Rally March 2nd for Farmer Facing Three Years in Prison

Heather Callaghan
Activist Post

If you’re available this Friday you may want to help rally to defend Wisconsin dairy farmer Vernon Hershberger who is being targeted by the raw milk police again.

In June 2010, the Department of Agriculture and Trade Consumer Protection (DATCP) raided Vernon and taped his coolers closed. Not agreeing with this move, he cut the tape and continued distributing to the paying private buying club members.

The “raw milk police” are fond of destroying people’s food like schoolyard bullies — they also made sure to destroy the bulk tank milk by pouring blue dye in it.

He is now facing up to three years in prison and $10,000 in fines for operating dairy and food retail establishments without a license. There have been no complaints by the private club members.

Let’s stop and clarify three things here:

In 2003, DATCP gave their blessing on the private buying club set-up. It’s in the last couple of years they have started cracking down on dairy farmers like Vernon that they used to support.
These are not retail food & dairy businesses! Members are actual participants in the growth and production of the food – they literally work the farm. It is a trade agreement. This is like selling or trading something on Craigslist and getting busted for not having a business license.
Why doesn’t Vernon simply get license? “There are no raw milk licenses available in Wisconsin,” he says.