Terra Madre Delegate Profile -
Mark and Debbie Apple,
Apple Family Farm, Indiana

The Apples have fought hard for the right to distribute raw milk. They are "distributing" milk and not selling it because technically the 53 families that take home jugs from the Apple Family Farm actually own shares of the farm's 11 cows.

Cow-sharing is the innovation that allowed Mark and Debbie to overcome a cease and desist order issued by state health officials in 2002. Indiana is one of 22 states that prohibit the sale of raw milk; 19 still permit the practice and 9 states allow limited sales. There is, however, no law that denies farmers the right to consume raw milk from their own cows. So while Mark and Debbie provide room and board, actual ownership of the cows is divided among families. Several families usually share one cow and take home about two gallons of milk each week.

Fans of raw milk claim that they have never been healthier, not only does it better but pasteurization, they argue, destroys beneficial bacteria. Those who support the ban believe that arguments for the health benefits of raw milk are unreliable and based on out-dated studies.

While Mark and Debbie are the third generation on their land, it was not always the place they called home. In the 1980s they lived in Nashville, Tenn., where Debbie was a personal assistant and Mark managed merchandise for country and gospel singers (including Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash). With the decline in health of Jennings and Cash, and the birth of their son, Mark and Debbie felt compelled to move on and so they settled on seven-acre farm near Nashville.

When Mark's father died in 1999, the couple moved back to the land where Mark's great-great grandfather made the wooden beams that support the barn. On the Apple Family Farm, Mark and Debbie pride themselves on carrying on family traditions as well as employing a natural approach to farming, without the use of chemicals, hormones or unnecessary antibiotics. All of their chickens, beef and dairy cows are raised on pasture with all the grass and sunshine that they need.

Listen to the NPR story "Cow Milk Blues" at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4230005

written by Rachel Joynes