Farmer Wins Legal Battle with City over Raw Milk Sales

By Emily Baucum
Ozarks First.com

(Greene County, MO) — It’s a big win for farmers and people who prefer to buy locally-grown food. A husband and wife who run a farm in Conway have been acquitted on charges of illegally selling raw milk inside Springfield city limits. The Bechards sell milk that’s regularly tested but not pasteurized.

It’s not against the law, but Missouri requires milk sold at distribution points like grocery stores and farmers markets to be pasteurized.  Is a farmer’s car a distribution point? That’s where the legal battle boiled.

“We come once a week,” says customer Carolyn Sparks.

They’ve pre-paid.

“It’s $4 for half a gallon,” says Hillary Mosher.

And cart away coolers full of raw milk from Armand Bechard’s farm.

“I think it’s a better health choice,” adds Mosher. “It tastes better.”

“I like the flavor,” says Sparks. “I like knowing where the cows are.”

Bechard says the law’s always been on his side.

“A state statute says a farmer can sell from his cart, wagon or vehicle,” he says. “Paraphrasing here, it’s considered to be as if you were selling from the farm. That was the premise we were operating under.”

Read full post at Ozarks First.com