years ago. I know all the people who were around back then.