South Dakota Department of Agriculture pushing to make raw milk less accessible to public

Besides failing to acknowledge the many public comments it has received since June opposing the proposed amendment, the SDDA has also proven itself to be little more than a corporate lapdog and an enemy of the people of South Dakota. This was made apparent back in 2012 when the agency needlessly shut down Black Hills Milk, LLC, a raw milk dairy that it falsely accused of selling tainted milk. This little SDDA stunt damaged raw milk sales all across the state, harming many raw milk farms in the process.

"I am concerned that if these rules are implemented, the Department of Agriculture will have even more tools to shut down raw milk dairy farmers," says Dawn Habeck, co-owner of Black Hills Milk, which has since switched to a "herd share" format of distributing milk rather than on-farm sales. "These small family businesses do not have the resources to hire attorneys and lobbyists to fend off hostile actions by the Department of Agriculture."

Website: http://www.arjonline.org/agricultural-sciences/american-research-journal-of-agriculture/