Raw Emotions Rise in Wisconsin Milk Debate

The debate over whether to sell unpasteurized milk directly to consumers is pitting small family farmers and natural foods advocates against the powerful interests of large corporate farmers.

Image: iStockphoto

In Wisconsin, where people take their dairy products more seriously than almost any other place in America, the proposed sale of raw milk is becoming an emotionally charged issue.

State lawmakers will vote soon on whether to validate a practice that some farmers already are engaging in illegally: the sale of unpasteurized milk directly to consumers. The debate is pitting small family farmers and natural foods advocates against the powerful interests of the large corporate farmers represented by the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. In a weekend rally, hundreds of raw milk supporters turned out to rally in Madison, the state's capitol.

The Wisconsin Farm Bureau opposes the idea. What if someone gets sick, the big farm group asks. That would have a terrible effect on the state's most important industry. Second only to California in production, the state's dairy industry employs 150,000 people and contributes $26 billion to the local economy, according to the Wisconsin Economic Development Association.

"Dairy farmers have invested millions of dollars promoting milk and dairy products and we can’t afford to have an incident adversely affect consumption," Melvin Pittman, a Western Wisconsin dairy farmer representing the farm bureau told a legislative hearing last month.

Family farmers say they want to have the same rights as producers in 25 other states that allow some form of raw milk sales already. Some consumers who favor natural, unprocessed foods are demanding raw milk. But federal laws forbid farms from transporting the product across state lines even if sales are legal in a particular state.

The economic benefit to small producers: Farmers can get 10 times more money selling milk directly to consumers than selling through a dairy, Mark McAfee, a raw milk producer from California, tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. McAfee was in Madison over the weekend to support the Wisconsin proposal.

Darin Von Ruden, president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union, told lawmakers last month that they "should not allow fear or processing-industry rhetoric to get in the way of those benefits" to family farmers.