Miller Farms fined

[RZehr]

Here: https://traveloregon.com/things-to-do/e ... in-oregon/

Looks like they are called CSAs, Community Supported Agriculture.

Can’t keep your veggie drawer stocked long enough to make a salad? How about a smoothie, or the chef-inspired recipe you’ve been waiting to try? It’s often a challenge to keep enough perishable goods on hand without going to the store every day. You might consider a brilliant solution that’s like a gift you give to yourself: Join a CSA.

Oregon’s CSA (community-supported agriculture) programs have been booming in popularity for good reason: These shares of fresh, local, seasonal goods come directly from the farmers and ranchers across Oregon who’ve been the backbone of our famous farm-to-table dining scene. They’re grown sustainably, hand-picked with love, and the closest you can get to your food source without growing it yourself.

CSA programs are all different, with options for delivery and pickup at various locations near you. Many are still taking sign-ups for the season at a range of price points. Most offer tempting add-ons like artisan snacks, pantry staples, craft beverages, and local seafood and meats from partner purveyors. Local restaurants have gotten in on the action, offering their own produce and food boxes to feed your cravings and keep their farmer supply chains intact.

[Josh]

I'm not talking about the time and effort on the part of the customer (and yes, that it what they actually are, not some "club member")

I'm talking about all the time and effort on the part of Miller to set up all these fake cow shares, boarding fees, milking fees, shareholders, and so forth.

Just get an ordinary dairy license like all the other small dairies and avoid all that nonsense.

#1, the shares are not “fake”. They are real, legal ownership in accordance with all applicable laws. The nature of cows in our modern legal system is that every cow is owned by somebody.

#2, Miller didn’t bother to do any of those things, though. If he had set up a true cooperative with cooperative ownership, things would probably be very different now… instead, he was running a garden variety for profit business.

#3, the time and effort to track shareholders is fairly minimal. Just keep a simple ledger. There are standard forms a few lawyers distribute to make sure you’re doing it all by the book.

[Josh]

Such arrangements are illegal in Maryland. Selling is selling, and you cannot sell or transport it except to a licensed processor. Apparently, there is an exception for pet food. Now if you like to eat stuff labeled,"Not for Human Consumption " feel free.

Owning a share in a business and receiving distributions or production thereof isn’t “selling”.

My own tiny little backyard farm is effectively cooperatively owned* by 4 people plus my 2 children. All of us have an equal stake in whatever is produced; decisions are made by the board of directors; the actual animals are taken care of by us and then whatever they produce we can either sell or consume ourselves.

So each chicken literally belongs, legally speaking, to a corporation. The eggs are, literally, production or income of that corporation. Per applicable law, the production can be distributed directly to the owners.

Nothing is sold. We aren’t selling eggs to ourselves (although, on our taxes, we’re supposed to charge ourselves the fair market value of whatever eggs we eat as dividend income**).

If we were producing milk it would be the same story. Same for produce when the summer garden is in full swing. And this is all in accordance with applicable state law.

* Legally “members”, not owners.

** The state likes to see at least $2500 of gross income per year from a farm, so it’s actually to our benefit that we’re supposed to charge ourselves for a bumper crop of eggs.

[Josh]

Here: https://traveloregon.com/things-to-do/e ... in-oregon/

Looks like they are called CSAs, Community Supported Agriculture.

Can’t keep your veggie drawer stocked long enough to make a salad? How about a smoothie, or the chef-inspired recipe you’ve been waiting to try? It’s often a challenge to keep enough perishable goods on hand without going to the store every day. You might consider a brilliant solution that’s like a gift you give to yourself: Join a CSA.

Oregon’s CSA (community-supported agriculture) programs have been booming in popularity for good reason: These shares of fresh, local, seasonal goods come directly from the farmers and ranchers across Oregon who’ve been the backbone of our famous farm-to-table dining scene. They’re grown sustainably, hand-picked with love, and the closest you can get to your food source without growing it yourself.

CSA programs are all different, with options for delivery and pickup at various locations near you. Many are still taking sign-ups for the season at a range of price points. Most offer tempting add-ons like artisan snacks, pantry staples, craft beverages, and local seafood and meats from partner purveyors. Local restaurants have gotten in on the action, offering their own produce and food boxes to feed your cravings and keep their farmer supply chains intact.

I think a CSA is really neat, but it does not, legally speaking, mean the members have legal ownership in the farm, so it’s a little different than a legitimate herdshare.

People also do herdshares for beef. A few people go in on a cow or two, and then divvy it up when it’s slaughtered. Per state law, this is regulated differently than meat slaughtered for sale to the general public. The slaughterhouse will actually put labels on it saying “Not legal for sale”.

One family here goes in on a pig each year. They pay someone else to board it and slaughter it and then pick up the meat once it’s nice and fat.

Of note is this is true ownership with a risk of loss: if for some reason the herd stops producing milk, I wouldn’t get my full allowance. You get whatever weight and quality is on the animal you went in on. There isn’t a guarantee because you are the actual owner of the animal (or a fraction thereof) now. Your only legal remedy if you don’t like how things are going is to liquidate your share.

[Ken]

I'm not talking about the time and effort on the part of the customer (and yes, that it what they actually are, not some "club member")

I'm talking about all the time and effort on the part of Miller to set up all these fake cow shares, boarding fees, milking fees, shareholders, and so forth.

Just get an ordinary dairy license like all the other small dairies and avoid all that nonsense.

#1, the shares are not “fake”. They are real, legal ownership in accordance with all applicable laws. The nature of cows in our modern legal system is that every cow is owned by somebody.

#2, Miller didn’t bother to do any of those things, though. If he had set up a true cooperative with cooperative ownership, things would probably be very different now… instead, he was running a garden variety for profit business.

#3, the time and effort to track shareholders is fairly minimal. Just keep a simple ledger. There are standard forms a few lawyers distribute to make sure you’re doing it all by the book.

Honestly it kind of sounds like time shares for cows.

[Ken]

I think in Oregon there is are at least a couple restrictions. 1. You aren’t allowed to advertise your raw milk for sale; 2. You are only allowed to have 2-3 cows maximum at a time for selling any raw milk.
I don’t know if these farm shares are to get around some of these limitations, or if they are a way for a small farm to have a consistent outlet for their myriad of farm products from milk to honey, to vegetable to beef.

I knew one guy that had a farm like this, and I guess it worked for him. Big subscriber list of local customers. I’m sure I’ve gotten some of the details mixed up, but I seem to remember there being some reason why they do it that way instead of just selling to whoever comes along to buy it. But they aren’t doing it to get around food safety or just to complicate their paperwork.

They all seem to have web sites and instagram accounts with lots of beautiful pictures of cows and pastures so I guess that doesn’t count as advertising according to the state. And, of course, virtually every business winds up with a google profile on google maps complete with user reviews, whether they even want it or not.

I would expect that it is a more reliable way of marketing with less labor compared to farmer’s markets. You just load up everything and deliver it once a week or hire some Uber driver to do it for you. No spending all your weekends behind a farm stand at the market. It would also be a more steady and level income stream that you could budget around.

[Josh]

Well, it works really well. My family doesn’t drink enough milk to need an entire cow so we just need a partial share. Currently we get 4 gallons a week. So we paid in for that. Then we pay our boarding fees (in arrears). A group of us take turns picking it up. If we want to sell back some shares or buy extra we simply text the farmer’s wife and she adjusts her ledger appropriately.

In return, we get good quality product that my wife can drink (she can’t tolerate anything except raw Jersey milk; it’s either an allergy or lactose intolerance). Since we went out and checked his place out, we felt comfortable with how he treats his animals and hygiene. He also sells to a big dairy and regularly tests so he can sell to them at the highest grade by keeping his bacteria counts far below what’s legally required.

I feel much more comfortable with his operation than seeing how a 2,000+ head dairy in Denver area operated. The workers there worked long shifts continuously milking all day, getting cows in and out as quickly as possible. I don’t think that leads to better hygiene.

If YOU don’t want to participate in a herd share or consume raw milk, well, great news, you don’t have to. You can buy from the huge commercial producers. They’re the ones that have lobbied so hard to put smaller ones out of business, such as the sordid affair when they tried to railroad Alta Dena in California.

[Ken]

Well, it works really well. My family doesn’t drink enough milk to need an entire cow so we just need a partial share. Currently we get 4 gallons a week. So we paid in for that. Then we pay our boarding fees (in arrears). A group of us take turns picking it up. If we want to sell back some shares or buy extra we simply text the farmer’s wife and she adjusts her ledger appropriately.

In return, we get good quality product that my wife can drink (she can’t tolerate anything except raw Jersey milk; it’s either an allergy or lactose intolerance). Since we went out and checked his place out, we felt comfortable with how he treats his animals and hygiene. He also sells to a big dairy and regularly tests so he can sell to them at the highest grade by keeping his bacteria counts far below what’s legally required.

I feel much more comfortable with his operation than seeing how a 2,000+ head dairy in Denver area operated. The workers there worked long shifts continuously milking all day, getting cows in and out as quickly as possible. I don’t think that leads to better hygiene.

If YOU don’t want to participate in a herd share or consume raw milk, well, great news, you don’t have to. You can buy from the huge commercial producers. They’re the ones that have lobbied so hard to put smaller ones out of business, such as the sordid affair when they tried to railroad Alta Dena in California.

I’m all in favor of small businesses and diversity of products, especially food. I’m just opposed to people who flaunt the law. Which is neither Christian nor very effective in the long run.

Do the hard work to build coalitions and get laws changed so that society is a better place for everyone, not just the scofflaws. That I can respect.

[wesleyb]

Here in Virginia, as far as I know a herdshare is the only legal way to get raw milk. It's very similar to the way Josh described it in Ohio. From the consumer's perspective it's very simple, it doesn't feel much different than a direct purchase. You fill out a short application and pay your fee up front, pick up your milk every week and pay once a quarter. We have been getting ours from a farm several miles down the road for a while now. I don't know how detailed the farmer's recordkeeping needs to be.

[Josh]

The details needed for recordkeeping vary with state law. My own state imposes very minimal requirements on recording ownership of an LLC. Most people exceed the statutory requirements.