A controversial raw milk marketing scheme causing an uproar in Western Ontario has flowed east, sponsored by 25-head Conavista Farms in the Spencerville area.
Under the scheme, consumers who prefer raw milk are invited to enter a cow share program on the farm operated by Jacqueline Fennell, president of the Leeds and Grenville Landowners Association.
In the past, Fennell has also been a non-quota milk shipper. As president of the Leeds and Grenville Landowners Association, she’s a staunch supporter of Western Ontario farmer Michael Schmidt who was raided in November after openly selling raw milk for more than a decade.
Guest speaker at a recent Prescott rally in support of renegade Shanly egg producer Shawn Carmichael, Schmidt staged a hunger strike to protest what he insisted was a violation of his legal rights. He continues to deliver and sell raw milk to long-standing customers.
Under the Health Promotion and Protection Act, it’s illegal to sell, offer to sell, deliver or distribute raw milk in Ontario. In fact, sale of any milk outside the DFO distribution system is illegal.
However, supporters maintain that if they own a piece of the cow, they aren’t buying the milk and therefore have the legal right to drink it, Fennel explained.
DFO roundly applauded a Queen’s Park vote before the holidays which soundly defeated a private member’s bill from Grey-Bruce MPP Bill Murdoch to hold all-party hearings into existing legislation covering raw milk consumption.
"Make no mistake... drinking raw, unpasteurized milk is a health risk," warned DFO chair Bruce Saunders. "It’s pure myth that raw milk offers any health advantages."
Still early in her raw milk project, Fennel said she hasn’t been warned or visited by DFO or OMAFRA officers. She scoffed at the notion that raw milk is hazardous.
"Every dairy farmer in Canada drinks they’re own milk without processing... and they’re not dying off."
She now has about 15 shareholders who prefer the Conavista philosophy of not "pushing" cows for greater production. She described her operation as sustainable and natural, although not certified organic, and one which doesn’t use production-boosting hormones.
"Our farm is a family operation where my husband and I along with our children have a very strong bond with our cattle and each other. Our cattle are in great condition, and we have not needed a vet in almost three years."
While all details haven’t yet been worked out, Fennell said her shareholders will likely bring their own coolers to pick up milk at her farm which she’ll dish out in 2-litre jars at $2 a litre. Up front cost per cow share is $300.
"I won’t be delivering," Fennell said of the system Schmidt helped her devise. "Shareholders will be able to come as often as they need to, probably once a week."
While so far Fennell is a solo act in the east, Schmidt of Owen Sound is far from the only supplier in Western Ontario.
The raw milk program at Martin Weber’s farm was shut down by the health unit in Waterloo Region which claims customers are getting sick from E. Coli. Weber, who said customers continue to come to the farm "begging" for raw milk, was fined $2,500.
Commenting on behalf of DFO, Dr. Murray McQuigge, called unpasteurized milk "one of the most dangerous sources of food poisoning since recorded time." It can carry a long list of organisms which can cause several diseases in humans, McQuigge added.
Proponents of raw milk consumption include the family of Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara, who are among Schmidt’s raw milk shareholders.
However, DFO much prefers the position on the issue taken by Sorbara’s colleagues Premier Dalton McGuinty and Health Minister George Smitherman.
The marketing board, Saunders said, is encouraged by their "unequivocal" support for the pasteurization of milk and cracking down on illegal raw milk processors such as Michael Schmidt."
"Cow rental or share ownership scams do not make raw milk consumption legal in Ontario. These scams have been struck down in Ontario court decisions in the past."
Fennell remains unconcerned by the furor and possible legal ramifications. So far, she said, news of her raw milk program has spread mainly by word of mouth. Many of her shareholders come from her network of colleagues in the Ontario Landowners Association.
Spearheaded by the Women’s Institute, pasteurization of Ontario milk became a requirement in 1938.
"It’s simply unconscionable that this debate - with all of the overwhelming health and medical research about the inherent danger of drinking raw milk - could be going on in this day and age," stated WI spokesperson Rosemary Moran in a DFO news release.
"Our number one priority since our founding over 100 years ago is the health and safety of mothers and children and the pasteurization of milk is just as critical today as it was then."
Fennell countered that dairying systems were much more primitive when pasteurization was introduced and bulk tank cooling was unheard of.
"It’s like anything else. Once all the information is put forward on products such as cigarettes and alcohol, people should be free to make their own choice. You’re more likely to get sick on carrot juice or spinach than raw milk."
She insisted she isn’t trying to make a political statement by offering raw milk. Rather, she’s curious to discover how much of a market there is for it while creating a profitable niche for her family farm.
News
January, 2007
Vol. 31, No. 1
NEWS
