Meadowsweet Farm

Farmageddon The Movie is coming to Theaters soon and a trailer has recently appeared online -

Farmageddon Trailer from Kristin Canty on Vimeo.

And Farmageddon The Movie also has its own Facebook page which is at
Farmageddon The Movie. You’ll find a poster for the movie there with Kristen, Barb, yours truly and several other farmers appearing in the crosshairs.

A new documentary entitled Farmageddon is being previewed this weekend at the 2nd Annual Raw Milk Symposium. Farmageddon is described on the Symposium website as:
“Farmageddon is truly the documentary movie that we’ve all been waiting for. It’s about raw milk, farm families in peril, harmful food safety legislation and consumer food rights. … Farmageddon was the brain/heart child of producer/director, Kristin Canty, and takes up where Food Inc. leaves off.

Kristin’s son, Charlie, had asthma, unsuccessfully treated by conventional medicine. Her search for a solution led her to discover raw milk. She saw dramatic changes in Charlie’s health after drinking raw milk, and noticed remarkable changes in her entire family. Her search for even more fresh farm foods was interrupted when she discovered small farmers were in peril. Subjected to heavy regulation, lengthy and expensive legal actions and out-right persecution, the farms providing foods that Kristin’s family relied upon for health, were in danger of becoming extinct. …”

It was originally envisioned as a PBS type documentary but rumor has it that a sponsor has stepped forward with the vision of putting it into theaters. Stay alert!

I bring this all up here because Kristin and her crew filmed a portion of Farmageddon at Meadowsweet Dairy last July. And I filmed the filmers filming by putting a candid Canon, CHDK enabled, Powershot A530 in a corner of the barn that took a photo every 3 seconds. The resulting photos were merged into the following time lapse short.

Farmageddon Filming from Steve Smith on Vimeo.

The leading ladies from left to right are Lisa, Dorothy, Em, Marine (the long suffering) and Lizzy. In the background facing away from the camera are Sugar (you only see her tail end) and Maggie.
Director Kristin appears in this short about halfway thru. She’s the one with the long black hair standing directly in front of the camera. Barb is the one on the right.
From this session I’ve learned that cows are much more concerned with their bit of grain and rumination than any thought of their 15 minutes of fame. Indeed, later out in the pasture I overheard one of them asking “What are minutes?”

Since our last post, a few things have happened. Briefly, we asked in Dec 2007 for the NY Supreme Court to rule that Meadowsweet Dairy, LLC was a private company engaged in maintaining a herd of cows and distributing raw milk from the herd exclusively to the LLC members and were therefore not under the regulatory authority of the NY Department of Agriculture and Markets’ Division of Milk Control and Dairy Services. In Nov 2008, Judge Egan ruled that Milk Control regulations apply to anyone that gives raw milk to anyone else. We decided to appeal that decision and the Farm To Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) agreed to represent us in that appeal.

Oral arguments for our appeal will be presented on January 13, 2010 after about 2pm in Albany, NY (State of New York, Appellate Division, Third Judicial Department, Capital Station, Albany, hopefully the physical courtroom can be found through http://www.nycourts.gov/ad3). The written briefs have all been filed and the hearing in January, so I’m told, will allow the Justices to question the opposing attorneys with 10 minutes alloted to each side.

This post’s purpose is to provide access to the briefs. If you have comments on them you can try to send them in but I can’t guarantee they will see the light of day. We tried to turn commenting on once upon a time but we were so overloaded with spam that we opted for the simple solution of turning commenting off. Now I see that the comments have all been saved and someday I may sift through them and investigate reenabling commenting. But don’t hold your breath.

Gary Cox of the FTCLDF filed a 46 page Appeal Brief.
The Department of Agriculture and Markets subsequently filed their 18 page Respondent’s Brief.
Finally, the Petitioners (that’s Meadowsweet represented by FTCLDF) filed a 12 page Reply Brief.
They are a bit wordy and somewhat repetitious but there are gems in there. Happy reading!

*”Raw Milk Revolution” may be trademarked or copyrighted since David Gumpert has authored a book by that name and info on it can be had at amazon or thecompletepatient.com. Hope our title comes under the fair use clause.

We’ve made two court appearances since the last post and more are promised for the future. On Jan 22, 2008 there was a hearing in Seneca County Superior Court on a declaratory judgment we have filed against NY Dept of Ag & Mkts and the Div of Milk Control (hereafter, the Dept) in which we were asking the court to rule that the Dept does not have the authority to regulate the activity of Meadowsweet Dairy, LLC since all distributions of milk and milk products from the herd of Jerseys the LLC owns are all done privately and only to the members of the LLC. The Dept had filed a motion for dismissal of the entire matter since they believe they are entitled to such authority. Judge Bender ruled that the case should not be dismissed but should be transferred to Albany Superior Court as that is the proper venue for a case involving a NY State agency. To transfer the case to Albany, Judge Bender ordered the Dept attorney to prepare an Order of Entry and submit it to Judge Bender for signature. This postponement of the hearing of the merits of the case by an independent party was a bit discouraging but also hopeful in that the case was not dismissed.

Then, on Valentine’s Day we were served papers requesting us to appear in Albany court on Feb 28 at a hearing with “THE PURPOSE OF THE HEARING IS TO PUNISH STEVEN AND BARBARA SMITH…FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT” (caps are original). Our attorney, Gary Cox, constructed a solid case on short notice and was prepared to call both Barb and me as witnesses at the hearing and calmed us a bit by saying the above phrasing was legalese for ‘the hearing will be to figure out what to do with you guys’.

The hearing was scheduled for 3:30 pm and several area dairy farmers and a blogger (David Gumpert, www.thecompletepatient.com) showed up in support. Due to the preceding trial, our hearing did not begin until 4:40 pm. The presiding justice, Judge John Egan, decided to simply hear oral arguments by the opposing attorneys and dispensed with witnesses and their testimony. The Dept attorney presented the facts about how I had shown contempt for a court order by refusing to unlock the door to our processing room when the Dept’s inspectors had surprised us with an administrative inspection warrant on Dec 19, 2007. While the warrant was for the inspection of the “dairy farm and milk plant”, the inspectors had not bothered to inspect the unlocked dairy farm but rather had turned around at the front door of our house when I refused to help them. My refusal was based on the fact that the warrant did not require my cooperation, only that I allow the inspection to proceed, which I had done by not standing in their way. The Dept attorney went on to enhance the facts by stating that not unlocking the door was the same as locking the farm gate (we don’t have one) and thus denying the Dept access to facilities that the Law requires the Dept to inspect. Gary Cox then presented the summary of our case and the argument that the warrant was facially invalid because it was directed at the wrong parties (Meadowsweet Yogurt, which hasn’t been in business since Jan 2007), it was to permit the Dept to inspect on “a continuing basis”, whereas warrants are generally only valid for 10 days from the day they are signed, and it allowed the Dept to determine the probable cause for warrant execution, which determination is a power reserved for the court to make not an agency. During his presentation, Gary referred to the Seneca County declaratory judgment action being transferred to Albany and requested a stay of the contempt hearing until the complete case could be heard. This prompted the judge to question the Dept attorney, who stated that by law the Dept had 60 days or until March 21 to initiate the transfer. On being prompted by Gary and Judge Egan, he further stated that Judge Bender had ordered the Dept to do their job and get the Order to him by March 6 since it was a simple matter and there was no need for delay. Finally, after the Court House building closed at 5:30, Judge Egan told Gary we were running out of time and Gary hastily completed his arguments. The Judge then said he would issue a written decision and asked both attorneys to keep him informed of the progress of the case transfer, to direct the transfer to his jurisdiction and to include reference to this contempt hearing on the transfer paperwork.

Since the contempt hearing, the LLC marked the 1st anniversary of its incorporation on Mar 1, 2008 by the members continuing to drink the realmilk of the LLC herd and the herd has continued to produce milk and is eagerly anticipating the greening grass of Spring. Today, Mar 5, we saw the first redwing blackbird at the feeder.
And the Dept has apparently wasted as much time as possible before sending the required Order to Judge Bender. Eventually, our contention that Meadowsweet Dairy, LLC is engaged in private and legal activity that the Dept has no authority to meddle with will be aired in the New York Supreme Court in Albany before Judge Egan but probably not before this summer. Stay tuned.

Hello friends and supporters!

We had a fabulous turnout for the hearing in Albany on the 16th and Steve and I want to express our gratitude to all of you! There were about 40 advocates of raw milk, LLC members, and raw milk farmers from around the state in addition to the Ithaca Journal reporter who wrote a great article on the hearing. (http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801180345) We are hoping for an even greater turnout on Tues, Jan 22 in Waterloo (details below in the press release, including time and address).

The hearing was long and exhausting for all of us. It lasted 7 hours on Thursday and then an additional 4 hours on Friday! Gary Cox, our lawyer, threw himself into the proceedings body and soul and gave very passionate and moving opening statement and closing argument. He was aggressive and sharp and we ended up with a really good record to take into the hearings in Waterloo. The hearing officer, a lawyer hired by Ag and Markets to preside at the hearing, now has basically as long as she needs to come to a decision. But as the transcript of the hearing won’t be ready for another couple weeks, and she stated at the end that in difficult cases, like this one, she can take several months, then we won’t be looking for a decision from her for a few months most likely.

Basically this hearing was Ag&Mkts asking the hearing officer to order us to cease and desist from what we are doing and to comply with their permitting because we are violating their regs by “selling” raw milk, by operating a milk plant without a license, and that our farm is unsanitary. Gary took the hearing officer point by point through ALL the Ag and Markets laws and definitions and showed her (and the department) all the flubs and inconsistencies in their laws which in fact point to the fact that we are not a milk plant, not “selling” milk, and that the sanitary conditions on the farm today are the same we have had all the 12 years we had a license under their jurisdiction.

In cross examination Gary got the “spy” to admit in so many words that he did NOT actually “buy” our products, but rather “obtained” them, so the State’s evidence of a sale flew out the window at that point. He got the Director of Milk Control to admit that his “policies” on raw milk licensing are not actually written down but are carried out consistently state wide, which according to Gary can be considered “illegal rulemaking”. And he established that we have never had complaints about our milk from anyone, so the sanitary conditions argument is weak.

The State, on the other hand, ended with very few balloons unpopped. Their closing argument amounted to: The Department has been operating this way since the 1930′s and so should continue to do so. Their policy on raw milk sales is clear (no matter what the laws say – he told the hearing officer she must read the regs “expansively”). The spy never said he didn’t buy the product (a falsehood belied by the stenographer’s notes). The LLC is a sham and just a cover (no evidence offered). And so there!

Toward the end of the proceeding the hearing officer was definitely listening to our testimony with interest, and even rolled her eyes when I said the Department had pretended all summer to not understand that we did not want to be licensed so they had an excuse to continue with inspections. So we are cautiously optimistic about her ruling, though Gary believes she may want to wait to see what the outcome of the hearings in Waterloo is first in order to use the judge’s legal grounds (i.e. which laws he references as justification for his decisions) in her written decision. If the hearing officer rules against us the Department will order us to cease and desist. If she rules in our favor she will be saying we do not need any permit and that our LLC system is a legitimate model for providing raw milk to folks. In either case, we now know the extent of their arguments and know how to rebutt them and have more evidence against them in the form of statements they made themselves and are well set to take a solid case to the judge in Waterloo on Tuesday.

Please join us in Waterloo at the County Courthouse at 1:30 pm on Tuesday, Jan 22. Judge Bender will be hearing oral arguments from Gary Cox and the Ag and Markets lawyer on several issues:

1. A motion, by us, to grant a preliminary injunction against Ag and Markets.
2. A motion, by Ag and Markets, to dismiss the case.
3. A motion, by Ag and Markets, to get the case moved to Albany.

It should be interesting and fun to see everyone! Meet raw milk people from around the country too! David Gumpert, the author of the Complete Patient, may be there as well.

If you are interested in carpooling from Ithaca contact Bethany Schroeder at nidus@pinax.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Meadowsweet LLC c/o Steve and Barbara Smith, 2054 Smith Rd., Lodi, NY (607-582-6954) email:dairy@meadowsweetfarm.com

Legitimacy of Raw Milk Cow Share Program to be Tested this Week

In March 2007, dairy farmers Steve and Barbara Smith of Seneca County, NY dropped their raw milk dealer’s license in order to start an innovative cow share program. In an era where the pressures of agribusiness and state regulation threaten the viability of family run farms, the Smiths, who have more than 12 years experience at dairy farming, find themselves at odds with the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets.

The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FCLDF), a national organization set up to defend farmers and consumers from government interference, has taken on the Smiths’ case. The Smiths’ struggles with the Department of Agriculture and Markets will serve as a test case to determine if the State’s regulatory power extends to a group of private citizens who produce and consume their own food of their own choice.

The Smiths reorganized their dairy into a limited liability company, Meadowsweet Dairy LLC (Meadowsweet) in March, 2007. The dairy delivers raw milk, yogurt, butter and buttermilk to the members of the cow share.

The newly formed LLC has only one asset, a herd of dairy cows. Meadowsweet members have an agreement with the Smiths to tend to, manage and house the herd for the benefit of the LLC. The equity interest for the LLC’s 110 members is in the form of raw milk and raw dairy products produced by the cow herd and processed by the Smiths. This is accomplished without permits or licenses. However, the State of New York, through the Department of Agriculture and Markets, is challenging the new farming model.

Since the inception of the cow share, the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets has pressured the Smiths and Meadowsweet LLC. Citing their responsibility to protect public health, the regulatory arm of the agency is being used to harass the dairy. The state agency has conducted numerous inspections, seized products, ordered the destruction of 260 pounds of raw dairy products, attempted to search the Smith’s house, issued letters threatening fines and penalties. And now the Department of Agriculture and Markets has ordered the Smiths and Meadowsweet Dairy LLC to appear in Albany and show cause why the Department should not shut down the operation and levy fines.

Over the next two weeks, Meadowsweet will confront the Department of Agriculture and Markets in two separate hearings. The first hearing will be at the Department offices in Albany on JANUARY 17 at 11AM. This is an administrative hearing within Department of Agriculture and Markets. The Department will consider ordering the Smiths to CEASE AND DESIST from providing milk to its cow share members.

The second hearing is set for JANUARY 22 at 1:30PM in Seneca County Court in Waterloo, NY. At this hearing, the Court Judge will consider issuing a preliminary injunction against the Department of Agriculture and Markets to keep the agency from further harassing the Smiths until the dispute between the newly formed cow share program and the Department is resolved.

January 17, 11 AM
Department of Agriculture and Markets
10B Airline Drive
Albany, NY
(Right next to the airport)

January 22, 1:30 PM
Seneca County Court
48 West Williams Street
Waterloo, NY

For more information contact: Steve and Barbara Smith, 2054 Smith Rd., Lodi, NY (607-582-6954) email:dairy@meadowsweetfarm.com

We are asking all New York supporters of raw milk to show up for hearings in Albany and Waterloo on this important raw milk case.

BACKGROUND
Since March 2007, Meadowsweet Dairy LLC has been operating as a duly formed limited liability company in the State of New York. Meadowsweet Dairy LLC has only one asset, a herd of dairy cows. The LLC and its members have an agreement with us, Steve and Barbara Smith, to tend to, manage and take care of the herd for the benefit of the LLC’s members and the members have an equity interest in the LLC in the form of raw milk and raw dairy products produced by the LLC’s herd and processed by us. All of this is being done without permits or licenses and the State of New York does not like this. Not at all.

Since March 2007, the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets has been trying to pressure us and Meadowsweet Dairy LLC out of business. For example, they have conducted numerous inspections, seized products, ordered the destruction of 260 pounds of raw dairy products, attempted to search our house, issued letters threatening fines and penalties, and have now issued an order requiring us and Meadowsweet Dairy LLC to show cause why the Department of Agriculture and Markets should not shut down the operation and levy fines. That show-cause order is now set for a hearing and a show down looms over whether the State’s police power extends to a group of private citizens who produce and consume their own food of their own choice.

This important case has been taken by the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. We are finally at the point of confronting the Department of Agriculture and Markets face to face in the next two weeks! The first date is at a hearing in the Ag and Markets offices in Albany on JANUARY 17 at 11AM.

We would be very grateful to have an ENORMOUS show of support at this hearing! This is an administrative hearing at which they are considering ordering us to CEASE AND DESIST from providing milk to the LLC members. The outcome is very likely to go against us because even though the state of New York hasn’t a shred of evidence to prove they are “selling” milk, the hearing officer seems to be very fearful of going out on a limb against Ag and Markets. She has already indicated this by her complete unwillingness to postpone the hearing at the request of our lawyer (he had a personal conflict with the date).

The second date is JANUARY 22 at 1:30 in Seneca County Court in Waterloo, NY. At this hearing the judge will consider issuing a preliminary injunction against Ag and Markets to keep them from further harassing us until the whole matter is resolved. Again, the more people who attend this hearing the better! We want to really pack the room!

ACTION TO TAKE
Be there! This is a case that will have repercussions for cow-share and herd-share agreements throughout the US. A large presence of raw milk supporters can make a big difference.

January 17, 11 AM
Department of Agriculture and Markets
10B Airline Drive
Albany, NY
(Right next to the airport)

January 22, 1:30 PM
Seneca County Court
48 West Williams Street
Waterloo, NY

We have upped the ante in our efforts to broaden the availability of raw milk to those who want access to this prime food! Our legal representatives (Gary Cox of Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund and Sam Bonney of Waterloo, NY) have filed a complaint in Seneca County court on our behalf, contending that because we only provide milk and milk products to the members of our LLC, a private company, we should not fall under the regulation of the NYS Department of Ag and Markets. We do not yet have a court date, but we will let everyone know as soon as we do. This case will hopefully set a positive precedent for the state of New York and further define the limits of the rights of Ag and Markets to restrict your access to raw milk.

So yesterday two inspectors from the Dept of Ag and Mkts appeared at our door in the middle of a snowstorm! They had come to “witness” the destruction of the dairy products they had seized back on October 11. Following that seizure Ag and Markets held an administrative hearing and determined through examination of their own evidence that our products were unfit for human consumption and had to be destroyed. Interestingly, our lawyer found out through a series of informal emails with the Ag and Markets lawyer that they had decided to destroy our stuff even before they held the hearing! Anyway, they came yesterday to carry out the destruction, which involved standing around while Steve and I dumped yogurt, buttermilk, and milk from organic, grass-fed cows into buckets and then they “denatured” it by dumping in a gallon of bleach, just in case we have the audacity to feed it to our pigs! (Since when is the Dept of Ag and Markets protecting pigs from the dangers of raw milk!) While they were standing around they noticed good, new yogurt in our cooler and asked if that had been made since the seizure date. We said yes. The inspector then said he would have to inventory that and take some photos. We said over our dead bodies (not our exact words). He then asked if we refused to let him take photos and we said yes. I also added that he only had the authority to do the destruction of the seized stuff and nothing else. He replied that he had every right to take photos. I said, no, that he was trespassing if he did anything other than carry out the destruction. At that point he left the room to call Albany and get his orders. He returned and said they told him to get the photos and that he had a perfect right to do that. I said if he tried to take photos I would call the sheriff. He again said he had the right to do that so I left to call the police. When I returned to the room Steve was still dumping yogurt and they inspectors were still standing there. when we were done, about 15 minutes later, the deputy arrived along with a reporter from the Fingerlakes Times whom I had also alerted.
The inspector introduced himself and told the deputy he had been sent from Albany to take photos and inventory any product made since the seizure. The deputy asked to see proof of his authorization to do this in the form of a warrant. The inspector suggested the deputy should talk to the Director of Ag and Markets in Albany, but the sheriff said “I could talk to the Pope and it won’t make any difference unless you have a warrant.” After a few more phone calls to Albany the inspectors were convinced that they were licked and departed back out into the snowstorm without the evidence they had hoped to obtain to use in their hearing in January.

We will keep you posted as things unfold in the following week. Meanwhile, keep publicizing this situation. Now that we are taking it all to court we will need lots of support and press. We will post a press release here soon.

This morning (Oct 11, 2007) NY Ag & Markets personnel came from Albany to seize raw milk yogurt at Steve and Barbara Smith’s farm on the grounds that it was adulterated and misbranded (both arising from the real, raw milk). This was the most recent in a series of moves by the state to regulate the Smiths even though they do not sell any of their milk or dairy products. All of the Smiths raw milk products are available only to members of their “herdshare” program, Meadowsweet Dairy, LLC.
Last week inspectors of the Dept of Ag and Markets showed up at the farm with a warrant and demanded to be allowed to inspect their raw milk dairy farm. The details of this event can be read in “Barbara Smith Launches a Successful Raw Milk Cow Share” on David Gumpert’s blog. The state is demanding that the Smiths only distribute their products on the farm instead of at locations more convenient for the members such as the Ithaca Farmer’s Market. The Smiths feel this is clearly an issue of the state trying to restrict their trade.
In March 2007, after almost a year of excessive harshness and persecution on the part of the regulators the Smiths had had enough and transferred their herd of cows to a Limited Liability Company that people in the Ithaca area could join and get raw milk products. For 12 years Steve and Barb owned and operated Meadowsweet Yogurt Company, a popular local yogurt made on their farm in Lodi, NY and sold in grocery stores in the Ithaca area and at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market. During that time they also sold raw milk to customers who came to their farm from as far away as Canada.
The Smiths saw a growing demand for raw milk over the last 5 years and wanted a way to make the milk available to a larger number of people. So they closed the yogurt business and now sell no dairy at all. All of the milk from the herd they milk now goes to the 115 members of Meadowsweet Dairy, LLC in the form of raw milk, raw yogurt, raw butter and buttermilk. The demand for their products is so high they have a waiting list of about 30 people and the list is always growing.
The popularity of raw milk nationwide has fueled the conflict with state regulators in many states. The Smiths have had their case taken up by the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, which contracts with a group of lawyers in several states to defend farmers embroiled with the government over issues surrounding providing food directly to consumers. One of their lawyers, Gary Cox of Columbus, Ohio, is engaged in dialog with the Department of Ag and Markets to resolve the issue.

for more information please contact: Steve and Barbara Smith
dairy@meadowsweetfarm.com
607-582-6954

Our very successful and popular raw milk cooperative is being strong armed by the New York State Department of Ag and Markets. You can read about their latest shenanigans. We are working with the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund to represent us with the state. Please support them with donations or by joining.
We will be needing folks to contact their representatives, the press and state officials in New York to express their anger over being prevented from drinking raw milk! Please post any suggestions for who to contact, papers or blogs to get into etc.

Meanwhile we will keep on farming and putting out top quality milk, raw yogurt, raw butter and buttermilk! This is a struggle that the people are bound to win in the end! Keep the faith! Barb