Death by Bureaucracy

Long time no post!

This morning, I went down to Central Illinois, for the Illinois Food Safety Advisory Committee, Dairy Work Group Meeting.

In August 2012, the State of Illinois decided it needed to do something about raw milk sales in the state. Historically, raw milk in Illinois was simply overlooked, as long as it was not a commercial operation, or was separate from the commercial operation of dairy farms.

Everyone who reads this (all 4 of you!) know that I am a big supporter of raw milk as real food. I drink it every day, and so does Thomas. There is nothing like the flavor!

So when I found out from my good friends Kelly and Rick Boge, owners of Golden Guernsey of Illinois, that the State of moving towards very strict regulation, and would have a committee meeting that was open to the public, I finagled my schedule so they would be forced to give me the day off, and I could make the drive to Bloomington, IL.

I got to meet some great people even before the meeting came to order. Kelly and Rick have a friend who has 'spun off' part of their dairy operation, and John and Linda now run a branch (2 cows!) in North Barrington. I had a great time chatting with both of them; They lived in Guadalajara for about a dozen years, kids are grown, and having the time of their lives just caring for cows and chickens and helping provide real milk.

After a while, the committee chair called everyone to order, and we got down to the show. Molly Lamb, the leader, layed down the groundwork for the meeting, such as how it would be run, and who would speak, etc. Everyone on the committee introduced themselves, and they got down to business.

There were basically 2 sides (1 side had a pair of factions,) to the group. The State side, which included reps from the State, the FDA, and some of the large commercial producers. The "Farm to Consumer" side included the Boges, Donna OShaughnessy from South Pork Ranch, and a number of other independent producers, mostly small family farmers, and the like (some of whom have animal numbers as low as 2 goats or 1 cow.)(Now that is small!)

I am not going to get into the nitty-gritty of the meeting, not yet, at least. There are a number of resources that covered the meeting, and I want to go over my notes and compare them to the few news outlets that sent reporters so that I can give the correct info.

However, I now understand Death by Bureaucracy.

The Chair (Mrs. Lamb,) was asked a few times "What made the State of Illinois decide that we needed laws to govern our personal commerce in this regard?""Raw Milk has been available on farms for sale since Illinois was incorporated, what happened? Was there some massive outbreak of food poisoning from raw milk?"

She could not give a real answer. When asked Who had gotten the committee together to start investigating rules and rule making regarding sales of raw milk, who started the ball rolling? Somebody had to, right?

Well, there is no answer to that. This is the problem of rules by committee. Nobody is accountable. Not a single raw milk associated sickness in Illinois, going as far back as they kept records (1984,) however, suddenly, we need rules and regulations on supply and sales.

Nobody takes responsibility for the rules. It just happens.

Mrs Lamb is referred to as saying the reason for the committee to make rules, is right now there are now rules or regulations in the state governing the sales of raw milk.

So, basically, the State sees its job as this-- "There are no rules regarding this, so we must make rules for it."

Weird. Not surprised at all.

I have always been a believer that if there are not rules regarding something, and that something is fairly common, and is not hurting anyone, well.... why would there be rules?

Donna O had an interesting observation at the end of the meeting, where she had earlier made the observation that if something is not broken, don't fix it, she reminded us all that the reason most government departments exist is to prevent fraud, but they want to start meddling in the affairs of everyone they come into contact with.

"Things would be better if I could just fix..."

"There aughtta be a law..."

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

There was a great turnout, and I met some really fun and interesting people (like Donna O, who with her husband runs the South Pork Ranch (I will be contacting them to get a pig-share.. :) ) and a friend of theirs, Ashlee, who with her husband is just starting out in central Illinois as a small producer (they have 4 pigs!) and CSA.

I met a number of family farmers, people who have been farming for generations. One farmer said he was 60, had drank raw milk (mostly from the milking pail) his entire life, his father before him had, and his grandfather before him had. He said all of his children are fine and healthy, and they all drink the same, and so do his slowly growing grandchildren, the next generation.

I think it is pathetic, but oh-so-typical, that a State government would want to get involved in something that is so essential to life, and to livelihoods.

How do you strangle someone politically? You pass laws that don't need to be passed, you pass regulations that will cost too much money and time to comply with, and then you watch everything wither away on the vine.

I told my friends that as something politically horrible happens, and they ban the sales of raw milk, "As long as you have a place to hide a cow, I'm still buying."

That sentiment was echoed by everyone I met.

Cheers!

Scott