Scott Trautman, whom I wrote about in my Nov. 2 post, is trying every which way to draw attention to the war on raw dairy producers going on in Wisconsin. It’s not easy, because the hundreds of raw dairy farmers in the state are afraid that they’ll be next, and be stripped of their opportunity to earn a living, like Scott Trautman and the owners of the Zinniker Family Farm.

Today, Scott appeared before the Board of Directors of the state’s Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, to make his case that the state is unfairly singling out his and the Zinniker Farm for punishment by suspending their dairy licenses. (For a detailed statement of his objections, take a look at this article by Scott Trautman.)

He wrote me after the session today, “The board members were quite interested, asked good questions…”

I’m not sure whether that happened before or after The Raw Milk Revolution was passed out. Scott wrote that a raw milk supporter with Scott “has a whole case of (the books), and distributed them to the entire board.”

At first I was pleased that Scott and his supporters thought enough of the book to give it to the regulators. But then I went and looked at what I wrote about Wisconsin on pages 225 and 226, and I have a feeling these regulators aren’t going to be real pleased. (By the way, I’m not trying to equate The Raw Milk Revolution with Thomas Paine’s pre-Revolutionary War classic Common Sense, the title page of which is shown above; just my sense of what the Wisconsin experience represents.)

I quote from some secret emails recounting conference calls between officials of DATCP and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which amount to a plan for the campaign currently under way in Wisconsin. Two FDA officials were said to “have done some Internet searching and identified about 20 milk clubs in Illinois. They prefer to address one person or group at a time…” 

The key phrase is that last one, the desire to focus on one person or group at a time. The food cops value control above all else, and having to deal with many farmers or buying clubs at one time stretches their resources too thin. So my advice to Wisconsin farmers and buyers club owners: throw your hat into the ring and challenge the food cops to come after all of you at once. Don’t make it so easy for them to pick you off one operator at a time. Play by your rules, not theirs. (If you think I’m tough on the WI regulators, take a look at Marti Oakley’s analysis.

And to the Wisconsin regulators who received the freebies, I’ll be glad to specially inscribe your books if you’d like. Just send me an email.  

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This weekend is the annual Wise Traditions Conference put on by the Weston A. Price Foundation, being held in the Chicago area. I’m excited to be speaking there, and autographic books. There’s still time to sign up, I understand.