From raw milk to veterans working on farms, Rep. Schmid optimistic for agriculture bill

Raw milk is back on the legislative menu this session, with a majority of the House signing onto a farm bill that Westport Rep. Paul Schmid said would benefit legislative districts from the urban cores to the rolling pastures and forests far from Boston.  The Senate passed a similar bill 36-1 last year, and with more than 60 percent of the House already endorsing Schmid's bill, the horizon appears bright for an omnibus agriculture bill this session. The bill (HD 3144) would open up state parkland for use by farmer's markets and community gardens, help veterans deploy to the state's farm fields, and make it easier for dairy farmers to sell their milks sans pasteurization. "Everybody's district has a farmer's market these days, and everybody's concerned about locally raised food. They know it's healthier and it's probably raised with less of a cost on the environment," Schmid told the News Service. He said, "It's been, I'm told, more than 20 years since we did anything on a large basis for agriculture." Schmid's bill has the backing of 96 members of the House — a majority of the 160-seat body — and 10 senators. Spencer Democrat Sen. Anne Gobi filed similar legislation in the Senate, and co-sponsored Schmid's bill. Considered a delicacy in some quarters, raw milk has been viewed unfavorably by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which warned it might contain microorganisms causing vomiting, diarrhea, or flulike symptoms, which can be life-threatening for some.