Santa Cruz Family Farmers Will Stage a 'Milk-In' Downtown Wednesday

Last week Santa Cruz went to the dogs, with its new law giving canines rights to visit the boutique downtown.

This week it's going to the goats, who will be milked near the downtown farmer's market by a group of protesting farmers. The milk, unprocessed and untainted by the government, will be shared for free at 3 p.m., after a 2:30 p.m. parade of goats.

The protest stems from attempts by the California Food and Drug Administration to limit consumption of unprocessed milk by dairy collectives, those that share their food among shareholders. The CDFA says all dairies should be licensed to monitor public health issues.

Family farmers say they have a right to eat their own food without government intervention.

The CDFA has tried to shut down the shareholder operations with cease and desist letters, including one sent last week to a collective in Willits and a threat of $10,000 fines given to a herdshare in San Jose, one of the last family dairy farms in that city. It also raided one farm in Ventura and arrested its owner Aug. 3, and in the same raid cited a Venice health food store.

The collectives have become popular among those who want to drink raw milk and share in what they say are healthy, unprocessed foods that have sustained their families for generations. There are about 20 of them around Santa Cruz.

There is a national Facebook page for food freedom groups.

“We aren’t asking for our rights; we’re claiming them,” said Dustin Jensen, co-owner of Milk Mama Goat Farm, in a press release. “We want our elected officials to know that the people of Santa Cruz are free to make our own decisions about food without government or corporate mediation.”

California is the largest milk-producing state in the country, according to the CDFA website, producing 38 billion pounds of milk in 2006, or 21 percent of the milk sold in the country.

As of 2008, the state passed tougher standards for coliform bacteria in raw milk in order to monitor the cleanliness of the dairies that produce it, and to reduce risk of harmful bacteria such as E. coli.

The bacteria limit for raw milk is now the same as for pasteurized milk, according to CDFA, a standard it says can be met with sanitary procedures.

The agency allows farmers to consume their own milk on their own property. However, it is cracking down on those who set up shareherds with others who want to share in the raw milk, or who want to sell it at farmers markets.

Here is the objection of Green Uprising at Blackberry Bend goat farm owner, Sara Grusky, who has stopped sharing the milk after a cease and desist letter.

Why is it so easy to shut down a small family farm? Why does the California Department of Food and Agriculture believe that Hostess Twinkies, Lucky Charms or Coca Cola are safe foods, but that raw milk produced at our farm is dangerous?  

Here’s a deal I would be more than willing to make. I don’t believe that raw milk is a public health threat, but we would gladly cease and desist the production of  raw milk if the following real public health threats and real threats to the future of our planet would also cease and desist. For example, how about shutting down nuclear power plants, offshore oil drilling, fracking operations, or asking coal companies to cease and desist mountaintop removal and shutting down coal-fired electricity plants?