As of 5:10pm yesterday, the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture officially dropped the language to explicitly outlaw raw milk buying clubs from its proposed regulation changes. The hearing on Monday will go on, but the department WILL NOT accept testimony on this language.
"The passion and concern on all sides of the raw milk debate have led MDAR to plan for a broader look at issues associated with raw milk. While MDAR expects that there are many ways that raw milk can impact the milk market, further investigation into all aspects of this issue is needed."
That said, it is important to note that they still consider buying clubs to be operating illegally. "A Milk Dealer is defined within the Milk Control Laws as anyone in the business of receiving, processing, distributing, or otherwise handling milk. This is still the case, and MDAR will take such steps to enforce violations as they become aware of them."
I'll keep you posted as the discussion evolves. Enjoy the weekend, everyone.
4 comments :
Do you know how specific the definition of buying club is? Is a buying club a group of people that take turns picking up the milk at no extra cost? Or is a buying club a group (or individual) that pays someone a little extra to pick up the milk? I thought they were cracking down on the 2nd type- which is still concerning.
I cannot attend, but I have offered to watch a friends child so she can attend. I'm not sure if she was still planning on going?
Thanks for the update!
Monday's Raw Milk Drink-In is on!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=118791901483995&ref=ts
We won't be silenced! We're coming to the hearing on Monday and we're going to testify about our right to healthy raw milk!
If you can't attend, please send a letter:
http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=15000511
Anonymous:
I talked with Scott about that on the phone the other day, and he said that if there is ANY business transaction—i.e. one person pays for all the milk and then gets money back, even if there is no mark-up—that is a buying club. However, it seems fairly easy to get around: if there is no mark-up, no compensation for the weekly driver, and everyone pre-orders by sending a check (maybe for a month or even the year) to the farm, they cannot call it that. At least, this was my understanding based on our conversation. It sounds like a fairly easy thing to change through a basic coop housekeeping switch.
Hope this helps!
All the best,
Elspeth
Nice post! This is a very nice blog that I will definitely come back to more times this year! Thanks for the informative post.
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