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Support Grassway Organics
Help Save Wisconsin Raw Milk
The Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) doesn’t often ask its members and other email subscribers to support raw milk litigation in another state, but this is one of those times. As it was over a decade ago, with the Vernon Hershberger trial, national attention is on Wisconsin where the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) is attempting to shut down another prominent raw milk dairy, Grassway Organics Farm Cooperative, a family farm located in East Troy, whose principal owners are Chaz and Megan Self. Grassway is the biggest raw milk dairy in Wisconsin. Going out of business would have a crippling effect on the raw milk supply in the state.
BACKGROUND
There is a general prohibition on both the sale and distribution of raw milk in Wisconsin, but there are exceptions; one of them is a state law allowing the distribution of raw milk to anyone who has “a bona fide ownership interest in the dairy farm and milking operation…if the milk producer operating the dairy farm and milking operation is a legal entity other than an individual or married couple.” Grassway is such an entity; those wanting to legally obtain raw milk join the entity as a cooperative member. Grassway has a milk producer’s license and a contract with a dairy plant to sell some of its milk (there is no minimum amount under Wisconsin law); both are state law requirements to distribute raw milk under the exemption.
Grassway has operated under this exemption since May 2020. There has never been a customer complaint filed against them. Grassway has earned the food safety certification from the Raw Milk Institute (RAWMI) and has an on-farm milk testing lab. It has also obtained a product liability insurance policy for its raw milk distribution, something that is not easy to accomplish given the bias by the insurance industry against the product.
DATCP never took any enforcement action against the dairy until 2026; since the beginning of this year, DATCP has suspended Grassway’s license and then in August filed for a civil forfeiture judgment seeking $10,000 in fines plus an additional $50 in fines for every day the dairy continues to operate. The law hasn’t changed since 2020 and Grassway continues to distribute raw milk only to cooperative members as it has since DATCP issued it a Grade A dairy license over six years ago. DATCP has never defined what constitutes a “bona fide ownership interest” under the exemption.
A hearing has been scheduled for May 24-26, 2027 on the license suspension and proposed fines. Grassway has filed for a temporary restraining order against DATCP in the meantime to enable them to continue distributing raw milk to their co-op members.
DATCP is attempting to shut down a quality producer while America’s Dairyland continues to lose dairy farms; in 1995 there were 29,000 dairies in Wisconsin, but today there are under 5,000 remaining. Raw milk sales can save some of those dairies but, instead, the state is doing what it can to restrict access to raw milk.
Chaz Self has estimated it will cost around $160,000 in legal expenses to litigate his case. He is someone who has the courage and the drive to see this fight for raw milk sales and distribution in Wisconsin through to the end. Grassway needs your help to carry on this battle. Chaz and Megan Self deserve your support.
Recently media attacks on raw milk have intensified. This week the American Academy of Pediatrics updated its guidance on raw dairy products, renewing its call for a ban on any sale or distribution of raw milk and other raw dairy. The Grassway case could be a bellwether for the effectiveness of these latest attacks and the effort to restrict raw milk access in the U.S.
ACTION TO TAKE
1. Please donate at the GoFundMe page that Megan Self has set up at https://www.gofundme.com/f/
2. Please share this alert with others and watch the video appeal by Chaz Self posted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?
WAPF will send out future alerts on the Grassway case as events warrant.
LINKS
GoFundMe page – https://www.gofundme.com/f/
video by Chaz Self – “Temporary restraining order against state!!! Need Your Help!” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?
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