2010 Northeast Raw Milk Symposium
Friday, August 13, 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
UMass Campus, Amherst, Massachusetts
Cape Cod Lounge, Student Union
Open to the public, admission $20 for NOFA members, $25 for non-members
Register online at www.nofasummerconference.org
Demand for farm-fresh, unpasteurized milk has grown dramatically in recent years, as has the level of crackdowns on farmers' rights to sell it, and consumers' rights to purchase it. Laws are inconsistently implemented and enforced, false public safety claims are manipulated to scare people, and efforts are made to marginalize consumers who seek out raw milk. Yet the virtues of raw milk continue to be extolled by those who drink it, evidence of its health benefits is mounting, and the public outcry to demand that our food freedom be protected is growing by the day.
The 2010 Northeast Raw Milk Symposium will be an opportunity for raw milk farmers, consumers and advocates to come together to learn and discuss the issues around access to unpasteurized milk, and to strategize about how to work together to defend and expand our rights. The Symposium will feature talks and opportunities for dialogue with two of the leading voices in the field of raw milk, Sally Fallon Morell and Pete Kennedy. Both have written and spoken extensively about raw milk issues around the United States and internationally.
Sally Fallon Morell, MA, will talk about the health issues around raw milk. Sally is the president of The Weston A. Price Foundation and founder of A Campaign for Real Milk (www.realmilk.com). She is the author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats (with Mary G. Enig, PhD), a well-researched, thought-provoking guide to traditional foods. Sally is also a journalist, chef, nutrition researcher, homemaker, and community activist. Her four healthy children were raised on whole foods including butter, cream, eggs and meat.
Peter Kennedy, Esq. will talk about legal and rights issues around raw milk. Pete is president of the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, an organization devoted to defending the rights of farmers to sell what they produce, and of consumers to have access to those products. He is also an attorney and works primarily on the right of farmers to distribute raw milk and raw milk products direct to consumers. He has represented or assisted in the representation of dairy farmers facing possible state enforcement action in Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. He has helped farmers get started in the business of distributing raw milk and raw milk products in many other states. He is currently working with others to challenge the federal ban on the interstate shipment of raw milk for human consumption.
The Symposium will also feature a Panel Discussion of raw milk farmers and advocates from around the region, which will offer an opportunity for participants to hear about specific issues around access to raw milk in the Northeast. This discussion will give attendees a chance to brainstorm ideas for how to work together to share resources and ideas aimed and broadening and preserving access to raw milk.
Panelists
Lindsay Harris left a career in the natural sciences to farm full time four years ago. She started selling pork and beef and hand-milking one Guernsey cow for home use. Her customers went crazy wanting to buy the milk, so her raw milk business was born. Lindsay got involved with Rural Vermont, an advocacy organization working towards changing the raw milk laws in Vermont. When the laws did change, Lindsay was able to expand her milk business. She and her partner, Evan Reiss started Family Cow Farmstand, a grass-based, all raw, micro-dairy in Hinesburg, Vermont. Family Cow became the first state-certified raw milk farm under the new law. Now Lindsay severs on the board of directors of Rural Vermont, milks seven cows and sells all her milk raw, directly to her community. She also teaches home dairying classes, gives tours of the farm and is a fervent raw milk advocate and educator.
Chris Newton operates Baldwin Brook Farm, a 75 acre raw milk dairy in Canterbury, Connecticut, with his wife, Mavis. All of the milk from their grass-fed Jersey herd is sold raw or made into artisanal cheese at other local creameries. Chris and Mavis were instrumental in the development and formation of the Connecticut Farmstead Dairy Alliance, a nonprofit organization that represents both raw and pasteurized state licensed farmstead dairy products and the farms where they are produced. Chris and Mavis have been extremely active at both the local and regional levels for raw milk access in the Northeast and have worked extensively with the Connecticut legislature to keep raw milk dairies a viable enterprise in their state.
A farmer by marriage, Pam Robinson is a nurse-midwife providing women's health, part-time in a family practice in West Brookfield, MA. In her “spare-time” she assists her husband Ray in managing the Robinson Farm in Hardwick, MA, a diversified 35 cow, raw milk dairy and recently constructed creamery. Pam believes in the value of nutrient dense foods as good medicine and together with Ray they strive to provide wholesome, organic, farmstead products. Pam is an active member of the NOFA/Massachusetts Raw Milk Network.
If you are a consumer or dairy producer wanting to be part of The Raw Milk Network to help make safely-produced raw milk available throughout Massachusetts, contact Winton Pitcoff, Raw Milk Network Coordinator, at winton@nofamass.org, or at
(413) 634-5728.
This page was last modified on June 29, 2010 at 8:40:28 AM.
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