Open Letter to Rural Vermont

[goodcompanion]

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[Carl Russell]

The foundations of your information are misplaced. RV is very much in the development stages of a town-to-town campaign to establish local ordinances similar to those used in Maine.

We are not seriously considering how to work WITH VAA nor USDA. Nearly the entire board is frustrated with the regulatory approach, and we are committed to developing a social change.

The problem with building coalitions is in deciding which perspective addresses the issue most directly. Even Mr. St. Peter is hesitant to endorse the 10th amendment strategy, as it doesn’t really address the issue of traditional community food systems.

Many of us also question the effectiveness of any change based on formal governance. We are considering ways to encourage and enliven a movement within communities to support the hidden, currently illegal, food economy, and to break the regulatory obstacles with shear numbers of people throwing off the shackles of the fraudulent bureaucracy.

RV seems to be gaining an undeserved reputation, and is the new whipping boy. We did not work with VAA on the Raw Dairy Class resolution. We resisted three attempts at new language. The perpetrator Dan Scruton was back-roomed, and eventually the proposed language, which RV did not support nor fight against was dropped, and soon it will be entirely legal for us to resume the classes as before. The only change will be that now the onus will not be on the farmer if the consumers of raw milk choose to do other than drink it. This is a win-win, and there was no cow-towing, nor caving, and a significant majority of the board insisted on this.

You should have come to the annual meeting on Wednesday night, as all of this was covered. In fact Bob St. Peter visited here on Thursday, and RV is very much in alliance with his group. RV is also meeting with the VT Coalition of for Food Sovereignty on Monday to discuss mutual strategies.

I would suggest checking with those in the know before forwarding rumor and hearsay.

Carl

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