Attorney Robert Barnes Says the USDA is an Embarrassment
Defense lawyer for the USDA vs. Amos Miller, an Amish organic farmer with a private membership of 4,000 people who want unadulterated products.
Miller’s Organic Farm, located in Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, offers 100% raw grass-fed and finished cow’s milk and dairy products, pastured meats and eggs, and other real farm foods to more than 4,000 members. Being a private association, they sell under private and not public resale standards.
They state that they sell “real nutrient dense foods, grown on our own farm and other surrounding Amish farms. All of our suppliers have the highest standards in regard to sustainability – for the land, the environment, and the health of the people who use their products.”
In 2019, the federal government started to impose searches of private farms. Miller’s farm was fined for not complying with USDA regulations and the court ordered six-figure fines and threats of imprisonment against Amos Miller. This is a harsh penalty for an organic farmer that has never caused any harm to anyone and works hard to deliver high-quality, natural foods.
Miller’s membership are people who want their food unadulterated by chemical additives, added hormones and antibiotics. They do not want their food controlled by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), or what it considers to be edible. The USDA representatives are not farmers, the department was originally set up to ensure proper content labeling. Barnes states in the following discussion with Viva Frei that the Amish are much healthier and have longer life spans because of their lifestyle and quality of their food.
In a 2023 Q&A on VivaBarnesLaw, Barnes described his recent visit to the Miller Farm. He said the food he was served there rivals, in quality and flavor, the top international restaurants that he has visited. He also commented on the calmness and excellent attention span of their children. There has never been any illness or legal action by any of Miller’s membership, and many of them are contributing to a fund to help with fines.
These types of cases will be important moving forward if we want to protect our ability to choose the food we believe is best for our own body and health of our families. Cases such as the Miller lawsuit may also help to lay a foundation for cases related to body autonomy in the future.
Following is a video update on the case starting at time stamp: 1:03:28.
((2023 UPDATE)) AMISH FARMER COURT VERDICT | United States v. Amos Miller's Organic Farm USDA