Are Lease Arrangements the Right Thing?

[Guest guest]

Aajonus Vonderplanitz has done some wonderful things with his lease

arrangements, and his innovation, courage and persistence are truly admirable.

But I would like to offer another viewpoint on what is now being touted as a

cure-all for our raw milk woes.

I think these leases will end up being a game of cat and mouse. The farmers are

safe hiding there for awhile, but sooner or later the highly motivated

government will find a way to get them, even if it means changing laws, all in

the name of " the public interest " , of course.

These lease arrangements also do not address our fundamental right to produce,

sell, and purchase legal products. In fact, they almost seems like a concession

that we don't have that right. Instead, each individual has to own everything

and just pay someone else to help out with the labor.

Also, what do lease arrangements do, psychologically, for the farmer? These may

be very appealing and a great solution for someone who's main goal it is to be

on a farm milking cows every day. If so, by all means, do it. But, and this

may come as a surprise, many dairy farmers are creative, innovative business

people that have long-term goals for improving their herd, improving the milking

methods, making new products, etc. These generally require ownership to be

effectively accomplished, and a person like this is also motivated by full

ownership and full responsibility. A leased out dream can fizzle pretty

quickly.

Lastly, remember the notion of private property? I'm sure that not every one

likes the idea of leasing out their hard-earned property and beloved cows. Do

you want to lease out your home and your pets to keep the government out of your

hair?

While I applaud people for doing lease arrangements when it is mutually

beneficial, I don't think these should be viewed as the true answer to our

problems.

Sheri

[Guest guest]

_____

From: aajonus [mailto:optimal@...]

Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 8:56 PM

Sheri Giachetto

Subject: Re: Are Lease Arrangements the Right Thing?

Hi, Sheri,

My lease programs are designed to protect not only the farmer but the consumer.

Yes, we should have the right to grow

and eat whatever we want but we are not in the rational times of years ago. We

are in Nazi-like times when

government-individuals want to control everything for their own and corporate

friends benefits. All of your ideals are

valid but not pertinent to the present situation. We are all fighting for our

rights for everything everywhere in the

world. Multinational companies are fighting for their right to rule the world.

They have a lot more money and board

members who are willing to spend whatever it takes.

I and several others are about to engage in a legal battle that will challenge

governments depriving us of basic

rights/choices. However, I cannot fight for our rights without help. I do not

have the financial resources to engage in

such a legal battle. I pled for donations and 60 people gave a total of $27,000.

That is not enough to bandstand a legal

attack much less win one. How much did you donate to help me protect your

rights?

While we are defending our rights, do you want to have access to the healthy

foods that my lease agreements afford? Do

you want farmers to lose their land and livelihood rather than be much safer

under a lease agreement? Do you want to

lose access to healthy food? Of course you don't. Your house analogy did not

complete the question, which logically

would have been; Do you want to lease out your home and pets with complete

freedom to live in it and with them, and

function freely with the only restriction that you have to feed your pets

organic foods to keep the government from

taking it all?

healthfully,

aajonus

Sheri Giachetto wrote:

Dear Aajonus,

I thought you may want to respond to this email which was posted on my Trad

Foods list.

God bless you.

In ,

Sheri

_____

From: [mailto: ] On

Behalf Of sherimiller42

Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 1:13 PM

Subject: Are Lease Arrangements the Right Thing?

Aajonus Vonderplanitz has done some wonderful things with his lease

arrangements, and his innovation, courage and

persistence are truly admirable. But I would like to offer another viewpoint on

what is now being touted as a cure-all

for our raw milk woes.

I think these leases will end up being a game of cat and mouse. The farmers are

safe hiding there for awhile, but sooner

or later the highly motivated government will find a way to get them, even if it

means changing laws, all in the name of

" the public interest " , of course.

These lease arrangements also do not address our fundamental right to produce,

sell, and purchase legal products. In

fact, they almost seems like a concession that we don't have that right.

Instead, each individual has to own everything

and just pay someone else to help out with the labor.

Also, what do lease arrangements do, psychologically, for the farmer? These may

be very appealing and a great solution

for someone who's main goal it is to be on a farm milking cows every day. If so,

by all means, do it. But, and this may

come as a surprise, many dairy farmers are creative, innovative business people

that have long-term goals for improving

their herd, improving the milking methods, making new products, etc. These

generally require ownership to be effectively

accomplished, and a person like this is also motivated by full ownership and

full responsibility. A leased out dream can

fizzle pretty quickly.

Lastly, remember the notion of private property? I'm sure that not every one

likes the idea of leasing out their

hard-earned property and beloved cows. Do you want to lease out your home and

your pets to keep the government out of

your hair?

While I applaud people for doing lease arrangements when it is mutually

beneficial, I don't think these should be viewed

as the true answer to our problems.

Sheri

[Guest guest]

I don't know if the lease arrangements Aajonus Vonderplanitz is offering are

going to be long lasting but for right now they seem to have helped some farmers

stay in the biz and avoid the costly legal crap. That WILL put any of us out of

farming overnight. Motions can be filed, lawyers hired, etc., but the critters

need to be fed if we are going to keep them.

I do milk shares and CSA's and they seem to work out well for me and the people

who own them--I think we are up to 12 share holders on this list alone as well

as a few CSA's here too. I don't feel as tho my hard work is for nothing as I

have a customer base I can meet and have ideas from, what works, what they would

like different/improved, added, etc. It makes for nice conversation and a way

to look at the operation from other peoples eyes.

One thing tho, I forget the amount of the milk IMPORTED to the US each year but

it is quite high and coming from India or China or Brazil is not something I

like. A fellow raw milk producer brought up that she is VERY AGAINST legalizing

the sale of raw milk in this country because we would then have to allow it to

be imported. I have not had a chance to look into this thought more but I can

not think of a single produce/meat/dairy product that is exclusive to the US

only and barring any importing of it. I often wondered where Wal Mart got their

cheap milk, it does not have any country of origin listed on the carton but it

makes ya wonder!

For now I guess we just have to search out as much food as possible from sources

we (the individual) likes. Stay in contact with your farmer(s) and if you want

something that they don't provide they might know who does so just ask!