Scott and Julie Trautman and their three kids live on a family farm about ten or twelve miles from Madison, near Stoughton. Factory farming interests have been destroying family farms in Wisconsin since World War II. Family farming as a way of life is being swamped by corporate control of the market, corporate influence in law making, and selective enforcement by state agencies of wrong headed laws.
Last spring I learned that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation wants to run a “bypass” around Stoughton and across the Trautman farm’s seventy acres. That may or may not be relevant to the story of how and why the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) is putting the squeeze on the Trautman family.
The Trautman’s are part of a larger story about family farming versus factory farming, and wholesome food production versus mass production of factory food. The Trautman farm produces grass fed beef, healthy hogs, pastured chickens, wholesome eggs, and delicious dairy products. But right now DATCP has put an embargo on the Trautman’s ability to market their food. The embargo began with a restriction on their dairy operation, prohibiting them from selling raw milk. Now their ability to market grass fed beef and pastured pork and poultry is also threatened due to a challenge to their farm store licenses.
My first contact with the Trautman farm came years ago when I bought the Trautmans’ eggs through the Blue Moon CSA. Those eggs spoiled me so I can no longer eat insipid eggs from factory farms. More recently the Trautman grass fed beef has found its way into our refrigerator. It’s head and shoulders above basic antibiotic and hormone loaded supermarket beef. I understand why the state hates family farms. Family farms don’t fit the corporate factory farming model. How can we change the government’s attitude?
