On Thursday, May 5, the Health Shoppe in Morristown hosts a free forum on raw milk, at 7 p.m. Held at the Morristown EcoCenter (directions will be sent upon registration), the forum will present the pros and cons of raw milk and discuss pending legislation that would allow local dairy farmers to sell raw milk directly to consumers in the Garden State (Raw milk is currently illegal in 10 states, including New Jersey, and the District of Columbia).

The speakers will include the following:

• Pam Schoenfeld, a registered dietitian with a private practice in Morristown, who is a cofounder of Garden State Raw Milk (GSRM),a grass-roots campaign begun in her kitchen in 2006 to legalize raw milk sales. GSRM is a project of the Foodshed Alliance of Blairstown and has successfully moved the raw milk bill through the New Jersey Assembly earlier this year. The group’s goal is to move the bill through the State Senate and then get Governor Christie to sign it into law.

• Joseph Heckman, Ph.D., a Rutgers University professor of Soil Science who teaches courses in Soil Fertility, Organic Crop Production, and Agroecology. He conducts research and extension programs on optimizing nutrition and soil quality in support of plant, animal, and human health. In 2008, Dr. Heckman hosted a seminar series at Rutgers on raw milk. Based on his review of the raw-milk literature, Dr. Heckman supports the position of informed consumer choice.

• Ken Hoffman, who grew up working on farms, and owns Havenwood Farm in Newton. Starting out with just horses and then chickens, he moved onto raising 100% pasture-raised and grass-fed Brown Swiss dairy cows. Hoffman is currently putting together his milk room and creamery in preparation for the legalization of raw milk.

For more information, contact Tammy Toad Ryan, the Health Shoppes, Morristown, at 973-538-9131 or email her at [email protected]. Visit TheHealthShoppes.com.