Here’s a raw milk update. I’ve been opposed to restrictions on the consumption of natural, raw milk. Adults should be able to decide what kind of milk they’d like to drink, without government’s interference. We’re a dairy state, and we should be able to drink and eat the kind of dairy products we’d like.
Unfortunately, Governor Doyle vetoed even a modest change in our laws, a change that would have permitted limited raw milk sales for a temporary period.
Some dairy farmers are challenging Wisconsin’s current law and its enforcement. One of those farms was in Walworth County, and one of those cases was initially filed there. Following a hearing earlier this June, that case was transferred — following a motion filed on behalf of Wisconsin’s Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer protection — to Dane County for consolidation with another case. See, Crying Over Raw Milk.
Feldman ably describes the politics over raw milk:
…in April, during the waning hours of the legislative session, the Raw Milk Act finally passed, sending Representative Danou [a propoent of raw milk sales] to his feet again to tip back a glass of what must have been pretty warm raw milk. Victory seemed assured; Wisconsin’s governor, James Doyle, had earlier indicated he would sign the bill.
Mr. Danou had no way of knowing that in the meantime the Cheese Makers Association, the Farm Bureau Federation and the Dairy Business Association, a sort of “Axis of Ag,” had sold their anti-raw case to Governor Doyle, blending their self-interest with warnings over diphtheria-, salmonellosis- and strep-bearing unpasteurized milk.
Governor Doyle has had his moments, but Solomon he wasn’t on May 19, when he vetoed the Raw Milk Act – despite his February approval of a tangentially related bill that made the dills and salsas of home-picklers street-legal.
Still, it wasn’t a total loss for the dairymen. The veto may prove a tipping point for public awareness and farm acceptance of raw milk. The movement gets its energy from the raw-food crusade swirling nationwide, but it’s now also drawing strength from Wisconsin’s farmer-activists, who’ve been pouring milk down the Capitol steps to protest prices for so long that many believe that’s why the marble is so white.
One thing’s clear, as Feldman notes — this debate favors raw milk advocates, and those defending prohibition are out-of-step with a trend favoring free consumption of milk in a milk-producing state.