Courts Go Hog Wild in MichiganState stacks the deck against heritage hog farmer Mark Baker Heritage hog farmer Mark Baker sued the State of Michigan when its Department of Natural Resources arbitrarily ordered him to kill his pigs in late 2011. After two years of stalling, the state now has moved his trial from his home county to the state capital, where a panel of four appellate judges hand-selected by the state will hear his case. The Department of Natural Resources declaredBakers pasture-raised pigs to be an invasive species of wild boar essentially because they were raised outdoors rather than in a confinement animal feeding operation. The agency ordered him to destroy the animals, but he refused and sued for relief. The state has played every trick in the book to delay his legal challenge, while pilingnearly a million dollars in fines on him. Now, thanks to a controversial bill that was fast-tracked through the Michigan legislature and quietly signed into law by the governor last week, the DNR has another card to play. Senate Bill 652 redirects almost all legal challenges against the state to a special panel of four state Court of Appeals judges selected by the state Supreme Court chief justice. So, instead of his locally elected judge and a jury of his peers, Baker will have to plead his case to one of four men selected by the most powerful man in the states judicial system. Additionally, by issuing a stay order, DNR officials are now able to delay the trial another six months, which Baker believes is part of the states strategy to bleed him dry financially, as hes been ordered not to sell his pork in the meantime. Solid Case So why is the state stalling and doing all it can to deprive Baker of a trial by jury? Because our case is solid, Baker said in a recent interview with Food Riot Radio. The regulation Baker is challenging lists nine vague characteristics the Department of Natural Resources uses to determine whether a pig is an invasive species of wild boar. The defining characteristics include straight tails and curly tails, erect ears and floppy ears, solid black coloring, red and white coloring, and solid red coloring. And the best one is the ninth characteristic other characteristics not currently known, Baker said. The order is written so broadly that the Department can basically declare any pig that is not raised under roof on concrete illegal, he said. If we get them into a court of law and they have to explain other characteristics not currently known and straight tails and curly tails and things like that theyre going to lose and they know it, Baker said. Baker believes the state moved his trial to Lansing because they have sympathetic judges down there, that they probably have on the payroll and things like that. I know the judge here in my county weve gotten to watch him over time, Baker said. Weve gotten to see the expressions on his face when the Attorney General comes up with dumb proposals. Hes one of our neighbors. He lives amongst us, so he can be held accountable to make just decisions. But up in Lansing, its not about justice. Its about whos paying whom. If the attorney general is hell-bent on taking it to Lansing, Ive got to believe theyve got a good reason to do that. Not only do they know theyre going to lose up here in a local court they probably know they can absolutely win with their own judges down there at the state capital. Take action Baker asks everyone who values real food to repeatedly call the state attorney generals office, (517) 373-1110, and the governors office, (517) 373-3400, to demand a fair trial. Theyre getting sick and tired of people calling up and asking them questions about this. If I go down if my farm goes down theres nobody standing behind me, Baker warned. This is it. This is the last game. We dont have to lose, but we all have to pitch in, and we all have to do something because if we dont, we will lose. And all you budding farmers will be done, and all you guys who like to eat good food it will dry up. Please donate to Bakers legal defense Farm to Consumer Defense Fund or toMark Baker directly. 