State dairy farms seek organic options
3/10/09 | 10 comments

State dairy farms seek organic options


Maine-labeled products envisioned to boost grocery store sales
By Sharon Kiley Mack
BDN Staff
BANGOR DAILY NEWS FILE PHOTO
Some of the products Houlton Farms Dairy produces include butter and wide a variety of milks. Houlton Farms has been approached about ramping up production to include organic processors. Buy Photo

AUGUSTA, Maine — Several farm organizations are working feverishly to find options for 30 Maine organic dairy farmers who either lost their H.P. Hood milk contracts or were asked last month to cut back production.

Hood has dropped eight of Maine’s farms in Aroostook and Washington counties and asked hundreds of farmers — from New York to Bangor — to cut production by up to 15 percent.

The Maine Department of Agriculture, the Maine Farm Bureau and the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association have joined together to find another processor and Maine markets to avert an organic dairy crisis.

Despite U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics that show a healthy growth rate of 24 percent in fluid organic milk sales last year, Hood spokeswoman Lynne Bohan said the cutback is due to the economic recession that has consumers spending less on organic milk.

“There was growth in 2008 and now we are seeing a softening in demand,” Bohan said. “We are not experiencing the double-digit growth we had seen in previous years.”

Bohan confirmed that transportation costs to pick up the milk in northern and eastern Maine affected Hood’s decision to drop those producers. When asked whether other farmers’ contracts will be dropped if they do not voluntarily cut their production, Bohan said, “I do not wish to speculate at this time.”

Organic milk, which must be produced according to strict federal and state standards of care, can cost up to twice what conventional milk does.

Meanwhile, MOFGA, the Maine Department of Agriculture and the Maine Farm Bureau have been pursuing options for the eight farmers in Washington and Aroostook counties and the 7,000 gallons of milk they produce each week.

David Bright of the MFB Marketing Committee said Houlton Farms Dairy, which markets locally under its own label, has been approached about ramping up production to include the organic processors.

“There would be a Maine-labeled product,” Bright said. MFB would contact retail outlets such as Hannaford, Shaw’s, Whole Foods and others to establish a committed market.

Bright said the Lincoln family that owns Houlton Farms Dairy is assessing its production facility to see whether expansion is possible. Even though the facility now handles conventional milk, processing both could be accomplished easily by running the organic milk through first and then the conventional.

Bright said Houlton Farms Dairy now processes milk from three farms and provides about 30 percent of the milk consumed in Aroostook County.

“Our goal is to get a truck and hire a driver to deliver [the organic milk] to Houlton. We would also find the markets. Houlton Farms Dairy would run the business,” Bright said. “We would try to get the farmers the same price they are currently paid, but we are not sure if that is possible.”

He also said Houlton Farms might be able to qualify for agricultural infrastructure grants through MOFGA or the Maine Department of Agriculture to expand its business once markets are locked in.

“We certainly think there is a market here in Maine,” Bright said. The Maine Technology Institute at the University of Maine has assembled a planning group to study how much organic milk is being sold and produced in Maine.

Also, for the past year, MOFGA has been developing a Maine label that could be used on products ranging from firewood to food. Each label would contain the name of the farm, where it is located and contact information.

Bright said that none of the statewide agencies involved is “looking to get into the milk business. We just want to service our members.”

To encourage organic milk consumption, Bright said a new Web site has been created — www.milk.maine.com — which should be up and running by midweek. “We want to see if we can get Maine people to pledge to buy pure Maine milk with a Maine label sold in the stores.”

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Comments
10 comments on this item
On 3/9/09 at 10:36 PM, GardenLady wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Maine milk with a Maine label will sell beyond the borders of Maine.

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On 3/10/09 at 12:49 AM, southtexaskate wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I love houton farm dairy milk. please, please, please expand your distrubution area further north. I buy several gallons when i go to presque isle and have people bring it back to fort kent for me when they go to presque isle. thier milk is the freshest and tastes the best. I dont know what they do, but they should keep doing it. we should all try to buy more local things like milk. it gets to our grochers sooner and to us sooner.

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On 3/10/09 at 4:22 AM, fredrogers wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I am sure other pressures account for the 'real' reasons the distributors have backed away from organic, not just transportation, spun as a 'softening' demand, and until the distributors are totally transparent about this issues and the real deals, it all just a spin game by them to hide the money incentives negociated in back room deals that are the real reasons I suspect..

Growth may not be double digit but demand is higher than ever for organic products in maine and new england.

Wamart super stores will soon launch HuIGE organic offerings, so maybe the distributors are being 'brought into line' by the big box folks for roll outs?

Kudos to the organic farmers to work on their own distribution chain. I belong to a national food co-op for organic foods that 'pull' products as far away from oregon to maine.

Something really 'smells" about the distributor's spin.

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On 3/10/09 at 5:47 AM, charley wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

It would be great to cut out the distributor and process the milk locally. I really hope this works out....

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On 3/10/09 at 8:31 AM, POKane wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Having moved to Augusta from Houlton last April I still feel bad everytime I buy milk becasue it isn't Houlton Farms

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On 3/10/09 at 12:56 PM, gw2kpro wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Unless there is going to be expansion of milk consumption statewide, this does not help Maine dairy farmers in the big picture. Remember, all the gallons of milk these organic farmers were producing used to be going out of the state, supporting an out of state processor (Hood).

Now we're going to keep all those gallons of milk in-state.

Either the milk market expands in the state of Maine, or it continues on its current trend of flat to declining.

If Houlton Farms expands their organic business in Maine, and overall milk consumption in Maine does not expand, they're just taking markets away from conventional farmers.

In the big picture, it's like taking a dollar out of your right pocket and putting it into your left pocket and then saying that you have expanded the amount of money in your left pocket. While it's true, it doesn't paint the whole picture.

I support expanding organic milk and supporting the organic farmers but I hope nobody gets carried away believing there will be an overall gain to Maine's producers.

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On 3/10/09 at 1:14 PM, irv4me wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

What would be ideal is if we could take all the organic milk and process it into cheese and other dairy products that are used more in Maine and beyond. Then we would see local area restaurants using the organic maine cheese on pizzas and what not and if done correctly could lower costs, and people wouldn't have to worry about BGH in their cheese pizza.

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On 3/10/09 at 1:50 PM, outdoorwriter wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

fredrogers, you're right. I know the owners of one of the affected farms. There are other reasons. I hope Houlton Dairy is able to take on some of these farmers. I have a hard time getting enough butter in the summer because they're using more cream for ice cream. I'll stock up in April. We love their milk and sour cream too.

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On 3/12/09 at 5:35 PM, chasesorganicdairy wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

FYI:

Maine's family-run organic dairy farmers are working together with The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and the Maine Farm Bureau to find more local Maine markets. Help support our cause and let your interests in buying Maine-produced, Maine-processed, and Maine-labeled organic milk be known by completing a short survey at: http://www.maineorganicmilk.com/

Find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Maine-Organic-Milk/59995146009?ref=nf

Thanks for your interest and support :)

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On 3/13/09 at 6:58 PM, nfarmer wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

if i rember right wasnt it just a few years ago Hood was up here begging for farmers to go organic? some glad I didnt go for it. to bad though for the farmers they dropped hope it all works out and you have a place to ship your milk.

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