The Highwire with Del Bigtree - THE AMISH FARMER FACING JAIL TIME

Episode Date: September 5, 2022

Amish farmer, Amos Miller, has faced an over 6 year legal battle and over $300,000 in fees and jail time from the USDA for processing and distributing food from his own farm. Del speaks to Amos exclusively about why he’s being made an example and how he’s fighting back.#AmosMiller #USDA #RawMilkBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-highwire-with-del-bigtree--3620606/support.

For those of you watching, if you've been watching from the beginning, we've been very heavy into drugs and vaccines, especially. And, you know, I think we've made ourselves famous as really having predicted where all of these vaccine issues were going to be. We knew the vaccine wasn't going to work. But our mission statement is dedicated to eradicating man-made disease. And it comes in many forms, whether it's the air we breathe, the water we drink, but certainly the food we eat. For some people, food is medicine. There are people that really are so specific out where their food comes from

because they're not taking vitamins. They're not taking other supplements. They want sort of that world that, if you watch the interviews I've had with Zach Bush, where there are farms with real nutrients in the ground that haven't been killed by pesticides and herbicides, where when the cows eat from that, they're getting the real nutrients.

When the herbs and the vegetables are grown in that earth, you are getting all the vitamins out of that food. There are people that are dedicated. this to supporting the farmers that are keeping these farmers alive with healthy soil and bacteria in that soil and all the minerals it takes to survive so we wouldn't need vitamins. Can you imagine such a world like the one like our grandparents grew up in and maybe our parents? And can you imagine if one of these farmers that's, you know, really showing the world how this can be done with one of the most immaculate and beautiful utopian farms there is where the soil is rich and

feeding his fruits and vegetables and feeding his animals so that it goes on to feed those that are buying from him. Can you imagine if that approach to farming was illegal? Well, it appears that that is what the USGA is attempting. They're attempting to attack especially one farmer that is being used as the example against them all. I'm talking about Amos Miller and he got pretty popular in the news this week for hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and a threat of going to jail for growing beautiful organic foods. This is what that story looked like in the news. A Lancaster County farmer facing fines and could possibly go to jail for repeatedly violating food safety laws. The government is arguing that the farm isn't adhering to federal regulatory requirements

concerning food, while the farm argues that this is just the latest attack on independent farmers giving their communities healthy food. You have this back and forth between the giant empire of the U.S. federal government and this tiny little farm in Burdenham, Pennsylvania. Amos Miller lives quietly, raising cows, chickens, sheep, and camels. He sells the unprocessed meat and dairy products to a private association. Prosecutors condemn his, quote, singular, historic willingness to flout democratically enacted federal food safety laws. The USDA's job is to make sure that the meat and poultry that ends up in your fridge

is safe, wholesome, and correctly packaged and labeled. But Miller says the inspection process inherently makes these foods unhealthier. They want to use Amos as an example to make sure that other farmers, especially farmers in this area, do not try to do what Amos has done, which is to sell directly to the customers. They're coming after an independent, successful farmer who takes out the government middlemen and provides food directly to his community.

Really a story, I think, of a small farmer up against a Goliath machine, in this case, the USDA and the U.S. government, has been making headlines. And I want to state right up front that my family actually is a part of a food co-op where we have food delivered to us, including raw milk, raw cheese, different meat products from Amish farms up in Pennsylvania. because I and my family and those in this co-op see food, not just as something we eat to fill our stomachs, but we actually see food as medicine, which is why this story is very important to me, and I want to explain to you, I do have a bias. You should know that when I have this conversation.

Now, though this has been making headlines due to Amish philosophy or the religious beliefs, if you will, Amos has not been doing television interviews, but he did agree to join us at this moment. moment by phone from his farm in the middle of his very busy day. So I'm honored right now to be joined by Amos Miller. Amos, first of all, how are you doing today? And thank you for joining us. Sure. I'm doing fine. It's a present day here in Pennsylvania. God is good. All right. God is good indeed. As I had just expressed, we order food because of how you raise it, how you treat that food.

but for those that are unaware of the difference between, you know, conventional, big agricultural farming and how it's done on your farm, what would you say is the difference in how you're raising your cattle? Well, we like to access to fresh air, green grass, and they also get the special herbs that God created. We don't like to seed new seeds every year. Rather, we just want to supply what nature. Here now and then, we do seed a little bit of clover. But if you don't, till the soil are too hard on it, basically all those have medicinal reasons for the cow.

And if they produce food, give milk from those forages they are eating, that basically that nutrition content grows in the milk that you want to consume for your own medicinal health. So you see the earth is providing what your cattle need to be eating. these fresh herbs and these different medicinal features that take care of your cows versus just, you're not just pouring corn in a grain bin in the middle of some dirt field in the middle of nowhere with cows living on top of each other in many ways, you know, living in their own filth. Your experience in the way your cattle are raised is much different.

Do you think as we are concerned about things like E. coli or Listeria or these types of, you know, problems in food. Do you think that some of that is the product of that sort of industrialized farming practice that maybe your cows are less vulnerable to those things? Is that a thought of yours? Yes, indeed. That's correct. Okay. And so now you have been, you know, really, I don't know if under attack is the right word, have been under investigation in dealing with the USDA for over six years, multiple accusations, large fines currently are dealing with, I think, over $300,000 in fines. What is the USDA telling you you're doing wrong for those of us that don't understand what this argument is about? That's a good question. Being someone had complained

about our products that they got hurt or got sick or nobody has complained. to them about our rather they are trying to make a statement that they're doing is to keep the food supply safe. Well, that's a good question. Is the food supply safe means the cancer, diabetes, heart problems have skyrocketed the past few years. So I don't think that has very much standing. The reason people come to us is because they trust the source. They like the idea of cows going out on grass, eating these special herbs.

and they believe our products are extremely nutrient dense for those reasons. So that's the reason that members coming direct to the farm. And so in some ways, do you feel that you're just being, in one of the interviews, there was a local journalist that said that they're just making an example of you to scare all the other Amish farmers around you from thinking that you should be growing food this way and presenting it to customers. Do you think they're making an example of you? Yes, they are indeed.

Well, that's a huge responsibility. Now, when it comes to the USDA, where is it that they want to intervene? My understanding is that the issue comes with the fact that you're not using their processing plants, that you are butchering your cattle yourself and delivering your product directly to the consumers and taking out that middleman,

which is a USDA-based packaging. Do I have a clear understanding of what's going on here? Yeah, one to get USDA federal inspected. And with that plan, you have to have an intervention plan in place and either apply citric acid or bleach or you have to use possibly some steam, anything to prohibit the bacteria from growing. And our membership base, they want their meat, meat, no preservatives, no intervention plan on them.

They just want to clean raw meat. They believe that using those treatments, especially bleats and citric acid, is basically more harmful to them than a small amount of bacteria is. We have another option of going to other USDA facility plants, but they are pre-booked. There's not many of them around because the rules and regulations are so difficult to come by. It's almost impossible to comply with them and stay in business. I understand. And just to be clear, because I think this is something that a lot of the people in our audience understand, you have basically a private membership association, correct?

They are members of this food club, let's say. And so in many ways, was your understanding that that then sort of takes you out of the usual food system where the USDA is involved because people like myself are becoming members with your farm and your products because we want that direct delivery from the farmer for the reasons you've said. And let me be clear. And this is going to be, we're going to get into also, I have a guest coming up, Max Kane, to discuss how there is a belief in many of us that the bacteria that's in the meats and in the foods is actually a part of the medicinal value that it has in our bodies and that going to these plants and using these chemicals wipes it out. I'll tell you, for me, it would make a difference if I know that

it's not coming from your farm, but it's going through a processing plant where they're putting all the chemicals and things to kill the bacteria, then that sort of would undermine the reason I'd be going to you as a farmer. Did you think that that private membership was sort of a protection around that since we are making a contract directly with you that? But that should have, you know, sort of put aside what the government sees as, you know, a problem for consumers. This isn't just any consumer in a store. We are making a choice to go to you for your food products. So tell me about the private membership and how you thought it was going to protect you.

To the First or 14th Amendment, we have a private right to contract, if I'm not mistaken. And me and the consumer agrees that we don't, they won't hold me a response. possible if they do get sick and they won't hold against the government. And plus they have educated themselves and they want to take their health in their own hands and not have someone else tell them what they should and should not eat. I mean, I agree with not trying to harm your body by having lots of alcohol and that should be regulated if it destroys your mind. But if they have educated themselves that they want nutrient dense, they should

have that right to help fulfill their needs to build the temple that God has created within them then to serve him better. I agree. You know, I know that part of, you know, the Amish experience, I've had the opportunity to visit farms, you know, through some of the work that I've done. And there's a real desire to just be left alone, obviously, to not have too much influence from our high-tech world where I think in many ways we have gone mad. We, have a really a skewed value system that is leaving our family behind, is leaving our faith behind. And so I know that it's even difficult for you to sort of appear here because it goes against that desire to just be left alone and to do things the way that you've done it for generations.

And to be clear, how many generations in your family have been farming using these techniques? Oh, we at least three, maybe five generations. Wow. And so as you find yourself in this situation where the whole goal really is to just raise your children and your families in these natural places, not really dealing with governments and things like that. And now you're facing my understanding next month. You could potentially go to jail for some accusation of contempt of court. How do you see? How do you see? your place in this as it's almost as though you're being torn out of that form and forced into the public eye when that's the exact opposite of what you want is you know where it where's your sense of your uh responsibility here well i have i have a story to tell from my grandfather um my grandfather back in the 1950s 1960s he took the stand of not sending his last the eighth grade for a couple of reasons.

One is that he wanted to keep them on the farm and learn from him, also to keep them away from the outside world of views. So he actually was, and he took the stand, and I'm so grateful that he did at that time, because now today we have the opportunity of sending our children to the private school due to a U.S. Supreme Court in Wisconsin made that ruling that we should have that private, we should have that option. So we're very grateful that he took the stand, and it helps to keep family farms alive,

and it's so important that we learn our children how to be farmers. So just to be clear, we're having some issue, obviously, with the technology, ironically, with your phone, of there, but if I understand this, your grandfather back in the 1960s took the stand because he was fighting to be able to keep the families on the farm and not go off to school in eighth grade. And because he stood that ground, Wisconsin had a ruling that sort of made that possible so that your farms and your families could stay together the way you wanted them to. Is that, did I hear that correctly? That's correct. Okay. And so then it runs in your family to stand up for what you believe in.

Now, these fines seem astronomical, you know, $300,000 fine. And my understanding is part of that fine is, you know, the fine for not adhering to the government. But am I to understand they're also charging you for the hours that is spent by the FBI or the agents that are in sort of investigating your farm? they're making you pay for those agents that are having to visit your farm. Is that correct? That's correct, yes. They want me to pay for their time for being on the farm and trying to do their investigation. Okay, so I just want to put it out there to our audience that these fines are being levied.

And folks, if they get away of this, if our government gets away with this and they're able to shut Amos down, then they shut down an entire way of life. in which people like myself, maybe not you, it doesn't have to distribute, there's a free country. You don't have to live the way that I do, but this really is important to those of us that want food sources that are not being contaminated by industrial farming. And so right now, you have been such an active audience. Even, you know, when we had Maddie on just a couple of weeks ago, incredible job helping her out. I want to be thankful to you. But right now, let's help Amos Miller out. Let's help them with these fines and show the government that we're going to stand behind farmers that are simply doing what's right, raising their animals in a beautiful environment.

This is the Gibbs and Go, I want to thank Gibson Go for making these opportunities available to people like Amos. But please, whatever you can, every dollar, you know, $5, if you're affluent, you can really help out here. I think this is such an important cause. It may just be one farm and one farmer right now, but as the saying goes, as Amos goes, so go the rest. And this could be the end of organic farming truly as we know it, because this is the truest form of organic farming. I could not be more emphatic about our need to support Amos right now.

Amos, what is your plan going forward? Is this, I mean, are you contemplative? sort of giving in and just running your food through these packaging plants where they're going to put chemicals, or will you just shut down the membership organization or are you just going to keep fighting no matter what happens? What are the conversations you're having with your family right now? Our goal is to stay in business. So as of now, the way things are going, we might have to take our animals to the USDA plant. But at the same time, we want to encourage the whole nation to contact the congressmen, senators, to change the laws.

So as farmers can be farmers. If you want food, it will be up to you to get active in changing the laws. Prime Act is one that would really help us farmers to stay in business and to slaughter on our farm. The Farm Act. If we move that forward, that would be great. Okay, well, then you've given us our marching orders is what we can do is to, citizens is to support that. And so once again, if you're watching the show for the first time, all the details, the links to Farm Act and others will be here and sent to you. By the way,

if you're watching the show and you're not a part of our newsletter, please get on our newsletter. Just sign up at the highwire.com. Just scroll down the page and go ahead and sign up there so that you can get directly involved. That's what the High Wire is all about. Amos, I know, you know, It's a petition that we would like to have everyone sign if possible. Rebel News has that. Okay. You know how to get a hold of that. All right. Here it is in front of everybody. Rebel News. Thank you for your work. Thank you for going out to this farm and getting this out into the news.

And you can sign this petition, which I hope everyone will, we're at 30,842 signatures. Let's see where we're at next week. All of you, Highwire, insiders, out there. This is where we can make a difference. Amos, I just want to tell you that, you know, you're at you. You know, you and I live completely different lives, I'm sure. But there are so many people like myself that see you as a hero in this moment that is standing up for what's good in humanity. And I hope that you feel our prayers and our encouragement as we are supporting you through this very, I'm sure, difficult time. But no, I believe that all of these things that happen happen for a reason. and I believe in some way you've been chosen to stand in this fight,

and I want to thank you for standing up for what's right and for joining us today to share your story. Sure, my pleasure. Thank you all for your supporting prayers. That is really making it. It is. Thank you, thank you. You're welcome, and you have a beautiful day.

You too, thank.