| | Support Raw Milk in North Carolina with HB 309 Contact Your NC Representative  This alert is courtesy of Carolina Farm Stewardship Association. There is a bill pending in the North Carolina General Assembly that could make it easier for you or your customers to obtain raw milk! House Bill 309 (HB 309), "Got Natural Milk," is a cow-share bill, similar to North Carolina's herd-share law prior to 2004. The bill legalizes individual or joint ownership of a lactating animal and permits all of the co-owners to legally drink the animal's raw milk. The bill has to receive a favorable vote in two House committees, Health and Agriculture, and on the House Floor by Thursday, April 30. If this does not happen, the bill will be dead, and we are unlikely to have another chance to change the law until 2017. House Bill 309 passed in the House Health Committee on April 27, 2015, and now it faces an uphill battle in the House Agriculture Committee. The Agriculture Committee must hear and vote on the bill before Thursday afternoon to make sure it gets voted on by the full House by Thursday night, April 30. Help to get this bill passed and Take Action below! Please pass this alert on and ask others to do the same.
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Take Action - Contact Your State Representative If you are one of many people in North Carolina who wish that raw milk was available for human consumption in your state, please call your representative in the North Carolina House now to ask him or her to support the bill by asking the Agriculture Committee co-chairs to bring the bill up for a vote in their committee. The co-chairs are Representatives Langdon, Dixon, Steinberg and Brody. Not sure who represents you or need your representative's contact information? Visit www.openstates.org/find_your_legislator/ and type in your address. |
Sample Message
Please be courteous as this helps to build good relations with the legislature.
"Hi, my name is ____ and I'm a registered voter* and a constituent. I am calling because I know the House Agriculture Committee and the full House need to vote on House Bill 309, Got Natural Milk, by Thursday night. I support the bill and encourage Representative ____ to support it as well. Please encourage the co-chairs of the House Agriculture Committee to hear this bill this week. I support the Got Natural Milk bill because ____ (see Sample Talking Points below or come up with your own). Thank you." See how simple it is to call your representative: watch Carolina Farm Stewardship Association's video, "How To Call Your Representative." *If you are not a registered voter, register first and then call. |
Sample Talking Points - I am a farmer with customers interested in purchasing a cow-share in order to obtain raw milk.
- This bill would help my farm diversify its sales, making it more likely that I would stay in business.
- I am a consumer who wants to be able to legally obtain raw milk for personal use.
- I am a consumer of raw milk and prefer it for health reasons, taste, easier digestion, etc.
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More Information People in North Carolina cannot legally buy raw milk for their own consumption. The law in NC says that any raw milk sold in NC can only be fed to animals. It hasn't always been this way. Before 2004, North Carolina law allowed herd-shares, meaning that people interested in drinking raw milk could buy a share of a lactating animal, either by themselves or with a group of other people who wanted to drink raw milk. As owners or part owners of that animal, the owners could legally drink that animal's milk. Since 2004, North Carolina law has dictated that only pets can drink raw milk. |
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Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit [EIN 20-8605130], defends the rights and broadens the freedoms of family farms and artisan food producers while protecting consumer access to raw milk and nutrient-dense foods. Learn more About Us or read the FTCLDF 2013 Summary.
Donations to the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund are always appreciated though not tax-deductible. Prefer to make a tax-deductible donation? Contact us by email at [email protected] or call 703-208-FARM (3276). |
Please forward this alert to others who are concerned about protecting locally-sourced nutrient-dense foods and preserving sustainable small family farms and artisan food producers as well as defending the rights to sell and to access the foods of one's choice from the source of one's choice. |
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