TAKE ACTION
Action Step #1
The Commission tasked with studying raw milk herd shares and retail sales seeks input from all stakeholders, including “dairy farmers, raw milk advocates, and any other stakeholders” deemed necessary.
Now is the time to organize; form coalitions; call, email, visit or otherwise contact members of the Commission and your legislators and tell them they must continue to support the distribution of raw milk via herd share agreements.
Currently, North Carolina law explicitly allows the distribution of raw milk under herd share agreements to consumers who choose this product as the best option for them and their families.
Tell your legislators to leave the current law alone and to fight for the continued distribution of raw milk via herd shares.
Find members of the Agriculture and Forestry Awareness Study Commission here. Note that the site suggests the list may not be current. We will let you know if we get confirmation of the current Commission members.
Find your representatives here.
We will be back in touch when we learn more about today’s outcome. In the meantime, get to work on building an advocacy campaign and spread the word! Send this Action Alert email to your friends, families, and customer list and share with them how important this is for you, your families, your communities and all farms and dairy producers in North Carolina.
Action Step #2
Spread the word! Send this Action Alert email to your friends, families, and customer list.
TALKING POINTS
1. Passage of a ban on raw milk herd shares would harm family farmers’ ability to make a better living. Raw milk is often the product that first draws consumers to a farm, can increase overall farm sales, and help small farms remain viable and in operation.
2. The proposed raw milk herd share ban would decrease consumer freedom of choice by preventing the distribution of raw milk to consumers who want it, have educated themselves about the benefits, and have had the freedom to choose the best food for their families.
3. The proposed raw milk herd share ban would prevent small, independent, dairy farms from making a better living by decreasing the products they can sell that consumers want.
4. The proposed raw milk herd share ban would decrease locally-produced foods consumers can obtain and cause a drop in the amount of food dollars that are kept in local North Carolina communities.
5. Herd share arrangements have been successfully operating for years in North Carolina and consumers should be allowed to continue to benefit and have the freedom to obtain the foods of their choosing and to support local farms.
