For the raw milk supporters....

[Henrietta23]

Same here. Totally freaked me out. Baby steps! You'll get there. : )

 

[noobiechickenlady]

It doesn't matter whether OV as a collective is equipped to service the raw milk consumers. That is what the family farms are for. A blind eye was turned on the side sales for years, apparently with little to no ill effect on the collective. Certainly those farmers did not sell raw milk under the OV name? How about publishing the minutes of all those meetings the board had?

Serving your "family" with an ultimatum after turning a blind eye for years is a heck of a way to provide a springboard...

Their reply to the above

"It doesn't matter whether OV as a collective is equipped to service the raw milk consumers. That is what the family farms are for."

That's not accurate. According to the membership agreement the producer signed when they joined the cooperative, they agree to exclusively provide their milk to the coop. So selling raw product on the side is ... See Morecertainly not what the agreement calls for, or what the farms are for in our case.

"A blind eye was turned on the side sales for years, apparently with little to no ill effect on the collective."

That's not accurate, either. The fact that members are diverting raw milk for direct on-farm sale outside of the cooperative's distribution model and outside of the membership agreement provides no benefit to the cooperative, and can be rightly construed as antithetical to the coop's mission of cooperation and collaboration.

"Certainly those farmers did not sell raw milk under the OV name?"

That's not accurate. We've had reports of raw milk producers marketing their product in print and online using the Organic Valley brand mark. Since we have no control over many aspects of how the raw milk producer sells his or her product, we're sure you can understand that using the Organic Valley brand mark in that manner is highly problematic. Indeed, it could be taken by the uninformed consumer that there is some implied consent being given to raw milk producers by virtue of the fact that there may be an Organic Valley farm sign alongside the road at the farm, and most of our producers do have such signs. But we offer no such consent.

As you can see, the issue is not as simple as it's often made out to be.

Thank you for your comments!

**sigh**

 

[Wifezilla]

Well they certainly seem to be hard fast set on bullying raw milk sellers. I think I will call Vitamin Cottage and tell them why I am no longer going to be buying Organic Valley products.

 

[Lady Henevere]

I got the exact same response as abifae got (with a note, "Below is our personal response to your request for assistance").

 

[Wifezilla]

If you have been getting your Organic Valley items at Vitamin Cottage, you can call the corporate office and let them know why you wont be buying their products any longer.

(877) 986-4600

 

[reinbeau]

I was just at my local health food store, Good Health. I told them that I would no longer buy any Organic Valley products. They had just found a new supplier they were trying out (I'm sorry, I can't remember the name, Farmstead something or other) and were 'test driving' their products; I told the grocery manager to google OV and raw milk and they could find the whole story - I'll go back there with some links. He was very interested and said he'd definitely look into it.

 

[Wifezilla]

Excellent Rein.

If Organic Valley doesn't care about raw milk consumers (and concerned consumers in general) it is time to contact the stores carrying Organic Valley.

 

[abifae]

Yes. I'll be sure to mention it to Vitamin Cottage and Sunflower Market.

Good idea.

 

[Wifezilla]

Organic Valley just had some rep join BYC and comment on the thread I started over there. This will give everyone a chance to see both sides of the debate.

 

[big brown horse]

Organic Valley just had some rep join BYC and comment on the thread I started over there. This will give everyone a chance to see both sides of the debate.

Really?? WOW!!

I wish I could log on over there!!! :/ (Since I'm on a borrowed computer, it will only let me log on here. STRANGE!)

Ok, OFG and Free, I'm putting on my letter writing hat. I'm going to start out with, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"