In the May 21 issue of Progressive Dairyman, Editor Karen Lee came up with a poll question that sparked much interest: “Should the sale of unpasteurized (raw) milk be legalized in all 50 states?” “Raw milk pairs with the local and slow food movements that are of interest to today’s consumers,” Lee says. “As I researched it, I found that nearly a dozen states were considering or would potentially be considering legislation related to the sale of raw milk this year alone. Progressive Dairyman was curious to see how our readers weighed in on the topic.”
To begin the discussion, Lee published comments from Tim Wightman, president of the Farm-to-Consumer Foundation in favor of legalization of sales, as well as a letter by industry representatives, National Milk Producers Federation’s Jerry Kozak and International Dairy Foods Association’s Connie Tipton, opposing such legislation.
At www.progressivedairy.com, the poll saw overwhelming support in favor of raw milk sales. Along with a high number of votes and page views, the poll articles also received more than 100 comments from raw milk supporters.
The magazine’s web administrators discovered from commenters that an e-mail alert was sent out to the membership of the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nonprofit organization that seeks to disseminate research from Dr. Weston A. Price.
Foundation members believe in a diet of “nutrient-dense, whole foods” and hope to establish universal access to clean, certified raw milk.
Sally Fallon Morell, president of the board of directors of the foundation, received an e-mail regarding Progressive Dairyman’s poll. She in turn sent out the following online message to the membership on June 25:
Dear Members,
Please take a minute and vote at this Progressive Dairy Poll – Should the sale of raw milk be legalized? Cast your vote in the gray box on the right column. Let’s generate an overwhelming vote for raw milk!
As you can see from poll results ( Click here for more information ), the organization achieved their goal of an overwhelming vote. More than 4,000 people voted “yes” to raw milk sales being legalized.
This result was surprising to Lee.
“After covering the vetoed raw milk bill in Wisconsin last year and talking with a number of dairy producers, I believed we would see an overarching ‘no’ response,” she says.
Morell explained why members quickly responded to the call to action.
“Most of our members drink raw milk and want to see it available to anyone who wants it,” she says. “There’s a lot of passionate parents out there who want to make sure they can have access to raw milk for their children.”
While Morell understands that the Progressive Dairyman readership is not necessarily an audience that can affect change in raw milk legislation, it is a group that Weston A. Price Foundation members can reach.
“I hope dairy producers will see this as having tremendous marketing potential, particularly for grass-based producers,” she explains. “Many producers turn to raw milk because they’re receiving such a low price [from processors]. They can receive 5 to 25 times more money for their milk if they sell raw directly to the consumer.”
Lee is pleased to see such enthusiasm from interest groups. However, she issued the following statement to notify Progressive Dairyman readers on policies regarding the magazine’s poll results and their management:
“While this is a reader poll, it is available to anyone and everyone online. Similar to any voting process, these results are the reflection of those who took the time to cast their ballots and made their voices heard.
“On any given topic, the PD Poll is meant to help our readers become informed of both sides of an issue. The results are published in order to share the outcome of the voting portion, but they are not intended to be an official representation of the viewpoints of our subscribers, staff members, publishers or even the industry.” PD
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Emily Caldwell
- East Coast Editor
- Email Emily Caldwell
