Customers and Other Supporters Stand with Farmer!

Submitted by Kimberly Hartke

The FDA reign of terror against family farms who are serving the needs of private buying clubs is culminating in one Wisconsin farmer facing federal charges. Citizens deserve the freedom to choose, and are staging an event in support of this principled farmer, Vernon Hershberger. He is being dealt with unjustly, and is standing strong with the support of the families he serves. (Kimberly Hartke)

February 24, 2012–Baraboo, WI. Food sovereignty activists from around North America will meet at this tiny town on March 2, 2012 to support Wisconsin dairy farmer Vernon Hershberger and food sovereignty. Hershberger, who has a court hearing that day, is charged with four criminal misdemeanors that could land him in prison for three years with fines of over $10,000. The Wisconsin Department of Agricultural Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) targeted Hershberger for supplying a private buying club with fresh milk and other farm products.

DATCP has charged Hershberger with, among other things, operating a retail food establishment without a license. Hershberger repeatedly denies this, citing that he provides foods only to paid members in a private buying club and is not subject to state food regulations. “There is more at stake here than just a farmer and his few customers,” says Hershberger, “this is about the fundamental right of farmers and consumers to engage in peaceful, private, mutually consenting agreements for food, without additional oversight.”

At a pre-court rally scheduled for 11:00am, in front of the Sauk County Courthouse in Baraboo, food rights activists will read and distribute a “Declaration of Food Independence” that asserts inherent rights in food choice. A signing ceremony will be part of the rally. The signers expect the declaration will inspire a growing food sovereignty movement. Speakers at the rally will include members of Hershberger’s club.

Hershberger and other farmers around the country have been and are facing state or federal charges against them for providing fresh foods to wanting customers. In recent months the FDA has conducted several long undercover sting operations and raids against peaceful farmers and buying clubs that have resulted in farms shutting down and consumers without access to their food.

Farm Food Freedom Coalition wants to ensure that America’s treasures, our independent farms and ranches, are able to thrive. We aim to preserve our agricultural heritage and the future availability of traditional, farm fresh foods. Americans want and deserve the freedom to choose natural, unprocessed foods for generations to come.

Information about farm raids: FarmFoodFreedom.com. For additional information on raw milk: westonaprice.org.

More event information: RawMilkFreedomRiders.com

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47 Responses to “Farmer Faces Possible 3-year Prison Term for Feeding Community”

  1. Erla Hackett says:

    We can smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol etc. with consequences on the label. Why can’t fresh milk, unpasturized dairy, etc. be sold with consequences on the label? My choice!

  2. Mary Osborne says:

    For years I suffered from food sensitivities and digestive issues. After being hospitalized, losing a lot of weight, and not being able to tolerate most of the food found in grocery stores, I finally found a private buyers club which allowed me to purchase raw dairy products. Every day I thank the farmer who produces this food and the private buyers club that makes it accessible. My return to health is absolutely due to the raw dairy. The government’s harassment of small farmers is wicked and absurd. How can anyone believe citizens don’t have the right to determine their own food choices?

  3. Jess Dixon says:

    I wish this could reach John Stossle on FOX. Perhaps he would get massive public support to pressure those prosecuting this farmer.

  4. Greg Burton says:

    Hillary Clinton: Population Control Will Now Become The Centerpiece Of U.S. Foreign Policy: It already was, has been since 9/11 (inside job). Depopulating the planet is only the logical end-game when you control the money, the police, the military, space-based weaponry, the food, the jobs, etc…and 9/11 was merely the pretext.
    http://howtohelpsavetheenviron.....ign-policy

  5. Bluey Morgan says:

    Farmer Joe……Slavery was NEVER abolished at all.
    Slavery was legalised all around the entire world, by the use of the Emancipation Proclamtion and other documents called “Acts”.
    Lord Wilberforce at the House of Commons ratified it world wide in 1813.
    We are ALL slaves, it’s just that some of us are paid more than others, and some of us have a different set of rules.
    Get used to it, if not get out your guns and make war upon the usurpers.
    Will never happen in the US, as everybody is too scared.

  6. Farmer Joe says:

    Anyone stupid and or mean and rude enough to try to force a farmer into not giving or selling his crops as he sees fit deserves public hanging or quiet burial in the corn field, no matter what uniform he wears. THIS IS AMERICA. LAND OF THE FREE. BUILT BY FARMERS! Come to my farm and tell me what to do. Send your best. I have some reading material on the history of this country and the national standards of freedom for you to decide whether or not you agree with. After a thorough review of the PRINCIPLES of freedom as layed out in the FOUNDING documents of this Great Land we can then discuss how your lost and tortured mind managed to convince yourself that it was ok to make other people do what you want them to do. Slavery was abolished and never applied to farmers in the first place. Grow up and find something useful to do like ummm hmmm maybe deal with the IMMENSE corruption of our government by A-HOLES that think they have more rights than those of us BORN HERE.

  7. Steve Barnett says:

    You can eat good food and feel good or you can eat hot dogs, pizza, sodas and processed foods and pay later. I eat wild meat and can’t stand the taste of a hot dog or lunch meat. If you eat deer, muskrats, rabbits, fish, shrimp, oysters and clams you will not want meat pr processed foods they can add junk to it.

  8. You will find the power you need in the study of the Utopia Silver Co. of Utopia, Texas; you need not contract with the bastards.

    It has been now proven, the drug-thugs will leave you alone provided you handle the situation correctly, i.e. do not agree to contract with the offending entity.

    How do you do that? Well, best I can tell you is to study within the Commercial Law/UCC, Redemption/Exemption and Sovereignty movements.

    You can start by researching the Utopia story with the Health Ranger @ Natural News.com, it was well covered there. Also, download a copy of Mary Elizabeth Croft’s work: “How I clobbered every bureaucratic cash-confiscatory agency known to man”

  9. un-real says:

    the fda is pissed that there is food going to the public that their not controlling. its the u.n. behind this. i believe that soon they will control the amount of food each person gets. agenda21 is shutting down farms and land to do this. they don’t give a dam about your health. were looking at the last book in the bible.

  10. Patrick Adrian says:

    Howard – but let’s be clear. Obama is continuing the practices of Bush. During Dubya’s administration, the FDA not only approved products from cloned animals, but ruled the consumer didn’t have the right to know the source on the labeling! Obama has been abysmal on this issue. But if you propose a solution through a new President? Which GOP candidate do you suggest?!? The three guys who have the industry in their pockets? Or the guy who thinks we should just stop regulating entirely, so that all this will happen, only because the Frankenfarmers will be allowed to drive out competition, and poison us without any oversight? I’m not disagreeing about Obama, but what do you suggest?

  11. Patrick Adrian says:

    Question – while I agree with everyone about the FDA – I’m curious about who here believes the solution is in purging and restructuring the agency as intended by the people, OR who here wants NO REGULATION whatsoever. Because some folks I hear want the Ron Paul approach – the problem isn’t the idea of an FDA, but that our FDA is facilitating the factorial, Frankenfarming industry in wiping out small farms and limiting our avoidance of cloned, engineered, and chemically-fed foods. I imagine some people here want a solution that will give the Frankenfarmers complete liberty to destroy our food sources and miseducated the public on their own.

  12. WagTheDog says:

    Just one more proof that our government has morphed into a fascist state, fascism being the fusion of government with large corporations into a tyrannical state. Any competition has to be stifled. How far away are we from OUR death camps?

  13. Mike says:

    This is what you get when you put psychopaths in office. This is not meant as an insult to politicians since many (most?) actually meet the criteria described here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related (video: “freedom from conscience – psychopaths”).

  14. Howard T. Lewis III says:

    Will those who voted for Bareback Obummer make sure you correct the damage you did. I voted for the lady from Georgia. PLEASE spend time developing your self and your community so this does not EVER happen again? I thank you.

  15. mrs. weeks says:

    these farmers and what they do is crucial for someone like me, who has a serious illness (fibromyalgia) that depends on what i eat. without grass-fed meats, kale, and every other unprocessed food stuffs that i can feasibly get my hands on, i will deteriorate to the point of no return. with my second child on the way (and for those fibromites who know what this does to a woman) EVERYTHING depends on my mitochondria being able to function so that i do not harm myself/ my child. what would i do without the few farmers that i can get farm fresh items from? it is not a pretty story. not only will i breed a new generation of high cost healthcare, but in a few short years, i will most likely be in a wheelchair. at 28, this i the grim reality that i face everyday as more and more “organic” foods are treated like some high-priced fad, that is to be made a profit from. it’s hard enough being on enough meds to literally fill my daughter’s halloween bucket, but to be told that i must shop at some overpriced chain market, not only breaks the bank, but my heart as well.

  16. Art says:

    larouchepac dot com —- can save you time.

  17. Bluey Morgan says:

    Sooner or later, all of you are going to need to eat humble pie, and visit David-Wynn: Miller to help save your proverbial arses.
    Guess what? He lives in Wisconsin too!
    http://www.DWMLC.com

  18. JM, Milk does not come only from female cows whose children have been murdered. Killing the offspring is not a requirement for the cow to lactate. Factory farms are the problem, not local sustainable farms who treat their animals well. Also, raw milk does not have all of the horrible consequences you state. These come mainly from the processing. In fact, goat’s milk is almost a perfect food.

  19. Al Smith says:

    You should have enabled these readers to sign the “Declaration of Food Independence” from this article.

  20. JM says:

    While I stand with anyone that will fight against the food corporations, or our government,same thing really, what we really need is someone to give US citizens correct information. Milk and all products stemming from dairy, are some of the most vile, unhealthy items you can put into your body.
    Milk comes from the female cow only after its children have been murdered. This bad karma will come back and haunt all of us until it is stopped. Milk has already been scientifically proven to cause, bone decay, Multiple Sclerosis, cancer, heart disease and numerous other illnesses found in Western Societies.

  21. ben gillard says:

    As Karin said, you/we must stop being divided by the labels, especially left vs right (or even worse, Rep vs Dem). What is going on in your country is not true socialism, because it’s motivated by (corporate and individual) greed and controlled by those with vast personal private wealth. The problem is not (just) big government. The problem as I see it is big government in the service of big business and the privileged few. Food regulations written by Big Agriculture, copyright law written by MPAA/RIAA, drug law written by Big Pharma, healthcare law written by the big medical insurance companies, banking law written by big banks (remember: Glass-Steagall was biggish government but in the service of the people). Indiscriminately shrinking the government without addressing greed and obscene inequality (of both wealth and power) will only remove the thin veneer of control The People have over big business. Corporations and the monied elite will simply become your de facto government, but without even the appearance of service to the people.

  22. mother Jones says:

    Hey The Last Time I Looked A Misdemanor Wss Not A Felony. Now Either He IS FACING FELONY CHARGES OR MISDEMANOR ONE DOES NOT LEAD TO 3 YEARS IN JAIL. THE OTHE RONE CAN> YOU CAN ONLY DO 1 YEAR IN JAIL AT THE MOST FOR MISDEMANOR ANYTHIG OVER THAT IS A FELONY CHARGE IF YOU DO 1YEAR AND 1 DAY TEHN IT IS A FELONY. IF HE HAS 3 MISDEMANOR CHARGES TEHN THE MOST HE COULD GET IS ONE YEAR ANY THING OVER IS A FELONY. THEY CAN NOT PUT YOU IN JAIL FOR 3 years On A MISDEMANOR CHARGE.

  23. AffinityNetNews says:

    I would be remiss not to add the following for those of you who are still the Sheeple and believe the lies that construct your false-reality in the Matrix of illusion:

    Behind the Speaker’s rostrum in the chamber of the House of Representatives, are two arcane symbols called, “Fasces” that represent “Fascism” A fasces is a Roman signet of authority that originated with the Etruscans where Rome derived much of their religious jurisprudence or Canon Law. But that’s not all…

    Closer examination revels that these two symbols represent something even more sinister and alarming: These symbols are entwined in Laurel which signifies Caesarean Military Power. The Romans called this infallible sovereign, Pontifex Maximus or Caesar!

    What could this all mean? Symbols are everything to the occult ruling elite, I’ve spent 36 years studying the NWO, and their symbols never lie, even though they do.

    These two fasces speak volumes to researchers of the Satanic Occult: That America, is in deed, a vassal-state or bondage-nation to Rome.

    The Bible states very clearly that in these times all global power will originate from the “Seven Hills of Rome”.

  24. lili says:

    If people really wanted to hurt the government, they’d stop buying mass marketed milk entirely. If citizens stop buying the big boys start coming to make amends.

    The government absolutely depends on Americans to spend in big box stores. If American citizens don’t buy electronic gadgets and mass-produced chemical foods then the government agencies getting taxpayer funds(and the banks that rely on our expenditures) will be bankrupt.

    Bankrupt the government and bankers. Stop buying big box products and start supporting your mom and pop store neighbors.

  25. AffinityNetNews says:

    I would urge all of you to begin the process of researching the most foundational and important aspect of the Fascist Totalitarian (Collectivist) control-grid: Canon/Admiralty Law that IS our criminal and totally (il) – legal system as natural persons with God-Given Rights that can not be taken away by any corrupt and traitorous control-grid.

    This knowledge will expose to you that: America is a corporation NOT a sovereign nation and was promulgated in stealth in 1868 – that the BAR is: British Accredited Registry controlled from The Inns of Court, at The Financial District of London City, called “The Golden Square Mile”, in England.

    America, like the vast majority of the planet is owned and controlled by: “Empire of the City” or “Empire of the Crown” a sovereign nation with zero accountability to any outside force, that includes; Washington D.C. – The Financial District of London – The Vatican.

    America came under full bondage to the Empire in 1913, under the Federal Reserve Act and the Internal Revenue Act.

    I can not stress to all of you enough how important it is to learn how insidious, adroit and evil these monsters (sub-humans) are that have crafted “Agenda 21”, and how they want to kill-off 85% – 95% of humanity and that includes you personally!

    The banking fraud was and is all designed to completely destroy not only our society and infrastructure, but to consolidate all hard assets, personal investments, and personal property into the hands of the global ruling elite that own the Empire in Europe.

    I became fully aware of this while working on a three-year project dealing every day with high-level banksters in London City, Davos, Rome and The Isle of Man.

    Knowledge is power, the further you travel down the rabbit-hole, the darker it gets and more deadly it becomes. However, this knowledge can also save your life as we go into full melt-down…

  26. Listens says:

    Hi folks,

    It would help Hershberger and others suffering under the US Corporation and its sub corps if they made sure they entered and stayed in the correct court venue. Listen to talkshoe.com – AIB County Assembly to find out more about this.

    The proper venue is – district court of the United States
    NOT UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT. Be sure it’s all lower case district court, no capital d or c. This is the constitutional Article III court. Any other and you’re just a beggar.

  27. Diane says:

    Woe Woe Woe to Leviathan:

    Dictionary Definition:

    Leviathan: Totalitarian

    Totalitarian: When every aspect of your life is regulated by government.

  28. That A Other says:

    The food-service laws are forced upon us by the World Health Service based in Rome CODEX ALIMENTARIUS read all about it in a fight with the county about food license rates. Cost me a few bucks but beat then. Yes cost me more that several licenses would have cost. I just could not stand them. They spent tens of thousands on fighting little me. The county only has 15 thousand people in total population. Bankrupted the health Dept. State took over. The state gave it back to them in I think eight months. Oh well I fought for all I was worth. Shallow victory even when you beat them they remove any sense of joy from your heart. If we have the right to live and be happy then these laws are unconstitutional. I will now shut up and go away.

  29. Tim K says:

    Fire the smartass collectivist apparatchiks.
    They are as useless as tits on a chicken.

  30. Emery says:

    I just thought about drinking some fresh raw milk. Is that a thought crime?

  31. Steve Barnett says:

    That is a good idea to sell raw milk as pet food. Or what if you used it to water your plants or you made forms out of newspapers, glue and milk. There you go the problem is solved. Because you can use it for anything. Someone needs to inform the Amish they have a way to get around the bull. I know farmers who butcher cows and sell the meat. I’m sure this can’t be legal everywhere.

  32. Rich says:

    Gov’t crooks! Lmao at the post that these pets are hungry!! Pet milk hahahahaha that’s great! Stand up to these crooked frankenfood pushers

  33. Me Here says:

    I loved the one a while ago !! (showed the 2 faced side to most authorities pushing this crap)….
    I saw a video about a Govt panel group telling the locals the water contamination locally was of absolutely no issues “its all fine, no problem” …… Someone used the local water to fill the panels water jugs … half way through the hearing an objector, said to the panel given that you feel the local water is fine, is excellent !! … Cause YOUR DRINKING IT !! … Youve never seen a room cleared so fast, people spitting and freaking out. I nevr get tored of watching nutbags put back in their place … GO THE FARMERS, Go the freedom of eating what you want how you want when you want !! peace.

  34. Bryan Blackburn says:

    IDEA why not legally adopt your clients and get them to agree so that you are only feeding your family. Let them try to stop you from feeding your family.

    LEGAL GAMESMANSHIP fo sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  35. Geoffrey Franklin of the Finn clan says:

    Look e here. If the farmer has a SS number and has no clue about what it means then he will just have to suffer in ignorance. Getting a SS# is tantamount to surrendering your birth rights to freedom. The information is out there to correct the situation so ignorance is no excuse. I have won against the IRS and the BATF, as many now have done, because I had the courage to seek knowledge of the law and the Constitution. If you want food stamps and unemployment and socialist insecurity checks then quit complaining because you will get just what you deserve.

  36. jim says:

    When will they be calling ATF in on someone that is drinking the milk from their own cow? What about eating that tomato that you just picked from your tomato plant?
    When will enough be too much?

  37. Don says:

    So if the government dictates to me what I cannot eat, then surely the government should set out a list of foods that is acceptable, in their view, for me to consume. I’d love to see that!!! An official government list of foods that is acceptable to them, for the consumption by me, and the rest of the Nation.
    I hope they don’t rule that I can only eat broccoli and fried food and bear claws

  38. walt says:

    The FDA and the government is nothing but a “gang” of people who claim to have the authority to make laws of this nature, when all along are just breaking the laws people are born with as a human.
    But if the people try and fight them off, they have bigger guns and call the people the criminals- hypocrisy.
    When will they ever start fearing the people again…?…when the people start using the same force against them. Sad.

  39. The shadow aka puppet government has been growing in power since JFK was assinated. No more than figure heads taking orders and making scrupted speaches to placate the public.

    The coming Spring will be quite interesting. People all over the Nation and World are mobilizing. We are sick and tired of being sick and tired and having our ‘co called representatives’ prostituting themselves to the highest bidder.

    IMO-the smaller issues are being used to Divide us as a Peoples and are nothing but tools used by the PTB. Untill we can set aside these issues, such as right/left-race-religion/class or caste culture, we don’t have a snow balls chance in hell.

    We MUST come together as We The People by the numbers and deal with the individual issues on a different level. Instead of being followers we need to stand up as a Whole.

  40. john burton says:

    this is all about a week’s pay for some bureaucrats. the last time it was about tea. now it’s about milk. the problem with the pet food ploy is that eventually your going to have to teach your cat how to fire a gun.

  41. Bruce Hayden says:

    1984 may have been a bit late but ‘In the Year 2525’ is way early. When your congresscritter is on the losing side of most votes then you know they’re doing a good job. Let the Frankenfood corporations go the way of the dinosaur. I suppose most of you have read where Monsanto only serves organic in it’s cafeteria. I will be watching this case closely. It seems that Wisconsin is now the new ‘test state’ for a lot of the insanity imposed upon us all.

  42. I love it, Irene. We do that around here too. Lots of healthy, hungry pets.

  43. irene says:

    It works around here. I sell dog food at $50 a three pound wheel. Cat milk at $12 a gallon. People sure do like their pets.

  44. bev says:

    We drink “per milk”…best milk I have ever consumed, or will ever consume. This coming from someone who has not consumed store bought milk in decades, never liked it as a child, think it is the most putrid product on the face of the earth…gross, disgusting….

  45. bgPinto says:

    A friend of mine who use to sell raw milk, was stopped from doing so. She started labeling the raw milk as PET MILK and sold it as PET MILK and what the consumer did with the milk was up to them.
    Of course that was several years ago, but it might still work.

  46. Abe says:

    I’ve said for years if the government passes a law, then what ever the name of it is called, believe the opposite and you’ll be closer to the truth. We can thank our wonderful Congress & President for passing and signing into law the “Food Safety Modernization Act” that was signed into law on January 4, 2011.
    I would call it the “Forced Eating of Toxic Food Act”.
    I and many others fought like hell to stop this. This passed with Bipartisan support! I hope everyone does there homework, and spread the word way before next NOVENBER, and vote them BUMS out!
    Dr. Ron Paul is about the only one standing up for our freedom including our freedom of choice of what we eat!
    BTW is anyone else feel insulted being called a consumer. The definition of this word seemed to change in the 1960’s. I always thought it was “a person or thing that destroyed, uses up, or wastes something”? By that definition I’d say the Federal Government is the biggest consumer!

  47. Barbara Talbert says:

    This insane protection by the federal government and state governments of large corporate food entities has got to stop. More and more intrusion into private food dealings will lead to us all being ordered to eat at fast food restaurants. Our rights are being abrogated consistently in this arena. I am so happy that this farmer has support.