A long running legal case involving the State of Minnesota’s right to inspect a Maple Hill dairy farm looks like it could be heading to the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Sixty days have long come and gone since the March 11, 2016 ruling by Sixth Judicial District Judge Michael Cuzzo that David and Heidi Berglund’s challenge of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) right to inspect his farm, Lake View Natural Dairy, was not valid.
Judge Cuzzo found that the Minnesota Court of Appeals October 14, 2014 Administrative Inspection Order (AIO) was valid and enforceable. Berglund and his attorney, Zenas Baer, challenged those finding in District Court on October 13, 2015.
In his March, 2016 ruling the judge stated, “Mr. Berglund claims that the Administrative Inspection Order violates his right to contract, right to privacy, right of association right of due process, and right of equal protection are dismissed.”
David and Heidi Berglund had 60 days to appeal the finding with the Minnesota Appellate Court. During this time they were allowed to maintain their dairy farm operation without threat of inspection.
Both parties have made flurries of motions since the March 11 hearing.
On May 18, 2016, attorney Baer on behalf of Lake View Dairy filed an appeal but it was vacated because of clerical issues.
On May 25, the Minnesota Court of Appeals filed a motion to consolidate the Lake View Natural Dairy case and Hartmann dairy farm case. Hartmann, a southern Minnesota farmer, has been fighting a similar issue over inspections of his natural dairy farm for the last 19 years.
On June 16 the MDA filed a motion to vacate the Order of Consolidation with the Hartmann case, arguing that a Sibley County judge already ruled in the Hartmann case that they would not hear constitutional arguments in the case.
On June 22 the Berglunds’ attorney filed a response to the MDA’s request and recently the Minnesota Court of Appeals agreed to separate the cases.
MDA has been pursuing this case since January 2013 when they learned the Berglunds were operating Lake View Natural Dairy on Maple Hill, and suspected the couple of selling unpasteurized/raw milk products to consumers.
The state contends that Lake View Natural Dairy must undergo inspection to ensure its products are fit for human consumption, but David Berglund has argued that his constitutional rights are being violated, citing a law enacted by the Minnesota Legislature in 1906 that allows a farmer to sell his farm products directly to consumers without a license.
The business is open seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Customers come to a small milk house and usually serve themselves, leaving their money in a white plastic lidded bucket next to a note from the Berglunds saying they trust their customers to pay them the prices marked on their products. People that buy the few products sold at the farm tend to be friends, acquaintances or family.
On February 26, 2013 the MDA attempted to conduct an onsite visit to the dairy, and David Berglund refused to allow inspectors access, arguing that the state was violating his constitutional rights.
Following several attempts to contact the Berglunds, MDA inspectors traveled to the farm on September 27, 2013, and took pictures of the exterior and interior buildings on the property, a product order sheet, and the products that were marked for sale in the store. Those products included unpasteurized whole milk, skim milk, chocolate milk, colostrum, cream, yogurt, and buttermilk. After taking the pictures the inspectors found David Berglund and requested a full inspection of the farm, which he again refused to allow.
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