Soares is not listening to the Small Dairies or to the People who support them!

Cheers rang out when it was announced that Suzanne the cow was on Boston Common. On Monday at 9am, Suzanne was brought to the Common to draw attention to a growing concern that raw milk is not available for Massachusetts residents through buying clubs. In January, a cease-and-desist order was issued to four of the largest buying clubs in Massachusetts.More than 200 people showed up to rally around the right to drink raw milk and to allow the use of buying clubs in Massachusetts.Suzanne didn’t seem to be bothered by the attention or that several people at a time were milking her.  Pitchers of raw milk were passed around for all to drink. A trio of musicians comprising of a fiddle bass, fiddle, and a banjo player, made for a lively and optimistic hopeful mood.The press was there as well, including Fox News and The Boston Globe.The crowd was led up Bowdoin Street with a banner that read:Healthy Raw Milk:

It’s Our Right

The room at 100 Cambridge Street was quickly filled to capacity with about 125 concerned citizens. Sixty or so others were not allowed in and were asked to stand in the lobby. Several people with families and small children became discouraged and walked away.Prior to Monday’s Raw Milk Hearing, there had been much confusion in the raw milk community with the last minute press release on Friday at 5pm by Scott Soares, Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. Soares stated that people would not be allowed to testify about the buying clubs issue.Matters were further confused when NOFA sent around a headline stating that the MDAR had backed off. I phoned NOFA on Saturday and requested that they change their headline as it was misleading - they refused.NOFA has worked long and hard on this issue, but it was clear that they wanted to help out the Commissioner’s office by confusing the raw milk supporters.

Cut to: Monday

Soares has a change of heart and allows testifying. (Perhaps because to not allow it would be considered unconstitutional?!)Forty-nine people shared their stories and passion for raw milk. The session lasted over three and a half hours in all, but one individual (who did not address buying clubs) said that they wanted buying clubs to continue. The buying clubs are the key to survival for several farms."Without the buying clubs, we will not survive," said Pam Robinson, a raw dairy farm owner in central Massachusetts.Harvey Schwartz, a lawyer and member of a Boston-area buying club, said buying clubs were just one expression of the principal-agent relationship. "An agent can be designated to pick up my Oxycontin and stop off and buy a bottle of vodka, and while at it, a carton of cigarettes," he said. "Under Massachusetts law, I can authorize the agent to buy me the cow. Yet your agency's position is the agent can't buy me a gallon of raw milk."There were a few familiar farmers who are used to fighting and testifying at hearings. Mark McAfee, of Organic Pastures Dairy Company, and Max Kane, raw milk activist from Wisconsin, shared their stories and support as well and brought emotional responses.Soares is not interested in the small farmers of Massachusetts.He showed no compassion when one mother, claiming her children’s digestive problems and frequent ear infections are relieved by raw milk, expressed that prohibiting buying clubs will prevent her access to raw milk. She asked Soares if he had children. His reply was, “that’s irrelevant”.In the end, Soares showed no compassion for the group, only stating that there will be a decision made in 30 days. He held his ground stating that he has “heard the concerns raised over raw milk.” This statement was alluding to the idea that raw milk is dangerous, rather than addressing the concerns of raw milk being available to all citizens.I think he is listening to Big Ag, perhaps.  Soares maintains that buying clubs are milk dealers.Perhaps we need to go after every courier service in Massachusetts and require a claim stating that whatever they are delivering proclaims them a dealer in the product they are transporting!

The fight continues, the letters and calls need to continue -

The MDAR has a monthly photo contest. I suggest we all send loads of photos of raw milk and cows and freedom slogans to the contest!Boston Globe:  Cows on The CommonWBUR:  Raw Milk Enthusiasts Sour On Proposed Delivery BanBoston Herald:  Cowabunga on the CommonFox News:  Cow in Boston Common for raw milk enthusiastsSuzanne The Cow Photograph:  There is a cow on Boston Common...