Amos Miller's private food club targeted by the USDA

Quick links:

This is an old article, see Amos Miller may distribute raw milk interstate but not intrastate and Search warrant executed at Amos Miller’s food club Jan 2023

Miller’s Organic Farm is in Bird in Hand, Pennsylvania

Amos has put his attorney in charge of fundraising. They have switched the crowdfunding platform to GiveSendGo, where you can get the most up to date feed on Amos Miller’s situation.

Case updates

January 3rd, 2023

Lancaster Online: Lancaster County farmer Amos Miller makes $30,000 payment under agreement with feds

December 13th, 2022

This is from the Miller’s Organic Farm membership newsletter:

There was an early hearing for Amos’ case today. As you know, Amos Miller was facing a court hearing where they threatened jail, and judgment which demanded that he pay $305,000 to the court because the USDA he was “in contempt”, and threatened me with jail if he could not pay it.

This has been a challenging situation for Amos’ family, as well as for all of the Members depending on his food. Today, Amos’ main attorney, Robert Barnes, negotiated a settlement on this issue for far less than the USDA demanded, saving the Farmer hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Amos stated today: “The case is far from over: now we move on to seeking an ultimate resolution to the case to allow us to keep farming and providing nourishing, nutrient-dense foods in the manner God intended, and in the way you, our Members, want and need. We are thankful to God for this victory and look to Him for strength as we continue on this legal journey.”

We are excited to share this great news as well as the news of Elizabeth Rich also joining Amos’ Legal Team!

Our Amish farmer Amos Miller has finally agreed to hire Elizabeth Rich, the Best Healthy Farming and Food Rights Attorney in the nation, as part of his legal team to help defend him against the unjust charges of the USDA.

Attorney Elizabeth Rich is a long-time associate of the Weston Price Foundation, and the Foundation has recommended that she be part of Amos’ legal defense team. Elizabeth has many years of experience with Healthy Farming and Food Rights cases. She has won cases that no one expected her to win, including for Amish farmer Vernon Hershberger in Wisconsin.

If you wish, you may donate to this fundraiser GOFUNDME so we can pay Elizabeth Rich’s legal fees.

Elizabeth will be working on this case for at least the next several months alongside Amos’ prime attorney.

Background

Current charges are surrounding Amos Miller’s meats, which he processes on his farm in a facility that is not inspected by the USDA.

Amos Miller’s food club is private, and his food is only available to members.

His argument rejecting the court’s jurisdiction was not accepted in court and he was fined. He has refused to pay the fines, so now federal prosecutors (careerists) want him imprisoned and his wife to be included in the punishment.

Amos Miller is facing imprisonment for failing to pay $105,065 in fines related to his private food club. Federal prosecutors are seeking a total of $305,065.

From Lancaster Online:

“The United States submits that Mr. Miller’s continuing recalcitrance and flouting of the court’s orders requires a robust, more-coercive civil contempt sanction than previously imposed,” government attorneys wrote in its request filed in late July. “Specifically … the court should order him to be incarcerated until he has paid these sums that are long overdue.”

U.S. District Judge Edward G. Smith scheduled a hearing for Sept. 26 at the federal courthouse in Easton for Miller to show why he should not be jailed.

And the government wants Miller’s wife, Rebecca Miller, added as a defendant in the case because she is a co-owner of Miller’s Organic Farm. That will also be addressed at the hearing.

Private food club

Amos Miller sells his food to members of his private food club. Members of Miller’s Organic Farm sign up and pay a fee to enter, only then can products be ordered through his website.

Becoming a member entails that you have bought a share of the farm. This is supposed to remove your transaction from commerce, and therefore out of commercial jurisdiction, because on paper the products were partially yours to begin with. When you pay, you are paying a service fee and delivery.

This arrangement appeared to keep the heat off Amos for years. This changed in 2016, when his farm was accused of food poisoning and investigated by federal agents because his product was shipped across state lines. Since then they have also pursued Amos for processing meat on his farm.

Current case

Amos Miller is currently standing trial related to his in-house meat processing facilities, not raw milk sales or milk related food-borne illness.

Federal prosecutors are complaining that his meat processing is not federally inspected or otherwise regulated.

I’m not aware of any Miller’s Organic Farm members who have complained or even want their private food club to be federally inspected and regulated, I assume many would oppose.

Avoiding regulatory bottlenecks is the reason why this operation is a food club and not a regular farm.

Media attention

Rebel News anchor tweeted about Amos Miller’s case and, instead of posting the fundraising links, encouraged people to sign a petition on the Rebel News website. Tucker Carlson then brought him on to run a segment on Amos, which included few details on Amos’s case and mostly spent time blaming Biden’s administration for punching down at independent farmers.

Remember, this case started in 2016. Biden isn’t helping, but Trump didn’t help either.

No raid occurred in 2022, the Rebel News anchor appears to have made that up. There have been inspections since 2016, ordered by U.S. District Judge Edward G. Smith, in which Amos has cooperated and no guns were drawn.

The “deep state” in this case is the USDA’s prosecutors, punching down, stinking of selfish career-building opportunism, enabled by laws that can be changed. U.S. District Judge Edward G. Smith doesn’t seem particularly eager to shut Amos down and has worked with him along the way.

Glenn Beck brought Amos Miller onto his podcast to discuss the case. Beck is unlikely to go against the conventional ag industry, so his interview is more skeptical, but he voiced support for our civil liberties and shared the GiveSendGo. Thanks, Glenn Beck!