Dean Foods Company is one of the nation's leading food and beverage companies. The company produces a full line of company-branded and private label dairy products such as milk and milk-based beverages, ice cream, coffee creamers, half and half, whipping cream, whipped toppings, sour cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, dips, dressings and soy milk.
The company is also a leading supplier of pickles and other specialty food products, juice, juice drinks and water. The company operates over plants in 36 U. Note on Forward Looking Statements: Some of the statements in this press release are "forward-looking" and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of Background: Nearly 90 Northeast organic dairy farms, including 28 in Vermont, to lose their market.
The lawmakers asked Danone to reconsider its decision to cut off the organic dairy farms in the Northeast, saying the company is going against its intent to become a B Corporation. Behind the numbers: Black people own just 17 of the 7, farms in Vermont. Ed Maltby notes that costs for labor, land, insurance, and taxes are all higher in the Northeast than in most other regions of the country.
Organic ruminant livestock—such as cattle, sheep, and goats—must have free access to certified organic pasture for the entire grazing season. In most cases, it will be much longer than days. The intent of the Pasture Rule is to ensure that organic ruminant operations are pasture-based systems, as well as to increase pasture productivity and pasture quality over time.
This pasturing provision reflects a fundamental feature of organic dairy that distinguishes it from conventional dairy production. This illusion is made possible by a number of agreeable accredited organic certifying agents who are willing to collect large certification fees while looking the other way, facilitated by deficient oversight of these agents by the NOP. This has had a devastating effect on organic dairy prices to farmers, and left many organic farmers and those transitioning to organic with stranded investments because there are no buyers for their milk.
What do Northeast dairy farmers and other make of this development? And what are they to do? This action by Danone is a very big deal in the region, and response from producers, advocates, and officials in the region has been more vociferous than the company may have been expecting.
Damage to its public face and the goodwill of consumers may be at some risk. Larger farms can now become certified, which has caused the market to become flooded. I know that it has been an articulated priority of our congressional delegation to continue to push on the loopholes being closed, specifically for the origin of livestock and the pasture rule.
That would go a long way towards correcting for the equitable access in the marketplace for small farmers and their ability to thrive.
These are entire lives that are tied up in a farm. Even having to go through a process of receiving a letter like this. Officials in the affected states are working to call together stakeholders to try to address and solve this crisis. According to Ed Maltby, these Northeast producers are really between a rock and a hard place, with few viable options. Other producers will, as Ed Maltby suggests, likely switch to corn or hay production, or retire from farming and try to sell off their assets and reconcile their debt, which may leave them with relatively little cushion in the end.
The move represents the latest blow to an industry that has been struggling for years from rising production costs that have outpaced consumer prices.
Vermont had a total of organic dairy farms at the end of , according to the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont. Representatives from Danone did not respond to requests for comment. Danone bought Horizon Organic five years ago. He began calling around to other milk companies, but everyone, including non-organic buyers, was full.
He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was concerned that Danone could act against him. Tebbetts said he held a conference call last week with farmers who expressed great concern about the decision. He also raised the issue with Tom Vilsack, secretary of the U. Department of Agriculture, last week when Vilsack visited Vermont.
It may take multiple strategies. If the farms shutter, the ripple effect on the local economy would be notable, she said, as the producers employ breeders, vets and grain companies, for example. Dean Conant, who has been selling milk to Horizon for 14 years from his farm in Randolph, also began reaching out to other buyers, with no luck, when he received the termination letter. The organic market in general has been experiencing a noticeable shift, said Abbie Corse, an organic dairy farmer who sells to Organic Valley.
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