Vermont raw milk law eased

[Guest guest]

NORTH CHITTENDEN – Tim and Stacey Elliot are raising their five children on the 160-acre spread that Tim's great-great-great-grandfather purchased in the 1800s.Even amid the demands of Tim's 50-hour work weeks as a "process specialist" at Omya in nearby Pittsford, the farming tradition perseveres here. On the front porch of the Elliots' 1940s farmhouse, a self-serve refrigerator holds the eggs, chickens and raw milk harvested from a patchwork of small barns in the backyard."It's kind of in my blood," Tim says.His dream now is to make farming his full-time gig. With 13 beef cattle, six pigs and dozens of layers and roasters, the family is off to a credible start. But the Elliots' lone milker, a Jersey-Holstein cross, is literally the cash cow. At $5 a gallon, their unpasteurized milk fetches three to four times the amount paid to farmers in the commodity market.Elliot, though, says his farming ambitions are tethered to a Vermont law that limits raw milk sales to 25 quarts per day. The limit, he says, prevents him from capitalizing on the significant demand for unpasteurized milk in North Chittenden and beyond. State regulations also prevent raw-milk sellers from advertising their product."Once word got out that we had raw milk, we got calls from all over the place," Elliot says. "I had people from Burlington (two hours away) asking if they could come by to get some."On Thursday, lawmakers squashed a bill that would have allowed farmers to sell unlimited quantities of unpasteurized milk. Supporters of the bill called it a watershed measure that would have bolstered local economies and significantly improved prospects for small- and mid-size dairy operations in the state.But public health officials and the Agency of Agriculture worried about bacterial outbreaks that could accompany increased raw milk consumption.Citing concerns over how raw-milk dealers would be certified, licensed and regulated, the House Agriculture Committee had struck the bill down, replacing it with legislation that will increase the limit from 25 to 50 quarts a day. The Legislature also told Agency of Agriculture officials to lift the advertising ban, saying the state lacks the statutory authority to impose it.For now, farmers like Elliot will have to delay their plans to develop retail raw-milk businesses. But the Legislature is likely to reconsider the original proposal next year. And the increase in the sales limit, supporters says, is an important step toward the potential windfall that awaits small farms seeking to profit from the purported demand for raw milk in the state.Last week, about 50 Vermonters tried to cram into the small Statehouse committee room where the House Agriculture Committee conducted hearings on the raw milk bill. The crowd poured out the door and into the hallway, where they listened to testimony for and against the bill.The turnout was a credit to the organizing power of the bill's de facto sponsor – Rural Vermont – and the stock that many Vermont farmers placed in this legislation.Tim Elliot has crunched the numbers. Twice-daily milkings of his grass-fed cow yield about two gallons a day. With 10 milkers, he says, the economics of raw milk begin to work."If I was milking 10 cows, I think we could probably swing it," Elliot says. "I'd have to build the market, but from what we've seen and heard, if the 25-quart limit isn't an issue, the market is there."The House Agriculture Committee heard similar testimony from farmers and friends of farmers, who view the raw milk marketplace as a way to stem the steady decline in dairy operations around the state.Amy Shollenberger is the executive director of Rural Vermont, a Montpelier-based nonprofit organization that advocates on behalf of its 900-person membership, much of it farmers."This is the only way a dairy farmer can set his price for milk, the only way a dairy farmer can decide for himself what he is going to charge for milk," Shollenberger says. "It would make some dairy farms viable."It's difficult to calculate even a ballpark economic potential for raw milk. Based on a survey of Rural Vermont members, there are about 100 farms selling raw milk. Weekly per-farm sales receipts range from $3 to $200.Shollenberger says potential demand for raw milk is difficult to gauge because of the state's existing law, which not only limits sales but bans farmers from advertising their product. The lifting of that ban last week, Shollenberger says, will enable farmers to begin amassing a customer base, in anticipation of the unlimited sales provision she hopes will be approved by lawmakers next year."It's a way for (raw-milk sellers) to come out of the closet and that's a big part of what they want," Shollenberger says. "They wanted to be recognized as people who are doing something valid, and I think allowing them to advertise is a really big step."

Consumers cite a number of reasons for favoring raw milk over its pasteurized counterpart. Taste and consistency generally top the list. Many also credit the live enzymes in raw milk with strengthening immunity and curing a host of ills. Shollenberger is careful not to oversell the health benefits of raw milk, a claim that lacks the authoritative scientific backing needed to make it a politically persuasive argument. Rather she frames the issue in terms of consumer choice."We believe that farmers should have the first right to local markets, and consumers should have the first right to local foods," Shollenberger says. "We know consumers want this product and we know they're having a very difficult time getting it. Who is the state to tell me I'm not allowed to have raw milk?"Whatever the demand for raw milk may be, Shollenberger says, the results of the bill are certain to benefit farmers. Even with the healthy commodity market right now – it's prone to cyclical downturns like the one that paralyzed the dairy industry in 2006 – farmers get about $1.70 per gallon for milk. Raw milk sellers, meanwhile, are getting $5 to $10 a gallon, all of which, save for taxes, goes directly into their pockets."I think the potential impact of this bill is it would give a young person who wants to start a dairy farm the knowledge that it could be a viable operation," Shollenberger says. "I think it could change the face of farming in Vermont."

Public health officials, including epidemiologists for the Vermont Department of Health and food microbiologists at the University of Vermont, have voiced strong opposition to expanding the raw-milk market.The advent of pasteurization, which became a widespread practice in the United States in the 1930s, remedied the virtual epidemic of sicknesses once caused by raw milk. Before 1938, milk accounted for more than 25 percent of all food-borne illnesses in the country. Since then, it has been the source of less than 1 percent."Raw milk is a well-documented source of pathogens that can cause food-borne illness," Patsy Tassler-Kelso, an epidemiologist for the Vermont Department of Health, told lawmakers Wednesday. "And we have had individual cases of illness, as well as outbreaks, within Vermont."In May 1997, an outbreak of salmonella at a lin County farm led to contaminated raw milk that sickened eight family members and nearly killed another. Later that year, the farm appeared on the cover of Newsweek as part of a nine-page spread highlighting the dangers of food-borne pathogens.Dr. Donnelly is a professor of nutrition and food science at the University of Vermont and was trained professionally as a food microbiologist. In written testimony submitted to legislators, she recalled the story of a 76-year-old woman with kidney disease who died of listeriosis after drinking raw milk in 1987. The woman, a farmer, had consumed raw milk on her cereal."Ironically, the farm had been recognized as Vermont Dairy Farm of the Year because of the high quality of the milk produced and the low bacterial counts," Donnelly writes. "… This Vermont case highlighted the known risk for infection by consuming raw milk, especially for persons who may have compromised immune systems."Shollenberger calls dire warnings from health professionals a "fear tactic." The same concerns, she says, could be raised about any number of food products, like ground beef or spinach, any of which farms can sell in unlimited amounts."Listeria is everywhere. People get listeria from drinking tap water," Shollenberger says. "If you follow their logic, you wouldn't be able to consume anything safely unless it was cooked."Tim and Elliot have enough confidence in the safety of raw milk from their own cow to feed it to their children, ages 2 through 13. And it's difficult to find a Statehouse figure who won't fondly recount their own consumption of raw milk. Gov. himself drank it straight from the teat at his wife's family farm in Middlebury.Still, Donnelly says when availability is limited to farmers and their family and friends, raw milk is unlikely to end up in the glass of an uninformed consumer. Allowing unlimited quantities of unpasteurized milk into the food stream, she says, will only increase the likelihood that the young, elderly or others with compromised or undeveloped immune systems will fall victim to the potentially fatal pathogens raw milk may contain.The public health issue is likely to stir debate again next year, when Rural Vermont will begin its legislative push anew.It was the proposed structure of the regulatory body responsible for overseeing certification, licensing and quality control over raw milk that ultimately squelched the bill for this session. Rural Vermont asked for a governing panel, comprised of mainly of farmers, that would be unaffiliated with the state. Since the Agency of Agriculture bears responsibility for ensuring the safety of agricultural products in Vermont, however, committee members were reluctant to hand authority over raw milk to a non-state entity. Friday was the deadline for passing bills; lawmakers said there wasn't enough time to work out the kinks to finish a bill before the crossover deadline.But Shollenberger says she and the farmers are optimistic that next year will see continued progress, and that small dairy farms will soon be able to reap the benefits of a staple product."I absolutely think all the issues that were raised can be resolved," Shollenberger says. "The committee was very clear that they heard what farmers are asking for, understand what their needs are and want to make it work for farmers."

By Hirschfeld Vermont Press Bureau