Amos Miller’s War on America

Don’t be duped AGAIN!

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Center— USDA Inspects Miller’s Farm in 2016. Left and right images —Meat Processing and Custom Cut Tools at Miller’s Farm Not Cleaned for Over a Week and/or Months

Quick facts:

• Miller’s farm was investigated on January 4, 2024 due to recent suspicion of his products causing serious Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) infection in at least 2 children.

• Miller’s products have made people sick before. Including products allegedly linked to deaths.

• Omission of FACTS - Lancaster Patriot’s and Miller’s legal counsel (reporting and commenting on the investigation respectively) conveniently leave out that there are alleged victims, including children, as the reason for the warrant.

• Miller’s Organic Farm is NOT a small farm. Apparently they host a minimum of 18 buying clubs nationwide with more than 4,000 buying customers and do extensive mail order business.

• Amos Miller charges premium black market prices.

• It is reported that Miller recently purchased a $1.4 million secondary farm.

• Miller recently built a $250,000 building for his daughters’ wedding.

• Miller and his supporters say that he is feeding his neighbors. In fact, the farm ships perishable products all over the country while doing very little business locally in comparison.

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For additional background, I cover the ongoing cases against Miller in a series of articles:

Part 1 – Amos Miller – Humble Hero or Meat Mobster
Part 2 – USDA Settlement - Miller Victory Or Devastating Food Freedom Loss?
Part 3 – Amos Miller’s Antics And Stories Lead To Loss Of Food Freedom
Part 4 - Amos Miller - Charlatan or Excessively Deceptive?

Amos Miller is in the news again…

In the summer of 2022, Tucker Carlson, and other sensationalist news outlets, brought an obscure struggle between Amish farmer Amos Miller–of Miller’s Organic Farm, Bird-in-Hand, PA–and the USDA to the attention of Americans hungry for a fight. Unfortunately, those sensationalists got many of the facts wrong, including casting Amos Miller as a small farmer being unfairly tread upon by a mighty, tyrannical government.

Today, Amos Miller is back in the spotlight.

While claims of a tyrannical government abusing a “poor small farmer” are circulating social media rapidly, Miller must reckon with the likelihood that one or more of the multiple products he sells may be causing serious illness in children–the reason the search warrant was executed on Thursday, January 4.¹

Excerpts as Fox43 news in Lancaster reports:

“A Lancaster County farm was searched by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Food Safety on Thursday [January 4, 2024] following a supposedly linked case of STEC (Shiga toxin-producing E.coli). 

The search was part of an active investigation into two food-borne illness cases in which people reported consuming food products from Miller's Organic Farm. 

According to the affidavit in support of the warrant, the department was informed on Dec. 19, 2023, by the New York State Department of Health that they had confirmed a case of the foodborne pathogen STEC in an underage individual who reportedly consumed ground beef and "raw" eggnog from Miller's Organic Farm. 

Additionally, the affidavit states that the Michigan Department of Health and the Michigan Department of Agriculture reported on Dec. 28 that an underage individual had tested positive for STEC. The individual claimed they had received products from Miller's Organic Farm, including raw milk and other milk, egg, cheese and meat products.”

But rather than report the facts, another outlet immediately began sensationalizing.

On Thursday, January 4, 2024, a reporter with an outlet calling itself “The Lancaster Patriot” was on site at Miller’s Farm claiming that the farm was getting “raided.”

In his X video post, Chris Hume claims that “law enforcement is once again harassing Amos Miller for serving his neighbors.”

The truth is definitely stranger.

Is it patriotic to leave out critical facts?

Hume did NOT report that the emergency warrant served last Thursday, January 4, 2024, was due to serious illness in at least two children from Michigan and New York. It seems the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) is beginning an investigation to see if those illnesses are linked to products from Miller’s farm.

Furthermore, several outlets, and big names including Congressman Thomas Massie are implying that the PDA’s action at Miller’s farm on January 4, 2024 is government tyranny against a “small farmer.”

Massie posted:

“With all of the problems in society today, this is what the government wants to focus on?
A man growing food for informed customers, without participating in the industrial meat/milk complex?”

Miller’s multi-state operation is NOT just a “man growing food” as the Congressman implies. Miller’s farm constitutes a vast network of non-disclosed black market farms and processors. Again, it is reported that Miller’s supplies a minimum of 18 “buying clubs” nationwide with more than 4,000 families buying at ridiculous, premium black-market prices. (Buyer beware!)

This harkens back to the lessons we hopefully learned during the meat rationing of WWII:

“An underground black market invariably favors a myriad of unscrupulous players who are all-too-willing to be dishonest in their dealings.” A black market is not the solution.

Miller commands these high prices–not because his outsourced products are of the highest integrity (they are not), but due to his infamous run-ins with state and federal agencies. His ongoing legal battles, sovereign citizen-minded proclamations, and his mafia-like presence in Lancaster county all contribute to an “outlaw” or “bad boy” persona that some are attracted to. This is egged on by sensationalist “media” brands all too eager for your clicks and donations in this attention economy – “Poor humble small Amish farmer raided, harassed and attacked by big bad government for feeding starving neighbors!” Not.

Other farms are discouraged from competing with Miller and many are discouraged from going through the steps to operate legally or safely–especially if they want to sell products through his network of businesses. This includes struggling farmers in his community.

Business intimidation IS as anti-American as it gets. It seems that Massie might be conveniently ignoring parts of this story that do not support his libertarian stance.

(Footnote: I truly enjoy working and socializing with Congressman Massie. We accomplish incredible feats and get to laugh a lot. For several years we have worked together on serious legislation and regulation reduction that would help small farmers succeed in America. One of those pieces of legislation is the PRIME Act–a bill that would open up meat processing exemptions for ALL American farmers. NOT just catering to a few who are refusing to follow minimal safety processes.

I continue to applaud the Congressman’s effort there, but encourage him to become more informed before knee-jerk reactions to Amos Miller related situations he knows very little about. The Congressman, by all indications, is ill-informed on the long standing Amos Miller fiasco and the real harms that Miller causes.)

Furthermore, court documents show that Miller recently purchased a secondary $1.4 Million farm and built a $250,000 building on his Bird-in-Hand property for his daughters’ weddings.²

If you ask millions of real small farmers across America, there is no way they can come up with that kind of cash, especially farmers that are just “selling to neighbors.” Yet, those are the same farms Miller’s is usurping business from as he criss-crosses throughout the country with his outsourced meats, dairy, and other products.

A mafia-like mentality is not okay just because the characters are dressed up in Amish attire.

In my extensive experience, the PDA are not the “government tyrants” that some social media radicals want to paint them as.

There are many hard-working American farmers, real patriots, in-the-dirt food freedom activists, and community builders around the country exhaling a sigh of relief because the PDA finally took action against Miller.

The PDA’s proper investigation into an operation that is allegedly causing harm and illness in multiple states is NOT an example of government tyranny.

Miller’s farm is a stain on the integrity of small farms in America. He is not a hero. He is a ticking time bomb that, when it explodes, will take out years worth of progress in creating a foundation of food freedom in America.

The current PDA, in this case definitely, is an example of state agents working hard to support their small farmers as evidenced by the impact of thriving, small farms in PA.³

In past decades, a few rogue members of the PDA went way too far in enforcement–especially against raw milk farmers. That past action cannot be balanced by allowing a few unscrupulous businesses to harm the plethora of ethical Americans working hard to bring food security to our communities and families.

There are many ways the PDA have stood behind their farmers–including Miller–especially this past decade. 

In fact, PDA works hard to reduce regulations where they can, and, most importantly, they listen to their farming community and are responsive to their needs.

We would not have as many problems in our food system nationally if other states followed the example of the PDA.

Rather than take the easy, knee-jerk, pitchfork-waving, armchair-Patriot reaction, and foment fear and aggression against an agency that absolutely cannot and should not ignore serious allegations of illness caused by Miller’s farm, consider if YOU are being duped for an agenda. 

Perhaps that agenda is as simple as raising lots of money for “legal fees.”

Follow the money. Where did all of the money already raised for Amos go? How did the hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars help other small farmers, especially non Amish ones? Did any of those funds go towards moving the needle on food freedom for all?

But perhaps this narrative is not as simple as “follow the money.”

Perhaps this “incident” is a continuation of a system that encourages you to outsource your food AND your thinking:

“Farm innocent. Government bad.”

It’s a false dichotomy of the worst kind.

Don’t be simplistic. Don’t be a pitchfork-waving fool.

And try really hard to dig into the details. They matter. What you find WILL surprise you.

And yeah, also grow something for yourself. Then you’ll realize that one “small farm” can’t possibly produce enough food to keep 4,000 hungry families fed, and that California is not in the same ecosystem–and therefore not neighbors to–Miller’s farm in Pennsylvania.

If you want greater food freedom, you’re on the wrong path supporting Amos Miller. He lost his case with the USDA (despite his loud protestations that they “won,” and he’s going to lose in this incident as well. His antics create a new set of obstacles and precedents to make it even harder for everyone else working diligently to bring food security to a community near you.

Come on Patriots, we can do better than this!

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For more history, see links below:

Part 1 – Amos Miller – Humble Hero or Meat Mobster?
Part 2 – USDA Settlement - Miller Victory Or Devastating Food Freedom Loss?
Part 3 – Amos Miller’s Antics And Stories Lead To Loss Of Food Freedom
Part 4 - Amos Miller - Charlatan or Excessively Deceptive?

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About Raw Milk Mama: I believe in the freedom to feed our families how we see fit. I also see the direction that our country is going--no one wants to live in a world where food scarcity is a constant reality. It's time to take back our food systems so they serve us, not monopolistic corporations or greedy shysters.

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1. https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2024/01/pennsylvania-ag-officials-search-miller-organic-farm-for-the-source-of-shiga-toxins/

2. Humber Hero or Meat Mobster?

3. https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming-news/ag-business/report-small-farms-have-big-economic-impact/article_afb3f41d-2ef4-59ec-aff7-2af21c44d7e1.html