Jail Time for Selling Milk: 6 Things You Should Know Before Defying the Real Food Police

This post first appeared on Grist.org.

Resistance has a glorified history in this country, beginning with the founding fathers, and extending to the labor and civil rights movements last century. We honor one of the resisters, Dr. Martin Luther King, with a national holiday.

The ranks of food resisters are now expanding rapidly. Driven by increasingly harsh crackdowns by local and federal agencies on small producers and distributors of unpasteurized (raw) milk and other nutrient-dense foods, growing numbers of individuals involved in this part of the food chain are publicly refusing to abide by government edicts and shutdown orders.

But the reality for today's rebels is far from glorious. Max Kane, the owner of a buying club in Wisconsin that distributes raw milk, is facing jail if his appeal on a contempt of court conviction last December is denied. He had several times refused orders from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection to provide information about the farmers who supply his milk and the names of his raw milk customers.

James Stewart, the manager of Rawesome Foods, which was raided June 30 by agents from five federal, state, and local agencies, is facing the possibility that the private food club he helped found five years ago could be demolished and plowed under by the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety any day. Rawesome was served with a "Substandard Order" last month after it defied a closure order by public health authorities following the raid.

Brigitte Ruthman, owner of a 32-acre farm in the Massachusetts Berkshires, could lose her dairy after she was served in August with a cease-and-desist order for running a one-cow herd share serving three shareholders with raw milk, and announced her intention to resist. (For more on creative raw-milk arrangements, see my recent post.)

The point? Resistance is serious stuff all around. What especially concerns the authorities is that most government agencies don't have the manpower to cope with widespread resistance. So they are becoming ever more aggressive about making examples of those who resist, trying to send the message that flouting official orders is a fool's course.

That message can be intimidating. "My wife gets a little upset," says Vernon Hershberger, the Wisconsin dairy owner who, in a show of defiance, cut the seals placed on his farm-store refrigerators in May and has since been hit with two more search warrants.

As more individuals contemplate resistance, it's important to consider the ramifications. Here are a half-dozen insights I've gleaned from speaking with a number of resisters as to what you can expect if you defy the real food police.

1. You will be treated harshly: The sight of agriculture agents escorted by one or two state police vehicles showing up in one's front yard is an intimidating one for most people. The intent, of course, is to send a grim message to others who may be contemplating a similar action. Sometimes there are ongoing search warrants, as in the case of Vernon Hershberger in Wisconsin. Sometimes there are additional official orders, as in the case of Rawesome in California.

2. Get used to the loneliness: Some individuals who resist expect other farmers to back them, and for consumers to rally to the cause. While consumers have made noise in places like Wisconsin and Massachusetts by phoning local politicians, farmers are often shocked by the lack of support they receive from other farmers. One farmer who spoke out loudly after his raw dairy was shut down told me several neighboring farmers not only didn't help, but used the event as an excuse to steal customers from him. But even those unaffected farmers who are sympathetic are mostly concerned with making a living so they can keep up on their home and equipment payments.