{"id":2207,"date":"2010-06-08T10:15:41","date_gmt":"2010-06-08T14:15:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=2207"},"modified":"2010-06-08T10:20:59","modified_gmt":"2010-06-08T14:20:59","slug":"the-economics-of-the-raw-milk-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2010\/06\/08\/the-economics-of-the-raw-milk-wars\/","title":{"rendered":"The economics of the raw milk wars"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning, I reported on the raw milk debate<\/a> as we experience it here in rural New York.<\/p>\n

It’s nothing compared to Wisconsin.\u00a0 There, the state legislature passed a bill legalizing raw milk sales from the farm, much like we have it here in New York.\u00a0 Governor James Doyle said he would sign it.<\/p>\n

Then something happened.\u00a0 In a New York Times op-ed last week<\/a>, public radio guy Michael Feldman put it this way:<\/p>\n

…in the meantime the Cheese Makers Association, the Farm Bureau Federation and the Dairy Business Association, a sort of \u201cAxis of Ag,\u201d 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\u2019t on May 19, when he vetoed the Raw Milk Act \u2014 despite his February approval of a tangentially related bill that made the dills and salsas of home-picklers street-legal.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Last year was one of the worst years for traditional, “pasteurize-it” dairy farmers ever.\u00a0 Now those same farmers are watching a growing number of consumers clamoring for the right to pay upwards of $12 a gallon for raw milk.\u00a0 (In the North Country, the going rate is a much humbler – but still quite profitable – $5 a gallon.)<\/p>\n

No wonder the “Axis of Ag” feels threatened.<\/p>\n

It’s not just Dairy with a capital D getting nervous.\u00a0 Tomorrow, we’ll hear from Organic Valley CEO George Siemann.\u00a0 One of America’s biggest sellers of organic pasteurized milk, Organic Valley’s coop board recently voted not to allow members to sell raw milk on the side.\u00a0 As you’ll hear, Siemann cites a few reasons, but competition is definitely one of them.<\/p>\n

For the record, New York’s Big Dairy representative – the New York Farm Bureau – is tepidly supportive of raw milk sales on certified farms, but not in stores.\u00a0 Here’s Farm Bureau spokesman Peter Gregg on the subject.<\/a><\/p>\n

Just to throw in another opinion, food safety expert and author Marion Nestle recently weighed in against drinking raw milk on her blog<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Raw milk carries a greater risk of bacterial contamination than pasteurized milk and people who buy it should know what those risks are.\u00a0 The risk may be small, but it is finite.\u00a0 Putting a child at risk of hemolytic uremic syndrome from toxic E. coli <\/em>just doesn\u2019t make sense to me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So there you have it, folks.\u00a0 What do you think about raw milk?\u00a0 Hav you ever changed your mind one way or the other after reading\/hearing something about it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning, I reported on the raw milk debate as we experience it here in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2207"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2208,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207\/revisions\/2208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}