Idaho dairy producer battles U.S. military

MILK FOR SOLDIERS: Steve Cann wants Idaho and Utah milk to go to Iraq. / Photo by Rod Boam

By Rodney D. Boam

March 21, 2008 | FRANKLIN COUNTY, Idaho -- Steve Cann, a determined Franklin County dairyman, is waging a war against the U.S. military. Cann wants the milk he and other Idaho and Utah dairies produce to be available to the soldiers involved in Operation Freedom.

Steve's son Benjamin was an Army Medic for the 327 infantry battalion, where he served two tours of duty in Iraq.

"If my son is good enough to go to Iraq, shouldn't my milk be good enough to go also?" Cann asked.

Cann, a Fallon, Nev., native came to Franklin County, Idaho, in 1990. He was herdsman for an area dairy since 1998. Three years ago he bought his own dairy. From early on he contracted with Gossners to buy his milk.

"Dolores Wheeler (the current president of the dairy company and daughter of founder Edwin Gossner) picked us up, even though she didn't have to. She does a lot for the farmers she contracts with. If we could get the U.S. military to buy Gossners milk, it would be a boon to Gossners and also this area," Cann said.

"Every dollar spent in this community will be spent seven more times. Think about that," Cann said.

The company, most known for its cheeses, buys about 45 percent of its milk from small dairies in Southern Idaho and Northern Utah, said Kelly Luthi, Gossners aseptic general manger.

In 1982, Edwin Gossner began working on producing a fluid milk product that utilized Ultra High Temperature (U.H.T.) packaging technology. U.H.T. Is grade A milk fluid milk that has been specially processed and packaged so no refrigeration is required until the package is opened. The milk is heated to 282 degrees and held for several seconds, then cooled at 70 degrees in a continuous pressurized system. The next step is packaging the milk aseptically in special containers. The elevated temperature kills harmful bacteria that cause milk to sour or spoil for longer periods of time.

The company, headquartered in Logan, Utah, has a sister plant in Burley. Gossners decided to pursue the UHT milk market instead of Grade A milk, allowing them to open up new marketing avenues. Gossner UHT Milk can be kept unrefrigerated at room temperature for months and is an asset to the military community. Today, Gossner Milk is sold on military bases in Puerto Rico, Panama and as far away as Korea where milk supplies and refrigeration is limited.

Although, the product is used on some military installations, it is not available in Iraq to the 137,709 active duty soldiers and 23,000 military support personnel and in Afghanistan with nearly 21,000 active military personnel and 5,667 National Guard and Reserves. Americans in the Middle East overseas are currently drinking reconstituted or powdered the majority of the milk is comes out of Kuwait. There is a small amount coming from a dairy in Bahrain as well.

The Defense Department performed a taste test, and their results showed the Saudi milk was preferred by the test body of less than 30 people on the panel. The Department also squawked about the $2 million per year cost in shipping the boxed milk to the Middle East.

Cann dogged and pulled the ear of every government official and age ncy he could think of by letter and by phone trying to get some action.

"Some of them acted like I didn't have the right to question them about anything. One of them told me I was rude, some treated us like a red-headed stepchild. They should be working for us, and if they don't, we shouldn't reelect them," Cann said.

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig and Sen. David Vitter from Louisiana took up the cause and asked the Defense Department to do a more comprehensive test. They claimed the test with such a small focus group couldn't speak for the nearly 190,000 Americans serving in Iraq. Included in the letter was a reference to a conference sponsored by the Defense Supply Center in Philadelphia in July of 2006 where producers of U.S. goods and services were recruited to participate in a conference themed "To Strengthen the Domestic Industrial Base for U.S. Military Suppliers."

Their request was rejected.

Shortly after the statesmen started to get involved in the milk matter, Craig's credibility suffered for toe-tapping incident in a Minnesota airport, and Vitter's suffered when suddenly the senator was listed on the rolls of a Louisiana brothel.

"Those two people were the only two that took up our cause, both go t their wings clipped and both are good men. I could care less about the sexuality," Cann said.

Despite the results of the official taste test, families of soldier s are buying the product and sending it over at their own expense, some at the request of soldiers serving there.

"People are buying cases of our milk rejected by the military taste testers and sending it to soldiers in the Middle East because the they don't like the Saudi milk they are being served," Gossners' Luthi said.

Luthi has letters and cards from soldiers thanking them for the milk and telling them how much better the Cache Valley product is than the Saudi liquid they are being served by the military.

"Before the Iraq war, or whatever they call it, started, we were sending the military about four truckloads a week. Since then we have been sending them two trucks a week. If we could get the contract to the Middle East, we would be sending eight to 10 truck loads a week," Luthi said.

The Gossners executive said, "If they had a reason other than the t aste test and shipping cost, we could accept it. If they thought they needed to procure Saudi milk because it was building good relations, we could accept that. But failing a taste test?"

Despite his setbacks, Cann, for the most part acting alone, continues to push forward to get someone to recognize his cause, to get Cache Valley milk to people fighting half a world away.

"I want the best milk sent to Iraq, don't you? Buy American! That's what it's all about," Cann said.

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