Food Freedom? Government Says NO! Americans Say YES! Part 1

Amos Miller is an Amish farmer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania who sells his products to grateful customers through private transactions in a free market. Mr. Miller’s organic farm was raided in January 2024 after a complaint was filed by Pennsylvania’s District Attorney. The complaint stated, “Two recent E. coli illnesses reported by other states’ departments of health are suspected to have originated from Miller’s Organic Farm raw milk or raw milk products. Additionally, samples of raw milk and raw milk products collected by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture earlier this month recently tested positive for Listeria.”  Yet, no person has come forward claiming they have been sickened by Mr. Miller’s products.

Pennsylvania State Police assisted the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture in raiding Mr. Miller’s Farm. The police prevented anyone from entering the farm store, including reporter Chris Hume of The Lancaster Patriot, who was on the farm at the time of the raid.  No one knows if Mr. Miller’s products were tampered with, as no third party was able to witness what happened to the products during or after the raid.

This is not the first time Miller’s Organic Farm has been raided, or had products detained or confiscated. In 2019, Amos was accused of violating federal laws regarding the handling of meat and poultry, and a federal court ordered Miller’s Organic Farm to comply with Pennsylvania’s applicable food codes and licensing requirements. In August 2023, Mr. Miller was found to be in violation of the applicable food codes, and he agreed to a consent degree, where he confirmed he was responsible for complying with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

On February 29, 2024, Americans from Pennsylvania rallied behind Amos Miller and his Organic Farm in front of the Lancaster County Courthouse. Miller’s Organic Farm has been providing traditional Amish Farm Foods to members of their private membership association for over a decade. Personal testimonials were read aloud at the rally, which demonstrated how Mr. Miller’s products were life-altering and, in many cases, life-saving for his loyal customers. Mr. Miller had a hearing later that afternoon to challenge an injunction that could put him out of business, which would hurt not only his family and business but his customers as well.

Around 11:35 AM,  many people were gathered in front of the Courthouse and along the sidewalk. It was an impressive turnout for a windy, winter, workday. I observed many Amish people congregating outside the Courthouse, mostly men who were sharply dressed and wearing traditional straw hats. Peggy Buhalo, president and co-founder of Patriots for Pennsylvania, organized this event and later told me at least 250 persons attended the rally. The crowd was well-behaved despite the admonishment of city police, who asked those gathered to leave a path open on the sidewalk and to stay off the street. It was difficult for Miller’s supporters to move about without being on the street or crossing to the opposite side to get a better view of the crowd.

Here are just a few signs that stood out: 

• Stand Against Tyranny
• Food Freedom
• My Food, My Choice
• Say NO! To adulterating our Organic Food 
• We Stand With Amos Miller – Government is Overstepping their Boundaries
• Toxic Government Food Inspectors – Allow Toxic Foods to be Sold – Miller Sells REAL FOOD
  
• Hey PDA [Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture] Support Food that Supports Health Not Frankenfoods that make us Sick!
• Bill of Rights Article IX and X – Rights and Powers Reserved to the People – Food Freedom
• Food Freedom for All – Life Liberty and Property

Before the hearing, people gathered outside the Courthouse to show support for Mr. Miller’s Organic Farm. Local farmers were handing out samples of their products, and people were discussing their concerns with the raid on Mr. Miller’s farm.

Around noon, the program officially began and included speeches from: Peggy Buhalo, Chris Hume of The Lancaster Patriot, Pastor Joel Saint, Sally Fallon Morrell, creator of realmilk.com, Morgan Phelps, who runs a raw milk business and was mentored by Amos Miller, Max Kane, a reporter for The Highwire, Sam Faddis, a leader of a PA Patriot Coalition, and “James”, a health coach who eats all of his food raw.  These speeches will be covered in Part 2 of the Amos Miller Series.

Around 1 PM, people started to enter the Courthouse to sit in on Mr. Miller’s hearing. Many people were unable to fit into the Courtroom, so they returned to the rally to listen to the customer testimonials. These testimonials will be covered in Part 3 of the Amos Miller Series.

If you would like to watch the Rally Supporting Amos Miller, check it out below:

You will be able to read about in Part 4 of the Amos Miller Series.

On March 1, 2024, the Court ended up ruling against Amos Miller in this case. His attorney, Robert Barnes, later stated that the Free America Law Center will support Amos Miller with his ongoing fight against the ruling.

This governmental overreach combined with the recent overreach to Covid pandemic is establishing a chilling pattern. Those who are concerned about government overreach understandably contend that government has established a pattern of crossing the line and violating long-established principles of freedom. Trust in experts and institutions has been violated. Broadly speaking, citizens routinely end up feeling violated rather than protected. As with with Covid, the belief is that lockdowns were about control not safety, and the stifling of early treatment was grounded in reckless ignorance, so it is with the emerging food freedom issue: regulated foods are often perceived as less healthy than the organic foods sold by famers like Amos Miller. This leads many citizens to choose to patronize businesses like Millers Organic Farm. Many others are planning to grow as much of their own food as they can.

For citizens who are interested helping with his defense, a Give Send Go campaign has been set up to help Amos Miller defend his right to continue selling his organic products. Stay tuned… the next parts of the Amos Miller Series will be released soon:

• Part 2: Rally Speeches
• Part 3: Customer Testimonials
• Part 4: Interview with the Food Freedom Rally organizer

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