BC dairy farmer fined $195,000 for selling raw milk
A BC dairy farmer who successfully appealed after being charged $195,000 for selling raw unpasteurized milk might be back on the hook for the cash.
According to a July 6 BC Supreme Court decision, dairy farmer Adrie Stuyt was originally charged $195,184 for selling unpasteurized milk but successfully fought his case and had the amount dropped to $3,000.
However, the BC Milk Marketing Board took the case to BC Supreme Court for a review and Justice Anita Chan said dropping the charge to $3,000 was "patently unreasonable" and sent the case back to be reviewed again.
The case came about after the milk board began surveillance at Stuyt's Agassiz dairy farm in the spring of 2021.
"It appeared that Mr. Stuyt was selling milk directly to an individual, and not through the milk board as required by (law)," the decision said. "The milk was picked up from his farm in a Ford 150 vehicle and transported to a warehouse in Surrey."
Officials at the milk board then obtained a warrant to search the warehouse in Surrey and found containers of raw unpasteurized milk.
Stuyt admitted to the board he'd been making extra cash by selling the raw milk to the Punjab Sweet House in Surrey for the last seven years.
The board slapped Stuyt with a $195,000 charge to cover lost revenue based on the "class price and the volume of 600 litres per week for seven years."
He was also ordered to pay $33,266 to cover the cost of the investigation and lost his licence to sell milk.
READ MORE: BC cherry growers launch anti-dumping action against U.S. fruit
Stuyt then took the milk board to the BC Farm Industry Review Board to court arguing to get his licence back and saying the fine was excessive.
He managed to get his licence back and the tribunal reduced the charge to $3,000 but still left him to pay the $33,000 investigation costs. The tribunal said $3,000 represented the loss of unpaid levies to the Milk Board.
However, the milk board disagreed and sought a judicial review at the BC Supreme Court.
The decision goes into lengthy details about how much money was lost by Stuyt selling the raw milk and not going through the correct channels at the milk board.
"Mr. Stuyt argues there was no loss to the producer pool, as the milk that he sold would never have been sold through the milk board, as it was illegal unpasteurized milk," the decision read.
The board argued the tribunal's decision to overturn the hefty fine normalizes the direct sale of unpasteurized milk by producers.
READ MORE: Kamloops irrigation system shutdown hangs farmers out to dry
Ultimately, the Justice sided with Stuyt regarding his licence and ordered that he keep it.
However, Justice Chan ruled errors had been made in dropping the fine from $195,000 to $3,000 and quashed the order.
The case will now go back to the farm review board for it to review again, the result of which could be very costly for the dairy farmer.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 309-5230 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.
