DON CROSBY

Monday, June 18, 2007 - 08:00

Local News - The annual open house for the supporters of raw milk held

at the farm of Michael Schmidt took on a new dimension this year as

Schmidt faces an uphill battle to legalize the sale of unpasteurized

milk products.

As well as getting a first-hand look at the farming operation Saturday,

cow shareholders met their stock and heard a number of speakers on

topics ranging from the fight to legalize the selling of raw milk to

supporting local food production.

Selling raw milk is illegal in Ontario but Schmidt and about 170

“investors” are taking advantage of a loophole in the Milk Act that

allows farmers to drink raw milk from their own cows. Investors can buy

a share of one of Schmidt’s cows, making them part owners. They claim

they are entitled to drink that milk legally. The concept has yet to be

tested in court.

Schmidt spoke of the challenges he and his supporters face in legalizing

raw milk.

Pam Killeen, co-author the “Great Bird Flu Hoax”, claims there’s a

connection between the incidence of chronic and degenerative disease and

consumption of processed foods.

“Let’s reduce the processed food and replace it with traditional foods

that help enhance our immune system - foods such as yogurt, kefir, raw

milk and raw dairy products that are coming from grass-fed cows,” said

Killeen.

She said milk from pasture-fed cows is healthier and more resistant to

pathogens than milk from cows confined to barns and fed on grain and

corn. She is calling for more research to show the health benefits of

raw milk products.

“We’re not playing on a level playing field. If there could be some

funding to show the health benefits of raw milk, I think it would help

validate it and stop the fears within society,” Killeen said.

Judith McGill of Richmond Hill is a 12-year owner of one of the Schmidt

cows. She heads up the Food Rights Alliance, a coalition that promotes

close connections with local food producers.

“I need to look eye to eye every week with Michael (Schmidt) when I pick

up my food,” said McGill, adding she thinks the legal battle Schmidt and

his followers are involved in is less about the safety of raw milk and

more about the constitutional challenge for the right of consumers to

choose the kind of food they can purchase.

“It’s an act of civil disobedience, a push for choice,” McGill said.

Shane Jolley, Green Party candidate for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound in the

upcoming provincial election, spoke of the benefits of local food

production as a way of ensuring food security and a boost the local economy.

“What we really need is to bring our economy back to a human scale,”

said Jolley, who sees local food production as a way of standing up to

multinational corporations.

He’s predicting rising energy costs and climate changes will drive

customers back to relying on local food production.

As part of the tour, visitors were taken to the milk house where some of

the milk is stored in a temperature controlled tank and the rest is made

into cheese, butter, yogurt, curdled milk and a European cottage cheese

called quark.

Schmidt passed out glasses of cold raw milk flavoured with fresh

strawberries.

Johanna Hartgerink of Peterborough said she and some of her friends who

were visiting the farm would drive to Durham once a month to buy

unpasteurized dairy products.

“We believe in the health value of raw milk and in supporting a local

farmer who is doing really good work and in supporting his cause,” said

Hartgerink.

Schmidt launched a 40-metre wind turbine Friday as the main power source

for his farm. The $200,000 turbine is capable of producing 80 kilowatts

of electricity, enough to supply a half-dozen homes. The customary

magnum of champagne used to christen ships and other large objects was

replaced with a litre of raw milk that was shattered against the turbine

tower by Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Murdoch. Schmidt’s legal team,

headed by Clayton Ruby, will meet with the Crown attorney in an Owen

Sound court this morning for a pre-trial hearing in judge’s chambers .

Schmidt said he hopes a date for a trial will soon be set.

Schmidt faces a number of charges laid by the Ministry of Natural

Resources following a raid on his farm Nov. 21, 2006 including operating

a milk processing plant without a licence and carrying on the business

of milk production without a licence between Aug. 17 and Nov. 21, 2006.

He’s also been charged with the sale of unpasteurized milk and cheese on

Oct. 20 and 27, 2006. In addition, public health officials charged him

with failing to obey an order issued Feb. 17, 1994 to refrain from

storing or displaying raw milk products as well as breaching that order

Oct. 20, 27 and Nov. 21, 2006.

Earlier this year Schmidt was served with an order to stop distributing

raw milk products in York Region. He continues a weekly run from the

farm near Durham to a church parking lot in North York . Because of the

continued violation of the order, Schmidt could also face contempt of

court charges.