Our Letter To Al Juhnke

Today, I took it upon myself to make a move to change the law.  As some of you know, Carol went to St. Cloud to retrieve the farm's newest addition - a milking Saanen-Nubian Cross doe.  We have had quite a few requests for raw goat milk so we took it upon ourselves to add another doe to our herd of hand milked dairy goats.  With this in mind, I wrote my State Representative, Al Juhnke, who also happens to be the Chair of the Agriculture Finance Committee.  Here is the email/note I sent him.

Mr. Juhnke

I grew up on a dairy farm during the 60's-80's and have seen the systematic destruction of the small family farm due to corporate farming practices, subsidized by out-of-date, state/federal farm incentive programs and aided by institutional marketing practices and mega-contract processing plants that seem to incubate the monthly recalls of what should be "healthy" foods.

I have also seen the ground-swell movement of small and micro-farms enjoying modest success selling direct-to-customer, be they somewhat suppressed in efforts by current laws that thwart the efforts of individuals to choose what is best for their families. These same laws limit the efforts of the small/micro farm to let potential, health conscious customers know what they have for sale.

If health concerns is why these laws are in place to limit off-farm sales, how far does one need to look to see how dangerous our current "highly regulated" food practices are? Nationally distributed meat, fruits and vegetables are seemingly more dangerous now than they have ever been in recent history. Recalls are happening way too frequently, don't you agree?

Locally produced and distributed foods from small/micro producers and/or direct-to-customer farm operations would never have these problems where 100's, 1000's or even millions could get sick or die. These small producers survive on quality and reputation. Word-of-mouth is everything. If a farm produces substandard products, their customer base goes away. If they produce quality, safe foods, the farm succeeds - plain & simple.  Still, most of the types of farms find it hard to succeed.

Now is the time to make selling farm items fair and available to all. We are all free to sell fruits, vegetables and eggs. But not all of us are good at producing these products. Some of us are good are producing milk on a small scale - more specifically goat/sheep milk. Why do we not easily make available these otherwise hard to find milk or milk products? If one searches for raw cow's milk in their area, a person can probably find a producer willing to sell it, by the end of the day. Does the same hold true for goat or sheep milk? No. It is not as widely produced.  We have found that most individuals looking for goat milk use it for making homemade/artisan products (soaps, lotions or cheeses). Do families consume this type of milk raw? Yes they do, but primarily because of health reasons and are often willing to do anything to acquire it. Why is goat/sheep milk limited to the extent of cow's milk?

We call onto you to help make goat and sheep milk sales less restrictive. Is it too much to ask to urge lawmakers to help relax the restrictions concerning the sales and advertising of raw goat/sheep milk... if not for direct human consumption, what about for the purpose of making homemade products like soaps, lotions and cheeses, during these troubling, economic times?  Most of the folks who make these types of products, do so because of allergies to widely available, commercial products.  It shouldn't be so hard to protect ones health.

Thanks so much. We look forward to hearing from you.
Richard & Carol Radtke
320-220-2235

Within a few hours, I received this email reply:

Dear Richard and Carol:

Thank you for your thoughtful and well written note.  As the Chair of the Agriculture Finance Committee it especially piqued my interest.

I believe that farming, on any scale, is important.  Agriculture is essential to the economic well being of a vast number of people in this state.  It is also an essential service that can not be overlooked.  I haven't seen legislation that makes goat and sheep milk easier to access on a state level.  That being said, this is something that needs to be examined more closely.  Because, as you stated, this is an area that is often not discussed, I have CCed the Policy Director at the Department of Agriculture to get some more information regarding why there may or may not be barriers.

I appreciate your email and will let you know what I find out.

Sincerely,

Al Juhnke
State Representative

CC: QUINN CHENEY, MDA

Our Representatives do listen.  Do they act?  We may never know.  But I'll bet a dollar to a doughnut that if enough of us wrote to the lawmakers in charge, we would see some action.  I urge you to send an email to your State Representative and ask for change concerning raw goat & sheep milk sales.  If you don't know who represents your area of MN, go to District Finder and type in your address.  It will give you the name and email of who you need to contact.

Contact Information

Contact	Phone	Farm Position
Carol Radtke	320.220.3235	Dairy Manager/Owner
Richard Radtke	320.220.2235	Farm Manager/Owner
Madison Radtke	N/A	Goat Herder/Daughter