What’s New in Organic Ag for Michigan Farmers? Oct 21-31
1. State
food policy panel spreading message to buy Michigan-grown
2. Mixed Greens is currently
recruiting applicants to fill (5) AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer positions
3. States Target Raw-Milk Farmers
4. NOW IS THE TIME TO FIND
BUCKTHORN, the overwintering host for soybean aphid.
5. Sample your soybean fields to avoid yield losses to
soybean cyst nematode
6. New Web Marketing Opportunity for Small Farms
7.
Take The Right Steps
Steps
to get safe food from the farm or your garden
8. Reduce your Risk -Growers need to
take action to prevent a foodborne illness outbreak.
9. NO TIME FOR DELAY A SUSTAINABLE
AGRICULTURE AGENDA
FOR THE 2007 FARM BILL
10. State E85 Plans OK Despite
Approval Removal
11. California Lawmakers Make
Plans To Get Spinach Back On Track
12. Pollinators crash
13. DON'T MISS THIS FILM
SERIES (and FARMERS MARKET) SPONSORED BY AGRICULTURE & HEALTH
ALIVE: Wednesdays 7 pm thru Dec 20th
14. Farm It Forward- Keeping the "Family Farm" in
business-Conference Jan 5-6 & March 2-3, 2007 Hickory Corners, MI
15.VEGETABLE PRODUCTION: From
Greenhouse to Market
16. Choices: Take it Slow-The
conference that celebrates food and health! March 6-7, East Lansing, MI
17. Request for Applications:
Vegetable/Strawberry IPM Educator Exchange Program Deadline Nov 30th
18. Building a Local Organic Grain
Market”
Plans & Possibilities for Western Michigan Nov 6th 7 pm in Hart,
MI
19. 2007 RFP: "Diversifying
Public Markets and Farmers Markets"
20. Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SSAAWG)
annual conference Jan 25-28th, Kentucky
21. Opportunity for a Dairy Grazer in
Pennsylvania
1. State food policy panel spreading message to buy Michigan-grown
|
The Michigan Food Policy Council announced recommendations
at Battle Creek's Food Bank of South Central Michigan on Thursday to improve
the state's agricultural industry. The 20-point report is meant to serve as a road map to
guide the growth of the state's $60.1 billion agricultural industry,
according to Mitch Irwin, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture. The recommendations devised by the council include
increasing the amount of Michigan-grown products purchased with state
dollars, providing greater access to farmers' markets in urban and rural
areas and advancing nutrition education. The overarching goal is simple: Provide greater access to
Michigan-grown foods to boost the economy and improve the health of
residents. "It's good for our farms, good for our farmers, good for
our health," said state Sen. Mark Schauer, D-Bedford Township, who was
on hand for the announcement. Members of the council, which is partially supported
through a $200,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, said they wanted
the recommendations put to use. "They're pretty lofty objectives, and I think the
tragic part would be if they just stayed in that book," said Todd
Wickstrom, a council member representing restaurants. The report has been presented to Gov. Jennifer Granholm
and will need support from her office as well as the state Legislature and
the private sector to move forward, Irwin said. "Nothing good comes easy, and we know there's a lot
of hard work ahead," Irwin said. "That's our challenge. That's our
charge." Andy Rathbun covers City Hall and local
news. He can be reached at 962-3380 or [log in to unmask]. |
2. Mixed Greens is
currently recruiting applicants to fill (5) AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer
positions
for 12-month terms of service, to
begin in February 2007 and run through February 2008. The three areas of focus
of these positions are Program Development (3), Marketing/Fundraising (1), and
School Garden Network and Resource Development (1).
This is a great opportunity for
those interested in working on the ground-level to grow the capacity of Mixed
Greens. It's a real hands-on learning experience.
Please read more below about the
opportunities open at Mixed Greens. Note the closing date for applications is
November 20. The PDF for these descriptions is also attached.
I thank you all, too, in advance for
sharing this with someone you feel might be a fit for our staffing needs.
Sincerely,
Lisa Rose
Lisa Rose Starner, MPA
Executive Director
Mixed Greens
1444 Lake Dr. SE
Grand Rapids MI 49506
(o) 616.301.3592
(f) 616.301.3429
(c) 616.240.6480
website: www.mixedgreens.org
3. States Target
Raw-Milk Farmers
Michigan is the
latest to bust a provider of unprocessed milk-and its heavy-handed tactics may
put three small farms out of business
by David E. Gumpert <http://www.businessweek.com/bios/David_E._Gumpert.htm>
For several months over this past
summer and fall, Michigan authorities tracked Richard Hebron, 41, and his
weekly truck hauls the 140 miles or so from Vandalia to Ann Arbor. To gather
evidence, an undercover agent infiltrated an organization that was making
private purchases from Hebron.
On the morning of Oct. 13, the
authorities closed the loop on their complex sting operation. Just outside of
Ann Arbor, a state police officer pulled over Hebron's truck during its weekly
run, served Hebron with a search warrant, and with several other agents began removing
goods from the truck.
Back home in Vandalia, a state
trooper accompanied by four plain-clothes agents knocked on the door of
Hebron's home, presented Hebron's wife, Annette, with a search warrant, and
fanned through their small three-room house, removing their computer, business
records, and product samples. Later that afternoon, in Ann Arbor, four
additional agents, also armed with a search warrant, rummaged through a
warehouse that was Hebron's destination when he was pulled over, seizing more business
records.
Expanding Investigation
The trigger in this huge
investigation? No, it wasn't drugs, stolen goods, or terrorism. It was, of all
things, raw milk and its various byproducts, including cream, buttermilk,
yogurt, butter, and kefir. The Michigan Agriculture Dept., which oversaw the
investigation together with the Michigan State Police, sees the situation as a
simple matter of enforcing the law. Unfortunately, when it comes to raw milk,
the law is no simple matter.
"We've had an investigation
for several months now," says Katherine Fedder, director of the Michigan
Agriculture Dept.'s food & dairy division. The investigation, she says,
began with a report from a local public-health department last spring about
children who had become sick who " had consumed unpasteurized milk."
She noted, though, that the children's illness was never traced back to raw
milk or any other specific food. In any event, a department inspector joined
the co-op to purchase milk and expand the investigation.
"Our concern is that there's a
violation of the Michigan law to distribute misbranded products and
unpasteurized dairy products out of an MDA-licensed food establishment,"
Fedder says, adding that the investigation of the computers, records, and milk
products confiscated will likely take "a few more weeks before we have a
clarification." Then, Hebron and/or the co-op could be charged with
"a whole variety of things" under a Michigan food law and a dairy
law.
Crippled Co-op
Hebron is a farmer with about 110
acres, where he raises beef, cattle, and chickens. He also manages the
four-year-old Family Farms Co-op with two other farm families, through which
all three farmers sell their products at the Ann Arbor outlet, as well as two
outlets in Detroit and seven in Chicago.
One of those farm families, an
Amish couple with eight children, owns the 70 milking cows that produce the
cooperative's raw milk (milk that isn't pasteurized or homogenized). The Amish
farmer doesn't have a phone or other modern conveniences and couldn't be
reached. Hebron says the farmer has requested Hebron to speak both on the
co-op's and the farmer's behalf and not to publicize his identity. This farmer
is essentially out of business for the time being, and has had to throw out all
his milk produced since Oct. 13.
The entire co-op is crippled, since
the farmers are without their computer, fax, or business records. And already
three Chicago retail outlets, unsettled by news of the Michigan officials'
actions, have told Hebron not to bother returning with additional products.
"This is what we do for a living," says Hebron. "We don't get
unemployment checks."
The experience has left the Hebrons
shaken. "They treated us pretty much like we were drug dealers," he
says. Moreover, it's not clear if any of the co-op members will be charged with
a crime and when the co-op may be able to resume its normal business.
Worse than Russia?
The Family Farms Co-op thought it
had dealt with the Michigan prohibition against retailing raw milk, which is
similar to prohibitions in many other states, four years ago, when it set up
the co-op. Under the arrangement, the co-op leases cows from the dairy farm and
then sells shares in the herd to co-op members, each of whom pays $20 a year
for their share. The co-op members purchase milk for $6.50 a gallon, which goes
back to the dairy farmer in the form of a boarding fee for the cows.
"It has to be this way,
because it's illegal to sell raw milk retail" in Michigan, says Hebron.
Michigan law allows for people who own and board dairy cows to consume their
milk, though.
After I listened to Hebron tell his
story about the state police and agriculture inspectors refusing to let him
make a call home after confiscating thousands of dollars worth of fresh farm
products from his truck, and then serving a search warrant on his wife and
rummaging through the farm family's home, I asked him, "Could you believe
this was happening in the United States?"
"No," he said. "I
have a customer in Chicago who says he's from Russia. He thinks this is worse
than what happens in Russia."
Crackdown Factors
This harsh Michigan action bears an
eerie resemblance to the case of Organic Pastures Dairy, a producer of raw
milk, which California agriculture officials shut down for more than two weeks
(see BusinessWeek.com, 9/28/06, <http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/sep2006/sb20060928_865207.htm>
"Getting a Raw Deal?").
California authorities went after Organic Pastures when four children became
sick from E.coli bacteria, but an exhaustive investigation turned up no
evidence of E.coli at the dairy. In comparison, even though 200 people were
sickened by E.coli from California spinach, none of the California spinach
farms were shut down.
What's behind these crackdowns by
major states against producers of raw milk? I suspect it's a combination of two
forces at work.
First, there's the simple matter of
growing demand from consumers seeking food with as little processing as
possible, who want to buy it from local farm producers (see BusinessWeek.com,
10/16/06, <http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_42/b4005001.htm>
"The Organic Myth"). Organic Pastures has seen its revenues climb 35%
to 40% annually since it switched to selling raw milk in 2000. Similarly, the
Family Farms Co-op has grown from nothing to nearly 1,000 members over the last
four years.
Out of Proportion
Second, as raw milk and organic
milk (milk which is pasteurized, but obtained from cows fed organic feed, with
no hormones) become more popular, large dairies are becoming concerned and
exerting pressure on agriculture officials to crack down on the raw-milk producers.
Just take a look at the Web site milkismilk.com to get a sense of the
conventional dairies' concern.
Regardless of what anyone may think
about raw milk, the heavy-handed enforcement action by Michigan authorities
just feels inappropriate-way out of proportion to any possible violation of the
law. It smacks of a speed-trap approach to law enforcement, except here the
penalty isn't just a fine, it's the livelihood of three family farms.
(Note: I will be following the
unfolding situation at Family Farms Co-op, much as I have the Organic Pastures
situation, at my blog, thecompletepatient.com <http://www.thecompletepatient.com>
.) Gumpert <mailto:[log in to unmask]> is
author of Burn Your Business Plan! What Investors Really Want from
Entrepreneurs and How to Really Start Your Own Business. His Web site is www.davidgumpert.com.
Kathryn Russell
"As nightfall does not come
all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight
when everything remains seemingly unchanged.
And, it is in such twilight that we
all must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become
unwitting victims of the darkness." Justice William O. Douglas, U.S.
Supreme Court (1939-75)
Vicki Morrone
Organic Vegetable and Crop Outreach Specialist
Michigan State University
C.S. Mott Sustainable Food Systems
303 Natural Resources Bldg.
East Lansing, MI 48824
517-353-3542
517-282-3557 (cell)
517-353-3834 (fax)
http://safs.msu.edu/
http://www.mottgroup.msu.edu/
