Now, as 2024 begins, Mr. Miller faces new charges. The USDA started the new year conscripting the Pennsylvania State Police to RAID Mr. Miller's farm. According to the USDA, Mr. Miller has spread a food borne pathogen in the community and faces charges for never licensing his retail operation.
Miller’s Organic Farm persecuted for serving nutritious, whole foods to thousands of informed consumers
Members of Miller's Organic Farm can pay a small fee for access to clean and nutritious foods produced straight from the farm. These unpasteurized products are not processed in a USDA meat or dairy facility. Food clubs like the one run by Mr. Miller ultimately cut into the profits of the larger farming operations that are regulated and protected by the USDA. Miller’s food club had grown to nearly 4,000 people before it was raided.
Among the products Miller produces and sells are meats, dairy products and eggs. Even though the food club is legally justified in selling directly to informed club members, USDA officials are upset that the products are being purchased outside of their control and oversight. The government contends that unpasteurized raw milk poses a risk to the community. Therefore, the USDA has been looking for ways to shut down the farm for many years now. The Feds have harassed Mr. Miller repeatedly, and Mr. Miller has been falsely accused of selling tainted raw milk and other products.
(Related: FOOD SUPPLY ATTACK: U.S. government raided and shutdown Golden Valley Farms, an independent meat producer in Virginia.)
Weaponized USDA shutting down independent farmers over improvable allegations
On January 4, 2024, Mr. Miller was faced with new allegations, an arrest warrant and a surprise raid on his farm and personal property. USDA officials were accompanied by Pennsylvania State Police in the raid of Miller’s Organic Farm. Their warrant claimed that his farm had exposed the public to a dangerous food borne pathogen and was connected to two cases of illness in the community. The agents seized raw milk and eggnog products from his farms and claimed that "Miller has never licensed his retail operation."
Miller’s attorney, Robert Barnes, issued a statement lambasting the raid. He claims the raid was a violation of his client’s constitutional rights. "The Department of Agriculture of the State of Pennsylvania suddenly came, without notice, raided Amos’ farm and detained everything Amos had in the farm’s freezer. They did so in a lawless manner, without appropriate authority, in violation of their own rules and regulations," Mr. Barnes said.
Other raw dairy farmers are speaking up on behalf of Mr. Miller.
Peter Bartlett, who own Bartlett Farms in North Dakota, also sells raw dairy products. He spoke to the Epoch Times about the government’s real motivations behind these unlawful raids. He says the government’s actions have nothing to do with protecting public health and have everything to do with criminalizing independence.
"Regulators will tell you this is for the safety of the American public. But if that were true, then why don’t they go after every Mexican or Chinese restaurant after people eat their food and get sick," Mr. Bartlett said. "The truth is they feel threatened by anyone acting independently from the system and that is why the government has decided to target this particular farm—to make an example of him, to scare people."
While food safety and hygiene is important -- raiding, terrorizing people and seizing their property is not how a government should handle these situations.
"If they can make an example out of this small Amish farm, then they can send a powerful message of compliance throughout the rest of the independent farming community," he added. "The USDA and FDA have been lobbied over the years by the industrial food system while small and independent farmers are not well represented."
Mr. Bartlett concluded, "What we are now seeing come to fruition through a regulatory process that tilts the scales to criminalize independence."
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