UPDATE & CALL TO ACTION RE: SB639!
URGENT CALL TO ACTION REGARDING SB639
ACTION ALERT!
URGE THE 2 CHAIRS OF THE SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE TO REMOVE THE BAN ON PET MILK! THEY ARE MEETING TODAY AT 1PM!
PLEASE EMAIL AND CALL THEM BEFORE THEN!
Yesterday, North Carolina State Bill 639 was presented before the senate judiciary committee. Your calls and emails were heard and the language banning herdshares was removed! However, we are not out of the woods, yet! The language allowing raw milk for pet use was removed and now its unclear whether raw milk for pet use will be allowed at all! This means that the ability to buy your raw milk in stores and at markets is in jeopardy!!
CALL TO ACTION!
Today, at 1 pm, the Senate Finance Committee is meeting to review SB639 and then it will be heading to the Senate floor for a final vote.
CALL AND EMAIL the 2 chairs of the Senate Finance Committee and let them know that there has been no increase in risk as the sale of raw milk has increased. Could this be a market share issue and not a safety issue? Either way, we must educate them! Here are some great talking points when calling and emailing!
Raw milk is safe when properly handled
Farmers should have the right to sell it.
Consumers should have the right to buy it freely.
A personal testimony will go a long way, too! If you have one, please share it!
Who to contact:
Phone: (919) 733-5870
Email: David.Craven@ncleg.gov
AND
Phone: (919) 733-5953
Email: Tom.McInnis@ncleg.gov
Thank you for all your support and we so appreciate the ability to serve you and your family!!
Please see the email from the Farm to Consumer Defense Fund for more info below:
Dear Friend,
North Carolina Senate Bill 639, “The North Carolina Farm Act of 2025," was presented at a hearing today in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Act seeks to impact agriculture in the state in a number of ways, some good, others problematic. Review the bill in its entirety to assess how the various proposals might impact you, other area producers, and your communities.
They key section of the bill that we’re addressing in this alert is the potential ban on raw milk distribution, including via herd share arrangements. While the language seeking to ban herd shares was removed after today’s hearing, we’re not out of the woods yet as the matter has been referred to the Agriculture and Forestry Awareness Study Commission (the “Commission”) for further analysis.
It appears that the Commission has been tasked with reporting its findings before the 2026 legislative session, so we do not expect this effort to progress any further in the current session. But there is much work to be done in the intervening months to defeat it! See more on that below.
You can access the latest version of the Farm Act here to view today’s revisions. Additionally, you can access the language referring the matter for further study by the Commission here.
Note, also, that today’s hearing also resulted in the removal from current law of the language that allowed the sale of raw milk for pet food, subject to certain labelling. See subsection (b) here. We are still analyzing this outcome so it’s not yet clear whether there is now a proposal to ban the sales of raw milk for pet food, or whether the law simply no longer addresses it.
TAKE ACTION
Action Step 1
The Commission tasked with studying raw milk herd shares and retail sales seeks input from all stakeholders, including “dairy farmers, raw milk advocates, and any other stakeholders” deemed necessary.
Now is the time to organize; form coalitions; call, email, visit or otherwise contact members of the Commission and your legislators and tell them they must continue to support the distribution of raw milk via herd share agreements.
Currently, North Carolina law explicitly allows the distribution of raw milk under herd share agreements to consumers who choose this product as the best option for them and their families.
Tell your legislators to leave the current law alone and to fight for the continued distribution of raw milk via herd shares.
Find members of the Agriculture and Forestry Awareness Study Commission here. Note that the site suggests the list may not be current. We will let you know if we get confirmation of the current Commission members.
Find your representatives here.
We will be back in touch when we learn more about today’s outcome. In the meantime, get to work on building an advocacy campaign and spread the word! Send this Action Alert email to your friends, families, and customer list and share with them how important this is for you, your families, your communities and all farms and dairy producers in North Carolina.
Action Step 2
Spread the word! Send this Action Alert email to your friends, families, and customer list.
TALKING POINTS
1. Passage of a ban on raw milk herd shares would harm family farmers’ ability to make a better living. Raw milk is often the product that first draws consumers to a farm, can increase overall farm sales, and help small farms remain viable and in operation.
2. The proposed raw milk herd share ban would decrease consumer freedom of choice by preventing the distribution of raw milk to consumers who want it, have educated themselves about the benefits, and have had the freedom to choose the best food for their families.
3. The proposed raw milk herd share ban would prevent small, independent, dairy farms from making a better living by decreasing the products they can sell that consumers want.
4. The proposed raw milk herd share ban would decrease locally-produced foods consumers can obtain and cause a drop in the amount of food dollars that are kept in local North Carolina communities.
5. Herd share arrangements have been successfully operating for years in North Carolina and consumers should be allowed to continue to benefit and have the freedom to obtain the foods of their choosing and to support local farms.
Taking action serves to increase Food Freedom!
Please join us and spread the word about the importance of fair food and farming legislation.
Tell Senate Committee to Remove Sections 19 & 20 from SB 639
Stop Raw Milk Ban and Pesticide Manufacturer Immunity in NC Farm Bill
One of the more disastrous food and agriculture bills in memory, Senate Bill 639 (SB 639), North Carolina Farm Act of 2025, is on the fast track to pass out of the North Carolina legislature.
SB 639 passed out of the Senate Agriculture Committee last week and will have a hearing before the Senate Judiciary on May 6 at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday in 544 LOB.
The bill bans herdshare agreements which have been legal under state statute for seven years; herdshares are the only way currently to legally distribute raw milk for human consumption in North Carolina. The herdshare ban is in SB 639 Section 20 ("Repeal the Dispensing of Raw Milk and Raw Milk Products for Personal Use and Consumption”). A proponent of the ban recently made the following statement about raw milk, "We've been playing Russian roulette with one bullet in the chamber with these other pathogens, but when you add [bird flu] into the mix, we put two more bullets into that chamber." Bird flu is a respiratory, not gastrointestinal, illness (i.e., the mode of transmission is the respiratory tract, not the digestive tract); there is no evidence that bird flu in raw milk or any other food has ever made anyone sick.
In addition to the herdshare ban, Section 19 ("Limit Liability for FIFRA-Compliant Labeling") of SB 639, in effect, gives pesticide manufacturers complete immunity from liability if a pesticide bears a label approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is registered by the North Carolina Pesticide Board. There is a clause in Section 19 that gives an injured party the right to sue if it can rebut the presumption of safety that the label approval was based on, but that protection is hollow and of little force and effect.
A big show of opposition to the bill is needed. SB 639 has a deadline of Thursday, May 8th to pass out of the Senate. Your participation is crucial in removing Sections 19 and 20 from the bill.
ACTION TO TAKE
1. Call and email the Senate Judiciary Committee members asking them to amend SB 639 by removing Section 19 and Section 20. Calls are best, but please do both; it's especially important if you are a member's constituent. A list of committee members is at the end of this alert.
You may copy/paste the following block of addresses to email all committee members:
Bob.Brinson@ncleg.gov; David.Craven@ncleg.gov; Warren.Daniel@ncleg.gov; Amy.Galey@ncleg.gov; Michael.Lazzara@ncleg.gov; Michael.Lee@ncleg.gov; Chris.Measmer@ncleg.gov; Buck.Newton@ncleg.gov; Brad.Overcash@ncleg.gov; Norman.Sanderson@ncleg.gov; Benton.Sawrey@ncleg.gov; Sydney.Batch@ncleg.gov; Dan.Blue@ncleg.gov; Sophia.Chitlik@ncleg.gov; Terence.Everitt@ncleg.gov; Lisa.Grafstein@ncleg.gov; Mujtaba.Mohammed@ncleg.gov
2. Attend the hearing on May 6 at 11:00 a.m. in 544 LOB. Be prepared to testify if the committee chair allows it. For directions and parking details, go to Visitor Info for the Legislative Office Building (LOB) located at 300 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, NC 27603.
TALKING POINTS for Section 20 (Repeal the Dispensing of Raw Milk and Raw Milk Products for Personal Use and Consumption)
1. The legislature should be protecting your freedom of choice to obtain the foods you believe best for the health of you and your family, not taking that right away. There is zero evidence that bird flu will increase the risk of illness from raw milk consumption. Bird flu is transmitted through the respiratory tract; it is not gastrointestinal disease transmitted through the digestive tract; there are no cases of illness from bird flu in raw milk or any other food.
2. Raw milk has a good track record for safety; as far as is known, there have been no cases of foodorve illness attributed to raw milk producers operating under the NC herdshare law.
3. The herdshare law improves the ability of farmers to make a living. For diversified farms, raw milk can be a gateway to sales of other farm products like meat, poultry, eggs and produce.
4. The herd share law keeps more of the food dollar in the community, and fewer people will go to South Carolina to get their raw milk.
TALKING POINTS for Section 19 (Limit Liability for FIFRA-Compliant Labeling)
1. North Carolina residents should have the right to get compensation against pesticide manufacturers for injuries caused by their products.
2. Products like glyphosate do not have a warning about cancer, despite many studies concluding that glyphosate is a carcinogen--an example of why reliance on EPA-approved labels provides inadequate protection.
3. Costs for injuries or illness caused by pesticide exposure can last a lifetime, potentially bankrupting affected individuals. Why should companies like Bayer and ChemChina each with over $100 billion in assets not have to pay compensation for injuries their products have caused? Companies should be held liable for injuries or damage their products cause.
4. An EPA-approved label is not a guarantee of safety or accuracy. Section 19 makes the approved label a complete shield against lawsuits related to the duty to warn even if the label is misleading, outdated, or based on faulty data. The EPA does not independently test pesticides; it simply reviews data submitted by the manufacturer who profits from the product and controls what is submitted.
5. Lawsuits are necessary protections for the public. Labels can contain incorrect data, outdated risk information, vague or misleading instructions, or even deliberate omissions. State-level tort claims can be the only way to force corrections and protect public health..
WAPF will issue further alerts on SB 639 as events warrant.
COMMITTEE CONTACT INFO
Email and phone number for each Senate Judiciary Committee member, especially if you are a constituent of a member. To find out who represents you, enter your street address at
https://www.ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators
NC Sen. Bob Brinson (R-NC-003)
(919) 733-5621
NC Sen. David "Dave" Craven (R-NC-029)
(919) 733-5870
NC Sen. Warren Daniel (R-NC-046)
(919) 715-7823
NC Sen. Amy Galey (R-NC-025)
(919) 301-1446
NC Sen. Michael Lazzara (R-NC-006)
(919) 715-3034
NC Sen. Michael Lee (R-NC-007)
(919) 715-2525
NC Sen. Chris Measmer (R-NC-034)
(919) 733-7223
NC Sen. Buck Newton (R-NC-004)
(919) 733-5878
NC Sen. Brad Overcash (R-NC-043)
(919) 733-5734
NC Sen. Norman Sanderson (R-NC-002)
(919) 733-5706
NC Sen. Benton Sawrey (R-NC-010)
(919) 715-3040
NC Sen. Sydney Batch (D-NC-017)
(919) 733-5653
NC Sen. Dan Blue (D-NC-014)
(919) 733-5752
NC Sen. Sophia Chitlik (D-NC-022)
(919) 733-4809
NC Sen. Terence Everitt (D-NC-018)
(919) 733-5850
NC Sen. Lisa Grafstein (D-NC-013)
(919) 733-9349
NC Sen. Mujtaba Mohammed (D-NC-038)
(919) 733-5955
LINKS
SB 639 -
https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2025/S639
Senate Judiciary Committee -
https://www.ncleg.gov/Committees/CommitteeInfo/SenateStanding/147
Find your legislators -
https://www.ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators
Visitor Info -