I am so glad there are farmers like Mark Baker in this world.
Mark and his wife Jill own Baker’s Green Acres, a sustainable farm where, among other bio-diverse activities, the family of 10 raises heritage hogs called Mangalitsa, a special breed that produces a gourmet quality meat prized by high-end restaurants as well as health conscious consumers seeking nutrient dense, locally produced meat.
Mark and Jill started Baker’s Green Acres over 10 years ago when Mark retired after 20 years serving his country in the US Air Force. Unfortunately, the country he put his life on the line to protect turned on him as he sought life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as a quiet, peace loving farmer.
The problems started back in 2010 when the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) issued the Invasive Species Order (ISO), approved by the governor, which banned all heritage pigs. The DNR order is intentionally ambiguous in its description of what it calls “feral” pigs. Ambiguity renders power, essentially allowing the DNR to shut down any hog farmer it chooses.
Unbelievably, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources arrogantly labeled any pig living outside in the open air as “feral” and ordered owners of such pigs to destroy them.
Mark refused to comply and fought back by suing the DNR over the legality of the Invasive Species Order.
The lawsuit cost the family dearly. The DNR fined the Baker’s $700,000 ($10,000 for each of the 70 “illegal” pigs) and even impaired their ability to sell food from the farm – literally trying to starve them out and put them on the street with continued lawsuit delay tactics. At one point, the family endured having their power cut off.
Unwilling to back off, the Bakers courageously withstood the hardships to see their day in court surviving on donations from thousands of activists around the United States and the world, including many readers from this blog.
Apparently realizing it would get skewered in the court of public opinion, on February 26, 2014, the DNR reversed its position and suddenly the pigs the department sought to condemn were now legal.
Pete Kennedy, President of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund had this to say on the surprise reversal:
“DNR changed its position because it did not want a trial focusing on the merits of the Declaratory Ruling. For two years, DNR has said the Bakers’ pigs are illegal, then two weeks before trial, they say the pigs are okay. Why didn’t the state take this position two years ago? The state should compensate the Bakers for the losses it has caused the farm.”
With the pigs’ legality no longer in dispute, the judge assigned to the case granted the DNR’s motion to dismiss Baker’s lawsuit. While it is certainly great news that the Baker’s ordeal is now permanently over as the case was dismissed with prejudice, the golden opportunity to challenge the constitutionality of the ISO for the 2000+ other farmers in Michigan with heritage breed hogs was lost.
On a positive note, Mark Baker’s courageous stand against an overzealous, overreaching state bureaucracy is making waves beyond the borders of Michigan. In January 2014, the Indiana Board of Animal Health revised its regulation concerning the legality of wild hogs to specifically clarify that pigs raised on a farm did not apply.
In addition, Mark Baker’s determination has emboldened other farmers in Michigan. According to the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, which provided funding for Mark Baker’s legal representation in the case, a Marquette County judge is scheduled to rule on a challenge to the ISO from another farm within the next couple of weeks.
To donate to the worthy cause of supporting the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund which tirelessly defends farmers like Mark Baker each and every day to preserve the basic right of food freedom in the United States, please click here.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
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It’s sad to say that our country is not so much the “land of the free”! It appears that history is repeating itself! Our government is slowly turning into a tyranny! The main reason our own government was established over 238 years ago!
But then again freedom was never free for “certain people” to begin with!
But nonetheless it’s really sad that the people of Michigan can even grow their own food! Just horrible! 🙁
This “law” is hidden in pages at the back of some other bill pushed through late in the season while most of your elected representatives were either asleep or paid to go home : ( shameful
@Marilyn Kaye Muma-Reid It actually is about big Ag. The most heinous part of the RTF debacle is not even that small producers are now over-regulated. It is that big producers (CAFOs) are now self-regulated. They answer to no one, environmentally speaking, and that is terrifying and outrageous.
I am also in MI, and fighting a RTF case against my twp for the past 1.5 years with the help of the farm-to-consumer legal defense fund.
Shared!
YES. We need to get our freedom back. Food heals if they take my healthy food away then I am sick.
Still, it seems like it should be a local govt issue. Not a state govt issue. In KY we have ordinances like this in different towns and cities, but not if you live out in the country.
This is a completely different issue than the Right to Farm change. I am from Michigan and am landlocked a bit but am working to get some farm animals. I am zoned industrial/residential so this law won’t affect me at all but everything I have read about it shows that it really won’t be as big of a deal as it is being made out to be. And of course it was brought about by people taking things to extremes and being a nuisance with their “farming” efforts. All in all the law only keeps them from using the “right to farm” law as a defense if they get a complaint against them and many will STILL be grandfathered in. I am all about everyone becoming more self sustainable but I very much understand not wanting a bunch of farm animals in my neighbors backyard if our houses are very close together. I really would LIKE to blame this on big AG and say it is just the government trying to tell us what to do again but we have to remember that complaints from people have driven this to where it is.
How can this be??
What about Bob Red’s Mill?
Is it own by a corporation?
Good news for the Bakers, I’m sure they’re sleeping better. The should definitely get restitution from the state.
If back yard hogs were as common as back yard chickens, it would be a lot more difficult for them to be unfairly regulated. I know that not everyone wants to have a pig in the back yard but during WW II in England, pig clubs were formed where folks bought shares of a hog and raised it together. How about getting together with a few friends and getting a couple of feeder pigs? If you have an acre, imho 2 pigs wouldn’t even be noticed. (One pig would be lonely, they do better with a buddy.) The problems come when the pigs are permanent residents and they aren’t moved to clean ground often enough. Butcher pigs can be harvested at around 6-8 months. If you raise one group per year, everything should be fine.