Posted: 12.21.2010
Initially, Shelly Mayer was apprehensive about a new opportunity.
In spring of 2010, Rod Nilsesteun called the dairy producer from Slinger and representative of the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin. He was putting together a balanced group of people to try and deal with the emotionally charged issue of raw milk. Mayer tells Pam Jahnke, "My initial reaction when the late ag secretary called me was, 'Oh my gosh, Rod - why on earth do you ask me to do this? Do you not like me?'" Nilsesteun proceeded to explain, and convince Mayer, that milk is a key component to Wisconsin's economy and society as a whole and that the industry needed to come together. Mayer was sold.
The 22 member panel that Nilsesteun pulled together was very balanced in Mayer's opinion. In fact it was so balanced, she wondered if they'd ever be able to come to concensus on anything. What she found most remarkable is that the individuals at the table really listened to what others had to say - really listened. "It didn't matter if they were opposed to their position - they listened."
Mayer said once the group got past focusing only on raw versus pasteurized - they were able to focus on the bigger issue of how to help consumers make intelligent decisions - and develop some oversight that farms which might sell the product could navigate.
In the interview with Jahnke, Mayer said she came to some interesting conclusions herself, as a dairy farmer and a parent. "I learned a lot about why people feel the way they do about the food they eat and why. I also was very proud of the dairy industry and how it wants to do what's best for the consumer - for the industry - for society. As a dairy producer, I just felt really good about milk and I felt good about the level of professionalism I saw."
Mayer tells Jahnke that now its up to Dr. Richard Barrows, retired professor from the Ag and Applied Economics department at the UW-Madison, and Elizabeth Kohl, policy advisor for the WI Department of Agriculture, to boil down all the content generated by the 'working group' into a final written report for others to use as they choose.
What's Mayer's greatest fear now that they've completed the work? "My greatest fear, and this more from a general prospectie from someone who produces milk for a living - is that we have all these systems in place like pasteurization that ensures that any bacteria that might get in milk is killed as a safeguard - kinda like a fire door. My fear is that if someone chooses to drink raw milk and there is a bacteria in there that my system might be able to tolerate but there's can't - that milk, which is so good for you, causes them something more then a belly ache." Mayer continues, "My other fear is that the consumer gets so confused by the discussion of pasteurized versus raw milk that they make the ultimate, probably silliest decision, and decide not to consume milk. That's really my greatest fear."
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