To get Exemption “c” into law, Karen McIntyre, Director General, Food Directorate, must be by-passed for the Exemption “c” to get into the hands of the Federal Health Minister. One way for this to happen is for Canadians to educate their MPs and find out which ones are in favour of Exemption. The MPs must then as a group present the Exemption in person to the Federal Health Minister. If anyone finds out an MP that is willing to coordinate this, please phone me at 403-210-4854. We are running out of time to get this done before Nov., 2020.

If this were done under supply management, perhaps marketing boards could create a new class of “specialty quota” for unpasteurized dairy (fluid milk, yogurt, kefir, butter, etc.), for distribution via either farm-gate sales or herdsharing for example.

Raw milk could be legalized within supply management and still maintain safety. It is important that conventional dairy farms NOT be selling conventionally-produced milk to the public. Thus, a rule for licensing could be that a farm can be licensed to supply to processors, OR licensed to distribute raw milk for direct consumption, but not licensed to do both. You can’t serve two masters. Milk produced by industrial methods has a much higher risk of containing pathogens. See the “Two Types of Raw Milk” article on the RAWMI website: https://www.rawmilkinstitute.org/updates/two-types-of-raw-milk

Criteria for licensing should be that this new quota is only available to grass-fed micro-dairies. A limit on herd-size is appropriate, but this should be reasonably large enough to allow the farmer to make a living. I.e. the three cow upper limit under Oregon law is B.S.

And none of this pitiful “75% grass-fed” standard that the DFC has set for their conventional farmers. Ever wonder why “grass-fed butter” in Canada is a sickly pale yellow in colour whereas NZ grass-fed butter is a vivid bright yellow? Grass-fed should mean at least 90% or 92% of diet is long-stem forage by dry weight, closer to NZ standards. There must be an appropriate minimum standard for acreage per animal and time on the pasture (which depends on climate of course), plus nutrition management during months when animals can’t be pastured.

And having raw milk specific food safety standards which all licensees must follow, such as RAWMI Common Standards will also ensure safety. As well as farms publishing their milk sample test results on-line as some raw milk farms in the U.S. do.

I wish the applicants success in winning this case, because it will be a win for all raw milk farmers and consumers across Canada. But if they don’t win, then maybe the DFO and DFC should sit down with them and discuss legalization under marketing board supervision. That would be the compromise.