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RAWMI Annual Report for 2023-24

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The Raw Milk Institute (RAWMI) is on a mission to improve the safety and quality of raw milk and raw milk products through farmer training, rigorous raw milk standards, raw milk research, and improving consumer education.

In 2023, RAWMI was awarded a 5th grant for $45k from the Regenerative Agriculture Foundation (RAF) to further our work. RAWMI matches an economic benefit of stewardship of pastures and soils to high value raw dairy products for consumers. Safe raw milk from pastured cows can sustain the farm financially while the grazing improves the soils.

With the 5th grant from RAF, RAWMI was able to accomplish much towards the overall goal of universal access to safe raw milk. Over the last year, RAWMI accomplished the following.

Farmer Training and Mentoring

  • Trained over 150 farmers, legislators, university professors, and consumers on raw milk benefits and risk management

  • Prepared and presented an intensive full day World Class, Low-Risk Raw Milk training course for farmers in conjunction with Northeast Texas Community College in Mount Pleasant, Texas

  • Prepared and presented a 1.5-hour Thriving with Raw Milk webinar for farmers in conjunction with Iowa State University in support of Iowa’s recent legalization of raw milk

  • Prepared and presented a 2-day intensive Raw Milk Risk Management training course in Oregon in conjunction with Cast Iron Farm and Godspeed Hollow

  • Prepared and presented a 1-hour talk about The Quest for Raw Milk from Grass to Glass in conjunction with Dairy Day at Holcombe-Jimison Farmstead Museum in New Jersey

  • Prepared and presented a 1-hour talk about The Return of a Nourishing Tradition at Ringoes Grange in New Jersey

  • Prepared and presented a 1-hour Got Raw Milk? discussion at University of North Carolina School of Law in conjunction with the Conservation and Agricultural Law Foundation

  • LISTED eleven new farms who each went through the process of developing an individualized Risk Assessment and Management Plan (RAMP) for managing the health and hygiene of their unique farms

    • Fiat Farm in Bethel, Minnesota

    • Hillside Springs Homestead in Poultney, Vermont

    • ACM Grace Hill in Washington, Iowa

    • Flowered Cow Dairy in Penfield, Illinois

    • LanaRosa Dairy in Leicester, New York

    • Shady Paddock Farm in Paige, Texas

    • The Lucky Star in Iowa City, Iowa

    • Whispering Willows Farm and Dairy in Thompson’s Station, Tennessee

    • Lomah Texas in Dallas-Fort Worth area

    • Anonymous Goat Dairy in British Columbia, Canada

    • Chapman Family Farms & Dairy in Morrill, Nebraska

  • Served as the raw milk hotline for farmers in need across the USA and Canada

  • Provided one-on-one mentoring in the production of low-risk raw milk to over 50 additional farms in California, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, British Columbia Canada, New Brunswick Canada, Quebec Canada, and Portugal

  • Hosted quarterly meetings for LISTED farmers, which allow the farmers to stay up-to-date on the latest lessons learned for safe raw milk

 Raw Milk Research

  • Amassed hundreds of raw milk test data from RAWMI LISTED farms 

  • Attended the International Milk Genomics Consortium Conference

  • Worked with researchers from Spectacular Labs and Kraken Labs who are developing on-farm technology for pathogen testing 

Education for Raw Milk Legalization

  • Developed raw milk legalization policy brief as a resource for legislators, policy makers, and legalization advocates

  • Worked towards increased legal access to raw milk in Wisconsin, Delaware, Louisiana, Minnesota, South Africa, and Canada (with Canadian Artisan Dairy Alliance)

  • Successfully advocated for legalization of raw milk in Iowa and Albuquerque, New Mexico

 Raw Milk Educational Materials

  • Published 9 content pieces on the RAWMI website

    • Managing Pathogen Risks from Fresh Cows and Does

    • Iowa: The Path to Legalization of Raw Milk

    • Managing the Increased Risks of Calf-Sharing on Raw Milk Farms

    • Texas Raw Milk Training: for World-Class, Low-Risk Raw Milk

    • New Raw Milk Research from the 2023 IMGC Symposium

    • Albuquerque New Mexico: Another Victory for Raw Milk Legalization

    • New Raw Milk Research: Suppression of Pathogens in Properly Refrigerated Raw Milk

    • FDA Demonstrates Bias Against Raw Milk in Unfounded Raw Cheese Recall

    • Avian Flu and Raw Milk – A Common Sense Approach

  • Published Farmers Can Thrive in the Emerging Raw Milk Market in The Natural Farmer Newspaper

  • Continued work on an extensive book about raw milk risk management

  • Wrote a 40+ page introductory training booklet for farmers titled Essential Principles for Low-Risk Raw Milk

 Supporting Testing for Low-Risk Raw Milk

  • Provided on-farm lab sponsorships to 11 farms

    • Flat Creek Acres in Montana

    • 57 Farm Store in Wisconsin

    • Flowered Cow Dairy in Illinois

    • Shady Paddock Farm in Texas

    • Lomah Texas in in Texas

    • Lucky Star Farm in Iowa

    • ACM Grace Hill in Iowa

    • Chapman Family Farms in Nebraska

    • Towering Oaks Farm in North Carolina

    • Anonymous farm in British Columbia Canada

    • Raising Arrows in Nebraska