FTCLDF member Ric Brewer, owner at Little Gray Farms Escargots, had a potentially profitable niche business lined up—selling snails to restaurants—but USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service created obstacles
West Virginia Raw Milk: Making the Legal Illegal
What do you do if you oppose any raw milk distribution and your state legislature passes a law legalizing herd shares? If you are the West Virginia Commissioner of Agriculture and the West Virginia Department
Courts Vindicate Amish Farmer for Fourth Time
If at first you don’t succeed at harassing a farmer out of business, try again…and again…and again. That has been the tack the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Hopewell Township have taken since 2012 against Amish farmer
Another Raw Milk Raid in Texas
Imagine going to pick up your weekly gallon of milk, only to be met by a group of county health inspectors and sheriff’s deputies who threaten arrest if you take the milk. Sound far-fetched? Perhaps. But that’s exactly what happened
How Consumers Can Respond to a Raid
When it comes to the alternative food movement, it is usually the farmer against whom the government takes enforcement action. However, there are many examples where a person allows their driveway, front door stoop, or back porch to be used
The United States of America v. Miller’s Organic Farm and Amos Miller
On June 28 an American court will once again address the question of whether there is a legal distinction between the public and private distribution of food. To this point no judge in this country has held that there is a
Raw Butter Is a Communicable Disease
Ridiculous, but true: The FDA is telling us that it can ban raw butter in interstate commerce under its power to regulate communicable disease.
Why is this ban silly?
– Raw butter has the safest record of any dairy product and has not been proven to cause any food borne illness.
– The law doesn’t allow the FDA to take this action.
Town Health Board Limits Poultry But Not Cows
It started over four years ago; I fell in love with four ducklings that I had almost thrown out after a hatch we did in a school where I work. All the eggs came from a 4-H project and were all supposed to be chicken
Police Called in to Stop Local Food Distribution
Cameron, TX—June 10, 2016—Health departments have stepped up their attacks on your right to purchase food directly from farmers, resorting to bringing the police to harass and intimidate local raw milk customers. That’s what happened to one group of raw milk customers in
How Low Can the Government Agenda Against Local Food Go?
I didn’t expect to write about raw milk twice in a row. While the West Virginia raw milk mangling was despicable, driven no less by an anonymous tip, it wasn’t unexpected. You don’t play ball with the big kids and not take some dirty elbows