Augusta County Farmer Joel Salatin Raises Red Flag About Va’s Move to Outlaw Raw Milk
Augusta County farmer Joel Salatin has raised a red flag about two pieces of legislation currently making their way through the Virginia General Assembly. They concern raw milk and Virginia’s steps to outlaw its use.
Joel, who owns Polyface Farm as the foot of the Shenandoah range of the Appalachian Mountains, took to Facebook to express his concern, writing:
Whether or not you drink raw milk, Virginia is moving to virtually outlaw the choice.
Two bills, SB 962 and HB 825, are wending their way through this session of the General Assembly to clamp down on the right to drink milk from your own cow. So deep and wide is the hatred of food choice by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) and numerous legislators that these bills all but eliminate herd share viability.
For the uninitiated, raw milk sales are illegal in Virginia, although more than 20 states allow it. Yes, Virginia, freedom exists elsewhere, but not here. We all know those states are seeing massive deaths and illnesses due to such liberty. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
For Virginians, the work-around is to own a portion of a cow, or a portion of a herd, so that you can drink your own milk from your own cow. This has been ongoing for many years. Now, in the wisdom of the bowels of Richmond, this freedom is no longer acceptable.
In general, the proposed legislation would require farms whose cows are owned by shareholders to send the names and addresses of those shareholders to government officials in Richmond. Government officials, who for decades have voiced and written their antagonism toward raw milk, would be allowed warrantless inspections of herd share farms. If all that were not egregious enough, the legislation would criminalize other family members from partaking of the milk brought home by a herd share member.
In other words, when I bring home a gallon of milk from my cow, my spouse can’t drink it; my child can’t drink it; a friend can’t drink it. This draconian measure shows the diabolical creativity of those who seek to deprive you and me of food choice. It’s all done in the name of safety, of protecting us from ourselves, of course. As if government-sanctioned food, from school lunches to Twinkies, is wholesome, nutritious, and land healing.
These bills have nothing whatsoever to do with raw milk sales. Courts have ruled over and over that herd share arrangements are not sales; they are cow owners drinking milk from their own cows. This is sacred property ownership territory. For Richmond insiders to threaten this area indicates a heightened creativity and aggression toward deceit and tyranny. Strong words, but anything less lets them erode the few freedoms we have left.
I urge you to acquaint yourself with these bills as they go through subcommittees and hearings, and to make a call to the appropriate legislators to voice your concern. Daily updates are available through the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund action alerts and the VICFA (Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association) action alerts. This is the time to be vigilant, and for good people to do something.
Joel is known worldwide for his back-to-the-earth farming techniques and grass-fed critters. Polyface uses natural techniques to raise beef, pigs, and chickens, and the farm services more than 5,000 families, 50 restaurants, 10 retail outlets, and a farmers market.
Never one to shy away from sharing his concerns about government overregulation that makes life more difficult for small farmers, he has written eleven books about the government’s overreach including one titled, “Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal,” and others to help those who want to do what he does. He was also featured in the award-winning documentary “Food Inc.,” and the New York Times’ best seller “Omnivore’s Dilemma.”
Polyface Farm’s Facebook page has had 1,500 reactions and almost 1,400 shares since the status was posted Friday.
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