State, dairymen push for improved oversight, regulations

By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press

The Idaho Legislature has shot down new raw milk rules negotiated by the state's Department of Agriculture.

The proposed rule would have updated quality standards for raw milk and exempted operations with three cows or fewer from meeting Grade A facility standards, which is the current state requirement for selling raw milk.

The rulemaking process was launched last summer, but represents a two-year effort, said Marv Patten, Dairy Bureau chief for the Ag Department.

Meetings of about two dozen interested parties ended in a consensus that appeared to be a slam dunk in the Legislature.

The Idaho Dairymen's Association believes that having guidelines in place and testing raw milk is good for the entire dairy industry.

"We believe it impacts the integrity of all milk and milk products and when one segment of the industry has issues, such as sickness from consumption of raw milk products or pasteurized finished products, the whole industry is negatively impacted," said Bob Naerebout, executive director of Idaho Dairymen's Association.

Patten said he thinks the fallout came because people didn't understand the rules, how they related to cow shares and how they applied to sales of raw milk.

"Misinformation out there just caused more confusion," he said. "Several felt that, since they didn't understand, it was over-obtrusive," and restricted people's rights to purchase what they want.

"I was actually less restrictive than the current rule," he said.

Meeting Grade A standards is expensive, which has led to backyard sales, or "cow shares," in an attempt to circumvent the requirement. In a cow share arrangement, customers pay a farmer a certain amount and claim at least part ownership of the cow. That way the farmer isn't selling the milk.

By exempting very small producers, the Ag Department hoped to provide an opportunity for small or beginning facilities to legally produce and market raw milk for people to drink without the investment of constructing a Grade A dairy farm and milk processing facility. It also wanted to legalize cow-share type programs, bring raw milk sales into the open and strengthen quality oversight.

Those exempted operations would still have to meet animal health and milk quality criteria.

The Ag Department will take another stab at the rules this year to clean up the language to alleviate the public confusion that led to their failure.

A call to the bill's sponsor Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, was not returned.

Peter Dill, of Saint John's Organic Farm near Emmett, supported the proposed rule even though he wouldn't have qualified for the exemption.

"It would preserve opportunity for small dairies and offer access to raw milk for people who really want it for its nutritional value and the right" to consume it, he said in an earlier interview.

Link

SCR124: http://legislature.idaho.gov/legislation/2010/SCR124.pdf