Organ­ic farmer receives court vic­to­ry, but case will like­ly esca­late to high­er courts

A Penn­syl­va­nia Amish farmer earned a court vic­to­ry in Penn­syl­va­nia Depart­ment of Agri­cul­ture v. Amos and Rebec­ca Miller. How­ev­er, the win could be short-lived, and this case could esca­late all the way to the Supreme Court.
“Do we get to con­trol our food and decide what goes into our body or does the gov­ern­ment,” asked Robert Barnes, Miller’s attor­ney. “That ques­tion is a ques­tion that the Supreme Court, soon­er or lat­er, will like­ly need to answer.”

Organ­ic Farmer receives a vic­to­ry in court against the Penn­syl­va­nia Depart­ment of Agri­cul­ture.

The Penn­syl­va­nia Depart­ment of Agri­cul­ture has been at war with Miller’s farm for eight years. Ear­li­er this year, it con­duct­ed a raid at his Bird-in-Hand-based farm. In addi­tion to a law­suit, an injunc­tion was placed against Miller, so he was unau­tho­rized to sell his raw dairy prod­ucts to the pub­lic. Accord­ing to Barnes, Miller wasn’t even allowed to give it to his own fam­i­ly.
“This is an extra­or­di­nary pow­er grab,” Barnes said. “The state of Penn­syl­va­nia wants the judge to put into the law that you can’t even dis­trib­ute food, mean­ing you can’t dis­trib­ute it for char­i­ta­ble pur­pos­es. You can’t dis­trib­ute it to y …