If the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) gets its way, Lake View Natural Dairy Farm, owned and operated by David and Heidi Berglund and their daughter Lyndsay, will be fined $500 per day until they submit to an unconstitutional inspection of their farm.
When the farm briefly explored the possibility of selling milk for processing, this triggered a call to the MDA by the processor, and the MDA realized they had no record or control over this farm.
On October 14, 2014 the MDA demanded to do an inspection of the farm, which the family refused on the grounds that the Minnesota Constitution acknowledges their right to peddle the products of their farm. Now, the MDA hopes to fine the small operation a crippling $500 per day after the March 9, 2015 hearing if they are found to be in contempt.
Lake View Natural Dairy Farm, in the quaint town of Grand Marais, MN, has been a staple in the community for the past 100 years that it has been in the Berglund family. Currently, they provide raw milk and locally produced meats to their neighbors, visitors and tourists. The locals adore the farm, the family, and the products.
Many who vacation in Grand Marais for the summer months make the farm their first stop when they arrive in the town with a population of 1,300. Some customers drive over 200 miles from the twin cities for the products from Lake View Natural Dairy Farm.
In the spirit of a family farm operation, the senior Berglunds gave their daughter, Lyndsay, milking privileges 7 years ago, which she has wholeheartedly embraced. The farm boasts a herd of 85-100 dairy cows and beef cattle, laying hens, and pork products. Heidi Berglund makes the coveted yogurt and butter from the milk and provides baked goodies to round out the farm’s offerings.
True to its name, the farm sits on an ecologically stable piece of land overlooking Lake Superior. As a century-old staple in the community, the family is well respected and liked as providers of food to their neighbors. It is a disconnect that they are now being held in contempt of court for operating a farm and providing locally produced foods to their neighbors.
Customers of the farm are accustomed to conducting business completely on the honor system. A small cash box in the milking house is available for the community to leave cash for a gallon or two of milk true to the Minnesota Constitution saying that farmers have a right to peddle their products directly to the consumer.
What is this Really About?
For about two years now, the MDA has requested to do an inspection on the farm citing that the farm must pasteurize the milk prior to selling it. (For the full legal background on this, see David Gumpert’s excellent coverage.)
This raises the question, yet again, whether or not humans have the right to engage in peaceful, voluntary exchanges for the foods of their choice.
What the Berglunds are doing in providing food to their community is historically what built this country and continues to build communities. They are cultivating land for the purpose of feeding their neighbors. They are adding to the aesthetics of their region by keeping land in production. The Berglund family is lovingly growing community and nurturing bonds between community members.
Now, people who work for the MDA are assuming authority, deciding that they have the right to lord over this peaceful family and demand that the family conduct business in a new way that would, quite literally, put them out of business and steal a wonderful resource from the region.
Although the language of the state constitution is on the side of the farmers, the question here is one of justice.
- When is it okay to excessively fine a family for feeding their community?
- Who gets to decide what foods a farm can provide to their neighbors who are enthusiastic participants in the exchange?
- How does the MDA get to demand to inspect a family’s farming operation and demand that they change it?
- Why does the state agency have the assumed authority to interfere between a small farm and those eager to purchase from the farm?
If there is a law that has David Berglund in contempt of court for not allowing aggressive, subversive agents on his property, that law has no place in a peaceful American community.
This is NOT, and never has been, a safety issue. The farm under scrutiny has been providing their community with raw milk and other wholesome farm products including chickens, eggs, pork and beef without ever so much as a suspected illness since inception. The MDA’s demands, excessive fines and now its attempt to hold the family in contempt of court, take its authority out of context.
While the family and community suffer—as beautifully articulated by customer Greg Gentz—from not knowing how this will play out, the MDA continues its gratuitous approach of “compliance for the sake of compliance.”
How You Can Help the Berglunds
What does this farm family need? They need support at their hearing for contempt of court on March 9, 2015 with warm bodies in the courtroom. They need the support of their community by continuing to purchase their products.
The Berglunds need us to stand in unity with them nationally and recognize that it is not the place of government to interfere with the direct farmer-to-consumer relationship in peaceful, voluntary exchange for food.
If you are anywhere near Cook County Minnesota on March 9, please show up in quiet support of David and Heidi Berglund, and their daughter, Lyndsay, who have spent countless days lovingly caring for their animals and their community.
It is through your support that, as individuals, we can renormalize the relationship between food producer and food consumer understanding that there is nothing wrong, or even illegal, with a farmer feeding his community.
Ultimately, this case isn’t about milk or this particular farm; it is about whether strangers working for a state agency will control peaceful exchanges for food between happy neighbors or if the community members have the prerogative to make their own choices.
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Liz Reitzig
Wherever you are in your personal journey toward clean living and local food, thank you for joining me in mine. I look forward to sharing it with you.
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62 Comments on "Minnesota Aims to Fine Family $500 Per Day for Feeding Their Community"
How dare the government push them around. They promote community, health, and natural methods we all used before a Monsanto Dupont and others took that choice and made it a consumer bait & switch with boxed everything. We need more farmers like this family!
As a Vegan i have great compassion for the family farm, i love family farms, i respect hard work and growing on the land.
After that the business choices made by these folks bet on people wanting their “meat and dairy” instead of the “big polluted companies stuff”, hats off to them.
But both views skirt the true issue, raising slaughtering and chopping animals to bits, capturing another species milk and using it for god knows.
This is not “farming” and i for one have to stand back and hope all dairy takes it on the chin.
predator and prey, fix that in nature and then come talk to us. my first advice is go to the lions or grizzlies first, ok. be safe, I hear they like vegans…
Are there legislators that I can write?
I just learned about your farm to Facebook.
I believe in raw milk, and exchanging raw products, for our health.
Kevin Demsky
This would be the same legislators that just caved to obamas illegal alien scheme that you’re paying for?? You really think they care about people? Are we really that dumb??
This is no longer America. Think you’re free? Make a mistake on your taxes. Think you worked for and own your home? Can you not see all the foreclosures brought on by insane property taxes? Think you’re safe? Look at the people being bullied and killed by the police state we’re becoming. Better to spend the time reading about Hitler and see where we’re really going…
Don’t turn this into a red/blue food fight. Show respect for this family. And what do the democrats (or rebublicans for that matter) have to do with this? But since you brought up you should know that the leaders of Agribusiness, Monsanto, and the big junk food chains are almost all rebublicans as a matter of fact. Grow up.
Here you go! http://politicalblindspot.com/yes-monsanto-actually-did-buy-the-blackwater-mercenary-group/
Thank you Mark!
I agree. This is a great opportunity for the community to rally with their food provider and for all of us to understand the importance of supporting our producers.
David, Heidi and Lyndsay have a great opportunity to bring people together.
Thank you for your continued dedication to food production and access.
This is about our government wanting to have their hands in all facets of our way of life.
Also, fining this small family farm 500 a day should show you it really comes down to the taxes the government expects from any successful small businesses.
We need to come together as a nation to fight for this families rights and our own. We are truly in this together and if you think otherwise, you are part of the problem.
This is enough of big brother shit. Leave the people alone. To share what nature provide . This is a veery clean farm . And safty is there priority. So back of goverment.
I support you 110% all the way from Australia, Noone has the right to stop people farming and providing food for other human beings, this stinks of big brother wanting to control everything, and i hope to god you are successful as we need toturn back this clock on our backward societies and get back to nature and living simple and being self sufficient.
God Bless
Thank you for your support!
i was wondering are they requesting a jury trial? No court hearing can be held without the option of a jury even if they try to deny you one I would be damn.. Anyways good luck
Liz great job on the article my son Spencer the 9 year old boy on the tractor after reading the said that was spot on
I love that picture! Blessings to you all.
David,
I am so honored that I could tell your story. Thank you for your perseverance and dedication to food production and feeding your community!
Bring the government to their knees, farmers should go on strike
It’s time the gov’t back off. With Cancer on the rise because our gov’t says it’s okay to spray chemicals on our food I support this family farm. Yeah I had cancer and now have to submit to tests to make sure it doesn’t come back. I am raising my own food now so I won’t have to buy the crap the gov’t feeds us. It’s time for Americans to wake up and make a stand against what this gov’t is trying to do.
[…] Republished with permission from NourishingLiberty.com. […]
Good luck. Gov’t is trying to control everything in our life, it is a power trip. Give’em hell.
[…] Republished with permission from NourishingLiberty.com. […]
We are free people engaging in the right to choose our foods from whomever we like.
The Berglunds aren’t refusing inspection because they are afraid. They are refusing inspection because the state has no authority here.
Would you let the state search your house simply because it believed doing so would help protect your neighbors?
Are you being supported by The Farmers to Consumers Legal Defense Fund via the Weston A Price Foundation? If not please google it. I am a member and contribute to causes like yours.
http://Www.westonaprice.org
Yes, they are!
[…] Republished with permission from NourishingLiberty.com. […]
You said, “As far as the raw milk debate, The Minnesota Milk Producers Association has told the state legislature repeatedly that they are against loosening the restrictions on raw milk sales. MMPA is made up of dairy farmers from the state of Mn.”
Exactly: big dairy wanting to control little dairy. Why? For consumer safety? Ha! In 100 years, no one has ever been harmed by Berglund milk and no complaints have ever been lodged by a customer. Consumers are perfectly safe.
So why else would big dairy want to control little dairy?
I always believe that US are “… the land of the free…”
I hope that people will support this farmers family.
You managed to dwell on the unimportant points and miss the main point entirely.
The state has no authority here.
[…] Nourishing Liberty, for example: […]
[…] Nourishing Liberty, for example: […]
It has been proven throughout history, that when you are in power and have a small penis and tiny balls, you have to make up for that and rule people around.
What is the right of the consumer? Doesn’t the consumer have the right to consume “unprocessed” food of any kind? We can’t all keep a cow in our backyard! I’m sure that’s against the law in a lot of places!
[…] Nourishing Liberty, for example: […]
The family is listed as “Tenants” on their land on the “Administrative Record”! Change that to “Land Owners”! When this is done the Corporate Governance will not be able to bother them any longer! That’s what C. Bundy the Nevada rancher did to get the criminals to leave him alone!
[…] Liz Reitzig Nourishing […]
Why do they single out raw milk? What about raw meat and eggs, and even vegetables? There have been so many meat and egg recalls in this country. Next thing they’ll do is require all meat to be precooked and canned before it’s offered for sale. Soon your only Sunday morning breakfast choice will be precooked eggs and brown-n-serve sausage.
Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) should be fined $500 per day for feeding on the taxpayers. It is my suspicion that the MDA does not actually farm itself but just harasses real farmers.
[…] excessive fines by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) because the family is refusing an unconstitutional inspection of their […]
[…] is yet another story of a small farm, owned by the Berglund family, which has been selling produce, dairy and meats to […]
I just found this article. My prayers to Family Farmers!! I wish i had found this article days ago! I would have been in the courtroom standing by this Family who has every God Given Right to farm for US! Shame on MN government leaders…Shame..Shame..Shame on You!
[…] Republished with permission from NourishingLiberty.com. […]
WHERE’S the petition to sign? WHOM do we contact within the Minnesota state government? HOW can a state office commit harassment and force their constituents to starve?
I am writing in support of the family and suggesting that the MDA back down. The government is getting out of hand. If there is such a law, it should be upheld and not changed because the MDA says so. Leave the little people alone and worry more about what your corporate friends are doing.
Thank you!
[…] In the story of David and Heidi Berglund from last week, was a glimpse into the over regulatory nature of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA). The MDA threatened a peaceful family with $500 per day fines for feeding their community. […]
[…] the Berglund case, see the web site by supporter Greg Gentz, a former law enforcement member and a post by Liz Reitzig at the Nourishing Liberty […]
Has there been any updates on this??