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Consumer protests over a sting operation lead to a settlement permitting a Michigan farmer to continue distributing raw milk

by David E. Gumpert

Back in October, Michigan farmer Richard Hebron and Family Farms Co-op, which he manages, were the targets of a sting operation involving an undercover agent, about a dozen state police officers and agriculture inspectors, multiple search warrants, and confiscations of Hebron's and co-op members' property.

The trigger? Milk. The sting was the culmination of an investigation led by the Michigan Agriculture Dept.'s food and dairy division, which wanted to know whether Hebron had violated Michigan law by distributing raw milk (milk that isn't pasteurized or homogenized) and whether the co-op had broken the law by using a retail establishment's storage area as a milk drop-off point.

No arrests were made, but the co-op was crippled and participating farmers' livelihoods threatened, since the farmers' computer, fax, and business records were removed when the search warrants were served. And retail outlets in Illinois, where selling raw milk is legal, canceled orders (see BusinessWeek.com, 10/19/06, "States Target Raw-Milk Farmers"). Michigan is only now returning the confiscated stuff (it was being held as evidence in case of a trial), minus the food, as part of the settlement signed Apr. 24.

Bombarded with E-Mails

Some 10 days after the bust, Steve Bemis, a member of Family Farms Co-op, fired off an e-mail to the head of the Michigan Agriculture Dept.'s food and dairy division. Bemis, a 60-year-old pension lawyer with Masco (MAS), stated in his letter that for he and his wife, "raw milk has been a central element in our improved health over the last year." He chided Katherine Fedder, the head of the food and dairy division, for "crude" tactics in the sting operation. "I'm comfortable in predicting that the resistance to this agency action will be stiff."

Bemis' prediction turned out to be accurate. Over the next six months, Michigan politicians were bombarded with e-mails and calls. Fedder won't say exactly how many letters she received, but the county prosecutor charged with considering whether to press criminal charges against the farmer received 232 testimonials from supporters of the farmer. (Most are posted on the co-op's Web site, www.familyfarmscoop.com.) About half, like Bemis in his original letter to the Michigan Agriculture Dept., testified to the health improvements they had experienced from consuming raw milk supplied by Richard Hebron—things like fewer colds and doctor visits and relief from chronic ailments such as asthma.

What Bemis didn't predict, though, was that he would become so deeply involved in the case that he would strike up an e-mail relationship with Fedder that would lead him to legally represent Hebron on a voluntary basis and help negotiate a settlement of the case that amounted to a huge victory for the farmer. "I had nothing but a layperson's knowledge" of agriculture and food legal issues, he says. Not only did the state agree not to press legal charges, it actually endorsed Hebron's right to distribute raw milk to members of the food cooperative under the cow-share agreements they had been using. His only penalty? A $1,000 administrative fine for violation of food-processing regulations affecting nonmilk items like chicken, beef, and eggs.

A Favorable Resolution

The case ended much more favorably for Hebron than it might have. In late March, Victor Fitz, the prosecutor for Cass County, where Hebron's farm is located, called all the parties in the case together, recalls Bemis. "He was your typical TV prosecutor—tall, steely-eyed, trim, brisk—a very tough cookie was the persona I met. He said, 'You guys better get an agreement together, or I'm going to prosecute.' …For whatever reason, it seemed they wanted to get Richard [Hebron] for a felony. He gave us three different statutes he was going to proceed on."