Food safety and optimal nutrition aren’t mutually exclusive goals according to Biological Farmer, Consultant and Educator Tim Wightman. With 40 years of experience in agriculture, Wightman teaches farmers to reach optimum food safety goals through mineralized soils, proper production methods of forage and food. He mentors farmers in high quality approaches to production of safe and optimally nutritious raw milk. A modern pioneer of the share concept, Wightman now serves as President of the Farm-to-Consumer Foundation which aims to equip farmers and consumers with safety advice on raw dairy products via conferences, tele-seminars, speaking engagements and printed materials. The Foundation now provides two of Wightman’s educational tools to the public free of charge. These free resources include online copies of Raw Milk Production Handbook and a micro dairy farm educational DVD, Chore Time; Part 1 and Part 2.

“We believe all food can be produced safely, including raw milk,” says Wightman. “These materials are the starting point for a collaborative effort to develop ‘best practices’ to guide dairy farms working to meet the rising demand for raw milk whether the legal framework is loose (as with voluntary farm-to-consumer standards for cow shares) or more formal (as with larger scale retail sales).” The information and educational material can be used by any size herd and cross over to all types of milking animals and are complimentary to any state raw milk program.

The Handbook and DVD, as well as the booklet, Safe Handling: Consumers’ Guide to Fresh, Unprocessed Whole Milk by Peggy Beals, RN, are for sale as hardcopies at farmtoconsumer.org/fs.