GOOD NEWS
Update: Dec 17, 2009 Letter from Bill Even, South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture, withdrawing proposed rules for raw milk.

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South Dakota: SDDA Proposes Raw Milk Regulations
 
The South Dakota Department of Agriculture (SDDA) has issued proposed raw milk regulations.  Even though the stated purpose for the proposed rules is to protect public health, the rules are an attempt by SDDA to ensure that no raw milk is sold legally in South Dakota.  Under current law, the general prohibition on the sale of raw milk does "not apply to milk, cream, skim milk or goat milk occasionally secured or purchased for his personal use by any consumer at the place or farm where the milk is produced; neither does it "apply to any active farm producer of milk, selling and delivering his own production direct to consumers only."  There is no requirement that a farm be a licensed Grade A dairy to be under these exceptions.  The only requirement for those selling under the exceptions is that any unpasteurized milk sold be "clearly labeled by the producer as 'raw milk'."
 
The proposed rules, in effect, take away rights given by the legislature by imposing expensive requirements that those dairies wanting to sell raw milk would not be able to afford.  The proposed rules are typical barriers-to-entry regulations that will create a defacto ban on the sale of raw milk.  A further review of the provisions can be found online http://www.farmtoconsumer.org/news/news-08Nov2009-5.html.
 
A hearing was held on the proposed rules on November 17; 25-30 people spoke in opposition to the proposed rules while the only ones speaking in favor of the rules were South Dakota government employees.  After the hearing, the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture Bill Even indicated that he would probably modify the proposed rules but that opponents of the rules should not expected to get everything they want. 
 
The next hearing on the rules is scheduled for December 21 before state Representatives and Senators who serve on the South Dakota Legislature's six-member Rules Review Committee.  If the proposed rules are not adopted by January 12, 2010, they will expire and SDDA will have to initiate the rulemaking process again with the earliest the agency would be able to do so being April 2010.

Press & Posts:

Dec 18, 2009 Fighting Back in Wisconsin - The Complete Patient Blog
Dec 17, 2009 - Stopped: New Raw Milk Rules in South Dakota - Journal of Natural Food and Healin
Dec 10, 2009 - South Dakota Milk Producers Under Fire By Department of Agriculture - Black Hills Today
Nov 8, 2009 -  SDDA Proposes Rules to Create Defacto Ban on Raw Milk Sales in South Dakota  - FTCLDF News
Oct 16, 2009 -  Sales of raw milk draw attention - Pure Pierre Politics