Take a Minute to Help Strauss Family Dairy!

[wildflower]

Hello Friends and Fellow Organic Food Consumers,


Please take a moment to read a commentary (https://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/22/EDHH14R253.DTL) 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 Marin 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.

To read the proposed rules, go here (https://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=SubmitComment&o=0900006480776e33).

To sign the petition, go here (https://www.strausfamilycreamery.com/).

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

This is clearly another one of those last-ditch efforts by the outgoing Bush administration to clear the way for America's mega-billion dollar agribusiness industry to take over the niche market currently held by smaller-scale family farmers and ranchers, a market started up and carefully maintained by farms committed to sustainable farming/ranching practices.


Thank you! This is incredibly important!


Suzanne Mackey

[Bryan]

Richard Mathews, Chief
Standards Development and Review Branch
National Organic Program
Transportation and Marketing Programs
USDA-AMS-TMP-NOP
1400 Independence Ave., SW
Room 4008-So., Ag Stop 0268
Washington, DC 20250
Re. Proposed Pasture Rule, Docket no. AMS-TM-06-0198

Dear Mr. Mathews,
I sell organic cheese made from cows and goats in Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt counties. I know the farmers and trust their ability to take care of their herds. I also sell organically grown wines from these counties.

To have organic milk is essential - but putting these smaller farms out of business is not the solution. Yet that could be the unintended consequence of your proposed regulations.

The Federal Government must not set national organic rules that exceed its jurisdiction or expertise. Setting excessive controls on pasturing cows fails to take into account local weather conditions.
I am also against 'organic' milk where really, factory farming is used exclusively. My brother has worked for Berkeley Farms Dairy for 30 years and, through him, I am aware of the different methods of treating diary herds. His Dairy needs access to locally produced organic milk and
cannot afford to lose suppliers.

I personally raise minature horses on my own mini-ranch in Sonoma County. On my ranch, I must take the horses off the pasture much of the year - we are either too wet, too cold (not enough grass) or too dry.
I therefore fully understand why organic dairy farmers are objecting so heavily to this proposal.

However, this proposed rule change is typical of DC centric policy - make one noisy group happy while ignoring valid, scientifically reasonable and testable complaints from other people.

Please, require your staff to find a better method or leave the standard alone.

Reject the proposal as written and start afresh to find a better solution to factory farmed "organic" dairies.

Take the example from medicine: First, do no harm.

Bryan Cooper
Owner
Sonoma Wine Shop / La Bodega Cheese Shop
412 First Street East
Sonoma, CA 95476
707 996 1230
www.sonomawineshop.com