Online:
Visits:
Stories:
Profile image
Story Views

Now:
Last Hour:
Last 24 Hours:
Total:

Raw Milk Farmer Wins Round 1 in Court, Second Decision Later

Wednesday, March 11, 2015 16:52
% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

(Before It's News)

by Steve Eastman, Wait Til You Hear This

It was one of those days when the courthouse was full in Grand Marais, Minnesota.  An overflow crowd turned out to see how their neighbor — the owner of the popular Lake View Natural Dairy — would fare against the state Department of Agriculture.  The agency had hoped to enforce a $500 a day fine against the business for refusing to allow an inspection.  

In this “David and Goliath” contest, David Berglund and his attorney convinced Judge Michael Cuzzo to stay the order to inspect.  That means no fine.  At issue was Article 13, Section 7 of the Minnesota constitution which states, “Any person may sell or peddle the products of the farm or garden occupied and cultivated by him without obtaining a license therefor.”  As you can tell by the spelling in the last word of that sentence, that passage has been around for more than a century, when bureaucracies would never have dreamed of being so intrusive.

According to Berglund’s attorney Zenas Baer, “From what I hear it is a decision that has national implications and is being watched quite closely by a considerable number of groups on a national basis.  It’s not only the farmer’s right, it also includes the consumer’s right to be the second half of the transaction. You can’t sell and peddle anything unless you have a willing consumer on the other side of the transaction.”

It certainly sounds like Berguland has his supporters.  They know what they’re getting and believe in the proven health benefits of raw milk.  Some even travel over 200 miles from Minneapolis-St. Paul to stock up.

Despite the good news for Lake View Natural Dairy this week, there’s still some uncertainty.  Judge Cuzzo is taking up to 90 days to make a final ruling. So we don’t know if this week’s victory was only a temporary measure to let excited feelings calm down or an indication that the state agency has to pull back for good.

Link

© 2015 Wait Til You Hear This

Credit for photos:  Lake View Natural Dairy Facebook page

Previous story:  Sheriff Defends Organic Farmers Bullied by Minnesota Officials

 

Report abuse

Comments

Your Comments
Question   Razz  Sad   Evil  Exclaim  Smile  Redface  Biggrin  Surprised  Eek   Confused   Cool  LOL   Mad   Twisted  Rolleyes   Wink  Idea  Arrow  Neutral  Cry   Mr. Green

Top Stories
Recent Stories

Register

Newsletter

Email this story
Email this story

If you really want to ban this commenter, please write down the reason:

If you really want to disable all recommended stories, click on OK button. After that, you will be redirect to your options page.