(Adapted from a message I received, with some of the links corrected and text modified - Zeno)

Hello Friends and Fellow Organic Food Consumers,

Please take a moment to read a commentary in today's SF Chronicle, written by Albert Straus of Straus Family Creamery in western Marin County, and to consider signing a petition disputing USDA-proposed federal grazing rules that Albert tells us will force local dairies out of the organic milk products business, and thus out of business.

The USDA's public comment period on these proposed regulations closes tomorrow, Tue., Dec. 23rd. Please act now.

To read the proposed rule in the Federal Register, go here.

To submit your own comments to the proposed rule, go here. [Need to read the rule to make sure you get your wording right.]

To sign the Straus petition, go here. [Easier]

And please consider circulating this message to your friends who support local, family-owned, sustainable farming practices.