Newsletter, Adirondack North Country Association

Grass Fed Dairy Conference

by Martha Pickard
"I didn’t tell my husband that I was coming here," admits one conference attendee at Stockman Grassfarmer’s 100% Grassfed Dairy Conference in Harrisburg, PA. She joined a brave group of farmers that are starting to explore other options for dairying. Over 100 farmers from all over the country attended this conference to share knowledge and explore new options in dairy farming. Four farmers from the Adirondack North Country region attended through funding from the Northern New York Farmer’s Partnership, a grass- based farmer group funded by Heifer International and facilitated by ANCA.

Presentations were given all day Friday and Saturday. The conference began by looking at a typical profitable American farm in the early 1900’s where 4/5ths of the farms had dairy cows and 2/3rds of the farms sold farmstead butter. The dairy areas of this country were settled because of the ability to grow grass, a high quality inexpensive feed for dairy cows and a cool climate to store perishable products. Grains on a large scale were not introduced until after WWII when nitrogen fertilizers and larger farm equipment created unprecedented yields and surplus was fed to livestock

At the conference, farmers were urged to make a paradigm shift when thinking of all-grass dairy systems as production per acre of grass rather than production per cow. Presentations covered selling high quality grass fed milk on-farm in the form of unpasteurized milk, yogurt, butter and cheese. Sally Fallon, President of the Weston A. Price Foundation and Tilak Dhiman, PhD spoke about the health benefits and nutrient density of grass fed, raw milk products.

The Stockman Grassfarmer, along with many other grassfarming advocates, is gaining a lot of momentum with their message of economically viable, ecologically sound farming. Consumers are catching on to the nutrient superiority of grass fed products Many grass farmers ,especially in Pennsylvania, sell raw milk, yogurt and cheese on their farms because of consumer demand and make much more per gallon ($5-25) than they would on the commodity market. Pennsylvania supports licensed raw milk sales and on-farm processing of milk to encourage tourism in the state.

The "Get Big or Get Out Policy" of the 1980-90’s has left most dairy farming areas in this country devastated. The average American dairy farmer is paid less per hundredweight of milk than he was before WWII. The average US farmer is 63 years old. According to Farm and Food Policy Project 80% of the US farm-dependent counties lost population between 2000 and 2005 and 1.2 million acres of farmland are lost every year.

Milk is an American cultural icon. Fresh, wholesome milk, butter and cheese are staples of the American diet and have been the lifeblood of many rural American towns for hundreds of years. But many consumers are questioning the quality of milk coming from large corporate farms even large organic farms. Milk is big business in this country. Mega –corporate dairy farms are becoming the norm while small to midsize family farms are being squeezed out by the day. On- farm processessing of milk allows farmers to take back control of milk prices; food dollars are spent and stay in the community and consumers access a guaranteed wholesome product.

Dairy Value–Added Workshop

by Martha Pickard
Twenty–five farmers gathered at the Dairy Value–Added Workshop on February 10, 2007 to learn more about on-farm processing of milk. ANCA and CCE of Franklin County sponsored the event. Bernard Cheney, NYC Ag & Markets Dairy Product Specialist, spoke to the group about the rules and regulations of selling raw milk on-farm and making yogurt, butter and cheese on farm. Mr. Cheney just moved back to the Potsdam area and is inspecting farms that are applying for their on-farm processing permits in Franklin, St. Lawrence and Essex counties.

Tom and Denise Warren of Stone and Thistle Farm spoke in the afternoon. Their dairy goats are raised on pasture and fed organic grains. The Warren’s sell their goat milk raw on-farm and pasteurize and bottle it for distribution in health food stores in New York and Massachusetts. The Warren’s have just begun producing organic goat milk yogurt. ANCA will continue to support programming that addresses the economic value and nutrient quality of grass fed dairy products in response to the growing interest of area farmers. A trip to Hawthorne Valley Farm in Ghent, NY is being planned for the spring 2007.

Martha Pickard can be reached at anca-pickard@northnet.org.