XNavyNuke
11-11-2009, 12:33 PM
Cracking down: Officials order farm to stop selling raw milk (http://www.thecountrytoday.com/story-news.asp?id=BLJ2AUV707U)
Scott Trautman said they lost their commercial milk outlet in September, when Foremost Farms USA and the National Farmers Organization stopped picking up their milk. The Trautmans were unable to find another milk handler.
"The situation is that there really aren't any other milk trucks going by here," Trautman said. "We needed a direct market for our milk."
Trautman said they were selling their milk as "pet milk" before they got the ultimatum from DATCP officials.
"We were presented with a subpoena asking for customer information and an order to cease from selling milk immediately," Trautman said. "That's a new thing for (the DATCP). No one can figure out why they need to know who our customers are. We think they're now into a phase where they're intimidating raw-milk customers as well as producers."
Is Wisconsin Ag pressuring his processor to drop him from his commercial sales, thereby driving out of business?
Industry-Regulator Pile-on at Trautman Farm in WI May Offer Us a Peek Into Next Phase of Raw Milk War (http://www.thecompletepatient.com/journal/2009/11/2/industry-regulator-pile-on-at-trautman-farm-in-wi-may-offer.html)
The reason the processor cut-off is such a problem is that in the dairy industry, unlike most other industries, there is little competition among processors. This helps explain why conventional milk prices are so low, and dairy processor profits so high. If you part company with your processor, you’ll be lucky if you find one other processor in your region, and very often, like in the case of Scott Trautman, you won’t find any.
What makes this situation especially ironic is that the whole melee seems to have resulted over safety…and it continues over safety. Trautman says he complained in August that the processing organization handling his milk--Foremost Farms USA, which is under the umbrella of the National Farmers Organization—weren’t using effective safety. For example, he complainted that he was left with an unclean bulk tank because of the processor’s extraction problems.
No whistle blower protection for you Mr. Trautman!:(
XNN
Scott Trautman said they lost their commercial milk outlet in September, when Foremost Farms USA and the National Farmers Organization stopped picking up their milk. The Trautmans were unable to find another milk handler.
"The situation is that there really aren't any other milk trucks going by here," Trautman said. "We needed a direct market for our milk."
Trautman said they were selling their milk as "pet milk" before they got the ultimatum from DATCP officials.
"We were presented with a subpoena asking for customer information and an order to cease from selling milk immediately," Trautman said. "That's a new thing for (the DATCP). No one can figure out why they need to know who our customers are. We think they're now into a phase where they're intimidating raw-milk customers as well as producers."
Is Wisconsin Ag pressuring his processor to drop him from his commercial sales, thereby driving out of business?
Industry-Regulator Pile-on at Trautman Farm in WI May Offer Us a Peek Into Next Phase of Raw Milk War (http://www.thecompletepatient.com/journal/2009/11/2/industry-regulator-pile-on-at-trautman-farm-in-wi-may-offer.html)
The reason the processor cut-off is such a problem is that in the dairy industry, unlike most other industries, there is little competition among processors. This helps explain why conventional milk prices are so low, and dairy processor profits so high. If you part company with your processor, you’ll be lucky if you find one other processor in your region, and very often, like in the case of Scott Trautman, you won’t find any.
What makes this situation especially ironic is that the whole melee seems to have resulted over safety…and it continues over safety. Trautman says he complained in August that the processing organization handling his milk--Foremost Farms USA, which is under the umbrella of the National Farmers Organization—weren’t using effective safety. For example, he complainted that he was left with an unclean bulk tank because of the processor’s extraction problems.
No whistle blower protection for you Mr. Trautman!:(
XNN