The politics of milk and honey in the Big Sky; An update from Rep. Schwaderer

Milk and honey policy is a big deal to a lot of folks.

On March 13, 2013 during the session a constituent sent me a letter saying “The government has no business telling anybody what they can or can not buy to consume.” Not so for fresh milk and honey in Montana.

As recently discovered by Apiary owner Arvon Fielding in Kalispell, new interpretations by the Montana Department of Health and Human Services require obtaining an onerous retail food license in order to sell raw honey in farmers markets. Montana Code 50-50-202 allows farmers and gardeners to sell at farmers products without a license - clearly the intent of this law is to allow willing buyers and sellers who appreciate local products to participate in a market without getting regulated out of business. However, recent interpretations that honey is not “raw and unprocessed” threatens to burden our many small, locally owned apiaries. 

What’s wrong with a neighbor selling honey to his neighbor?

We are even more onerous with milk in Big Sky Country. According to the Administrative Rules of the State of Montana (ARM) 32.8.103:

“No retail raw milk dairies will be licensed to sell grade A raw milk for public consumption.”

Representative Champ Edmunds worked on a bill to create small-scale exemptions to legalize the practice, but the bill was tied up and died during the session.

The principle here is not whether fresh milk or local honey (or any other consumable for that matter) is “better” than anything else. The question is what level of government involvement do we want in voluntary transactions between grown-ups?

The role of having a government in society is not to make a criminal out of every person who puts blood, sweat and tears into producing high quality local food products. In fact- as a community- we should be encouraging these folks with our pocketbooks and keeping government out of their business.