Raw Milk Farmer's Religous Beliefs Dismissed By Judge

            Vernon Hershberger's attempt to use his religious beliefs to escape prosecution for his sale of raw milk and organic food sales in a co-op situation in Wisconsin has failed and he will proceed to trial.

            A judged ruled Monday that the Loganville dairy farmer’s religious beliefs do not absolve him of certain legal responsibilities. His attempt to use Christianity as a way to circumvent legal action has failed and he will proceed to a jury trial May 20.

            Hershberger, a Mennonite farmer who has run his co-op for many years, was charged with five counts, including unlicensed food and raw milk sales stemming from a raid on his farm in 2010.

            “None of (the religious tenants cited by Hershberger) prohibit, on their face, the exercise of any secular rights,” said Sauk County Circuit Court Judge Guy Reynolds.

            In June 2010, state inspectors with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection raided Hershberger’s farm and sealed coolers of food. They ordered him to discontinue sales. He did not heed that order and said it would be against his beliefs to waste food. One of the charges alleges that he violated that hold order.

            Hershberger’s attorneys claimed his religious tenants would have constituted an act of aggression and therefore contradicted his religious beliefs. Reynolds ruled Hershberger and his attorneys had not provided sufficient evidence for their argument and that even if such tenants do exist, it does not appear that Hershberger has relied on them in the past.

            "The Judge ruled against us in everything that he ruled on," Hershberger said Tuesday. "This is all the more reason for everyone who wants this food to drop everything and come out during the week of the trial. This will get us to rely more on God for strength as we face the trial. He alone can bring out the truth which He has done so many times in the past. We do not know if it will be revealed to us at the trial or not but we know what the Truth is and no matter how long it takes, it always has and it always will come out on top!!"

            The state discovered that Hershberger was listed as a defendant in a 2007 civil case that involved an automobile crash with a horse-drawn planter. Hershberger used a legal defense in that case and filed a motion to have the case dismissed.

            “There’s no evidence in that motion that deals with any such religious tenant,” Reynolds said. “I think this really goes to the sincerity of the religious beliefs asserted here.”

            The state is out to show who's boss and intends to prosecute to the fullest possible extent of existing law that is meant to shut down raw milk sales and organic co-ops.