Michael Schmidt and His Supporters in Cow Masks
An Exciting New Day is Dawning for Food Freedom and Farm Sovereignty
Not sure what the specifics are, but just got this call from Tim Wightman saying, Michael Schmidt is not guilty on all counts. Hold tight for more details. Meanwhile read this great blog:
What Michael Schmidt Case Means to Me
Then the second call with the details….
Next, Michael Walked out of the Courtroom
Michael just said to the crowd: It was a clear verdict. He was found not guilty on all charges. The judges verdict took 2-1/2 hours to read. He found that Michael had done his due diligence, developed a proper contract, and that everyone was informed. In doing so, Michael created something new. He added that there was no ability to address it in the regulations. The judge went on to say that Michael met a need for the people.
Then Michael took questions from reporters.
The first question was why he started the raw milk cowboarding program.
Michael: It was a consumer driven movement. (Tim Wightman who relayed this to me, agreed. He said that when he started his cowboarding program in Wisconsin, “it was because people came to him wanting the product. It certainly wasn’t because he wanted to make a buck. There are much easier ways to do that,” he said.)
Then there was a question about the raw milk “war.”
Michael: This wasn’t a war, just a very expensive drama.
To an unknown question, he responded:
Michael: I wanted to create a dialog. In the U.S. this dialog is just beginning. Take Wisconsin, for example. The dialog is starting there now (referring to Max Kane and Scott Trautman cases, obviously.)
(Tim Wightman added that when he ran into trouble with Wisconsin regulators 8 years ago, he wanted to go to court to resolve it, but the state wouldn’t do it. They refused, otherwise this issue could have been resolved in America 8 years ago).
The final question was “What will you do next?”
Michael: I still have to go home and milk the cows, be a farmer.
Michael added, “The hard part starts now. Getting legislation to back this decision up is the next step. To do so I am considering getting into the political arena.
(Tim Wightman’s parting “take” is that the judge’s decision is another thing the U.S. has to thank Canada for.)
Here are some excellent news clips:
Raw Milk Fight Becomes a Symbol of Food Freedom
Dairy Farmer Wins Battle Over Raw Milk
Court Case Heats Up Raw Dairy Debate in Canada
I have a great big icing on the cake surprise for you tomorrow. Stay tuned to this blog.
"Takes Small Farm, Nutrition & Health News to a New Level ~ Beyond HuffPo!"
12 Comments
Oh yay. This is the best news to come out of this whole debacle ever. I hope the US sits up and takes notice.
Local Nourishment´s last blog ..Real Food Face Off: Me vs. Kimberly Hartke
YAY!!!!! Thanks for posting. I’m tweeting and Facebooking.
CHEESESLAVE´s last blog ..Real Food Wednesday: January 20, 2010
This is WONDERFUL news! I’m so very pleased!
Jenny´s last blog ..Cold Quinoa Salad with Chicken, Pine Nuts & Feta
You are most welcome, Sara, I found it thru twitter. Thanks for following me! What you had to say sums up my sentiments, exactly.
Yay Team. Local Foods, Farm Foods, Good for You, Good for our Economy!
I wish I could have been there. But I really need to stick close to the farm.
What a great day! I am really feeling up all the way here in Wisconsin.
I am so very pleased for Michael — all down to this day, and couldn’t have hoped for a more complete victory.
This is the kind of victory raw milk needed to keep the energy up – now back to Wisconsin – what’s going to happen here –
What a buildup to the 2nd Raw Milk Symposium!!!
Scott
Excellent news! I will be shouting this from the rooftops (okay, maybe Twitter will have to do.)
FoodRenegade´s last blog ..Low-Carb Eating Tips
I recently moved to Vancouver and have been having trouble getting raw milk because of this whole ordeal. I sure hope now that it will become legal and easier to get ahold of. I got typhoid in Myanmar in 2006 which damaged my small intestine and caused me all kinds of digestive issues. I am still healing from this and really need raw milk to help this process. I recently had a hair analysis done which found high levels of pesticides and herbicides in my body and I really need raw milk for healing.
Thanks so much to Michael Schmidt for having the determination and strength of character to be at the forefront of this issue for us. What a true hero he is.
hellaD´s last blog ..Mens Sana In Corpore Sano
Yaaaaaay!! *many cheers* I honestly did not expect this, given how Michael’s been treated! What a wonderful outcome! Of course, as he says, there is still a lot of work to be done, but this is a great step in the right direction.
P.S. Thank you so much for linking to my post! I’m honored!
Sara´s last blog ..The Michael Schmidt case: What it means to me
Praise God!!! Finally some large scale justice. I’m so relieved for Michael and his family!
Danna Seevers´s last blog ..Is the tide turning in favor of saturated fat?
Congratulation to Michael. It is such a clear victory= he is truly a hero and a person to give us hope.
yippy skippy.
What this means, in Canada at least, is that Canadians still have the right to produce their own food and consume it, with out that production and consumption being considered mercantile and therefore subject to government regulation.. Remember, people fed themselves for centuries by joining together to grow and process the food that would sustain them. This is how many tens of thousands of families still feed themselves, legally, even here in the U.S. Families still legally keep dairy animals and feed that milk and their home-made cheese and yogurt to their children, their grandparents, their visiting relatives. It is fundamentally a privacy issue– What business is it of the government if a group of families share their labor and resources to produce food for themselves? There must be limits to the Nanny State. I don’t have a problem if the government steps in with its regulatory authority if that private food production collective decides they’ve really got something going and starts selling their products to the general public. But I can’t abide the criminalization of private food production. We are humans first. If you want true re-localization of our food system, advocate for the rights of people to organize private food production networks modeled after the shareholder dairy that this Canadian dairy farmer organized in Ontario.
Chrys Ostrander
Judge in his decision: “Cow shares are a legitimate private enterprise that does not constitute marketing in Ontario.”
http://www.healthzone.ca/health/newsfeatures/article/753896–court-approves-raw-milk-co-op
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[...] There is also more on this story at http://hartkeisonline.com/2010/01/21/michael-schmidt-found-not-guilty-on-all-charges/ [...]
[...] to Kimberly Hartke for the tip. My article on raw milk for Reason is here, and a visit to a Virginia cow share [...]
[...] January 21, 2010, Michael Schmidt, a Canadian dairy farmer, was cleared on all 20 counts of “selling” raw dairy in violation of Canada Health regulations. He was facing prison yet determined the government would [...]