The Montana Department of Livestock has recently scheduled a public town-hall style meeting to answer questions from the public and look for suggestions for revising the proposed rule in response to concerns about how this change is going to affect the dairy processors in Montana. A formal public hearing in Helena has also been scheduled for January 14.
Travis McAdam, a program specialist with the Grow Montana Food Policy Coalition, a broad-based coalition that supports sustainable Montana-owned food production, processing, and distribution, felt it was important that they get involved during the comment period and make sure that there was a public hearing.
According to McAdam, a troubling aspect of this proposal change is that the analysis completed by the Department of Livestock acknowledges that the proposed changes are likely to negatively impact small producers. He also felt it was important that these dairies have a voice in these changes.
“Dairy producers were unaware of these changes until they were posted in early November, and had no voice in how it would impact them,” said McAdam.
For small producers like Laura Ginsburg, who is in the process of starting a creamery in the Kalispell area, the changes came as a shock. With only 72 dairies in the state of Montana, why are we making it more difficult on the smaller producers?
In North Dakota, for example, dairy inspections are funded by the state government as a public health concern, and the costs are not passed down to the individual dairy producers.
The following letter was submitted by Travis McAdam to the Department of Livestock in response to the proposed change to
