Page 108 - Spring2018

was responsible for any injury or illness. HB 825 and SB 962 each required a label on all raw milk containers with a
consumer advisory warning about the dangers of consuming raw animal foods. Why would shareholders need a label
on their own property? Why should they be forced to trash their own property with an advisory?
Reaction to the bills’ filings was swift. Farmers and consumers bombarded legislators with phone calls, emails and
in-person visits to the capitol. VICFA kept people apprised of the bills’ status and mobilized the local food community
to attend the hearings on the bills. Herdshare farmers like Dwayne McIntyre of Goshen Homestead, Jacques and Kim
Fuhrmann of Our Fathers Farm, the Wilkes family of Honey Brook Farm, Tim and Joy Alexander of Avery’s Branch Farm
and Scott Wilson of Full Quiver Farm all made a difference in building opposition to the legislation.
On February 1, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources held a hearing on SB
962; around one hundred opponents of the bill packed the hearing room. Senator Mark Obenshain, seeing the writ-
ing on the wall with the opposition to the bill, took out a number of SB 962’s more onerous provisions but opponents
weren’t buying the revised version of the bill. Their message throughout the testimony opposing SB 962 was clear: no
regulation, period!
VICFA member and herdshare pioneer, Christine Solem, began the opponents’ testimony by angrily warning the
committee that she would “fight this all the way.” Twice, Solem took herdshare lawsuits to the Virginia Supreme Court
in the 1980s with the court implicitly recognizing that herdshare agreements were legal.
Mark Wilkes of Honey Brook Farm commented in his testimony that the bill “was a solution in search of a problem.”
VICFA president Anne Buteau backed up that statement in her testimony by pointing out to the committee that, in the
thirty years of herdshares operating in Virginia, government officials investigating the one foodborne illness outbreak
attributed to raw milk distributed through a herdshare did not go public with the information because, as they stated,
“the nature of the herdshare programs are such that we were confident that we would effectively reach those who
were truly at risk for illness.”
Herdshares are closed-loop arrangements with a high level of traceability. Virginia government officials have all the
authority they need under existing law to conduct an effective investigation if there is a suspicion of foodborne illness.
Senator Richard Black agreed with Wilkes and Buteau, firing up the crowd when he remarked, “I don’t know what
problem it’s addressing. People like a free life in rural areas and don’t want government peeking over their back and
telling them what to do.”
Once the testimony was over, the committee voted eight to seven not to report the bill out of committee. Delegate
Barry Knight, the sponsor of HB 825, knowing how difficult it was going to be to pass a more burdensome bill than SB
962 (HB 825, unlike the Senate bill, gave government broad rule-making power) moved to withdraw his bill; on Febru-
ary 5, a House Agriculture subcommittee struck the bill by an eight to zero vote.
VICFA’s mission “is to promote and preserve unregulated direct farmer-to-consumer trade that fosters availability
of locally grown or home-produced food products.” VICFA co-founder Salatin, Solem and other VICFA members such
as the late Katherine Russell, helped create a “don’t tread on me” culture that is present throughout Virginia when it
comes to farmer-to-consumer unregulated commerce, particularly with herdshares. Those in the local food movement
there don’t ask the government for permission to exercise their rights; they want the government to leave them alone.
VICFA operates on a shoestring budget but members like Buteau, Solem, past president Lois Smith and Suzi Croes
will spend the time it takes to protect herdshares—the crown jewel of the local food system in Virginia. They continue
to be effective in keeping herdshares away from any regulation; in 2017 VICFA helped kill an attempt by Farm Bureau
to ban herdshares. When it comes to establishing and protecting unregulated direct farmer-to-consumer commerce, it
is a model organization for those in other states to follow.

STATE RAW MILK BILLS – 2018
There have been raw milk bills before the legislatures in ten different states so far this current session. A bill has made
it to the governor’s desk in Utah, and there is legislation in at least a couple of other states that has a realistic chance
of passing, including Louisiana, which is one of seven states left where any raw milk sales or distribution is illegal. Bills
before the legislatures include:

IOWA House File 2055 (HF 2055) would allow the unregulated sale of raw milk and raw milk products on-farm and
through delivery. The bill requires a label on the container notifying consumers that the product has not been inspected
and is not subject to public health regulations. Bills have also been introduced in the Iowa legislature that would legalize
raw pet milk sales (HF 2057) and the distribution of raw milk through herdshares (HF 2056) but HF 2055 is the only
raw milk bill the legislature has considered so far. On January 30 a subcommittee of the House Committee on Local
Government recommended passage by a two to one vote; the bill is now before the full committee. Iowa is one of the
remaining states that prohibits any raw milk distribution.

106 Wise Traditions SPRING 2018