Sad Day for Maine Organic Milk Farmers

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I kind of suspected that the economic disaster was going to kill the organic market and unfortunately it seems like this is coming true. The highly regulated, and creamery dependent organic milk market was poised to go first I suppose, but I wonder what the farmer's markets and organic veggie markets are going to do this summer.

http://bangornews.com/detail/100620.html
 
I seriously doubt it will kill the market, it will put a dent in it as the fence sitters won't have the disposable income to buy the higher priced product. Those that are died in the wool (good pun for you Travis!!) will find and spend the money. If this is your family, they need to go door to door with some of the better restaraunts and create a working partnership. It will open some new doors for some, it will shut the doors permanently for others. It is another one of those opportunities to get out of your comfort zone and bang on some doors. I will state I hate this as much as the next person, to much like being in high school and asking a girl for a date, hate having my fate in someone else's hands so to speak. Hope things work out Travis.
 
Interestingly enough, the local news has been reporting that the opposite situation is occurring in Washington State. It's the "regular" dairy farmers who are sending their cows to be slaughtered because they claim they're losing $100 per head per month due low prices. Reportedly, the organic farmers are still doing just fine.

Go figure.
 
I kind of suspected that the economic disaster was going to kill the organic market and unfortunately it seems like this is coming true. The highly regulated, and creamery dependent organic milk market was poised to go first I suppose, but I wonder what the farmer's markets and organic veggie markets are going to do this summer.

http://bangornews.com/detail/100620.html

Travis it seems like there always trying to take the family out of farming.My grandfather was a small dairy farmer all his life in up state NY,and i can still remember riding with him to the crowleys creamery.He would take his milk cans load them in his old Brockway truck,stop at all the other farmers farms,hall them to Nichols Ny and we would help him unload.Some of the best memories i can remember as a kid.Ofcorse then the goverment steped in and said you had to up grade to vats and tanker trucks or get out,no more milk cans and no more 30 or40 head of cows.What a sad day.:( Sorry for the rant but thanks for the great memories.
Steve
 
Them guys better start chasing some markets. I find it hard to believe they can't get Organic Valley to pick them up, considering they just picked up one of my brothers neighbors 130 head operation.

“Me, personally, I'll stay organic as long as I can, even if I have to sell conventionally,”

I see some one is after my game plan IF the market goes away here. Which I don't see happening this year.

Theres a program here called Grow Youngstown which they started last year. They only had one grower and he took on 15 CSA members. They had 30 people on the waiting list last year and theres 70 on it so far this year.

I'm working with one of my neighbors who grows organic and together we are going to do 20 members. Best part is they pay up front. $375 for 18 weeks of produce. They get whatever is coming off that week be it beans tomatoes or Brussels sprouts :D It's right in the contract what we grow and deliver right along with if mother nature does something in then they won't be getting it. In other words they get to assume part of my risk ;)

I realize $3750 isn't a lot of cash for the year, but thats money in my pocket now which is a lean time, couple that with sales from the extra produce and it should be a good year.

Our grain sales are still up, My brother just shipped 10,000 pounds of buckwheat and 3500 pounds of spelts to the mill last week. The mill cleaned him out theres nothing left to sell.
 
no more milk cans and no more 30 or40 head of cows.What a sad day.:( Sorry for the rant but thanks for the great memories.
Steve

Actually Steve, according to the 2007 USDA census there has been an increase in small farms. Farms that do $10,000 or lees make up 60% of the farms. $10,000 to $99,999 make up about 24% The rest of them

250,000 to $499,999
500,000 to $999,999
000,000 to $2,499,999
500,000 to $4,999,999
5,000,000 or more
Make up less than 10 percent in each group

On the plus side farm numbers where up this census for the first time since the end of WW2

http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/

And Travis,, Maine had an increase farms this census also ;)
 
And Travis,, Maine had an increase farms this census also ;)

That is good, it has been steady here at 7100 farms for awhile. The dairy farms are what is dwindling. Milk typically beats out potatoes, but last year that won out. A mega-potato farmer in Maine has been chasing former potato ground and hounding the owners putting even more pressure on the dairy farmers who have farmed this type of land for the past 20 years. To give you an idea of how big this particular farmer is, they provide 2% of the USA with potatoes. That is a big market share considering how much potatoes are part of the American diet.

But I do have good news...and with fingers crossed, and toes and legs I might add...

A new program here in Maine is looking to add a new employee to their roster. Its a private organization that matches vacant farms with new farmers. It also promotes easements for current farmland to remain protected from development. Obviously it would be the ideal job for this unemployed guy only because I know why older farmers are hesitant about programs like these and yet know we have to accept new methods or we will no longer be farming. With 75% of the farmland here in older peoples hands, our food is literally about ready to be handed over to the next generation. This relates to the nation...not just Maine...scary!!

Next-Generational transfers are critical if farms will stay as family farms. With the downturn in the economy, land values plummeting there is a very narrow window of opportunity to stem development in Maine and retain farmland. I want to be a part of that transformation and I think I can do such a hard task. It is one of those rare jobs where you have to be willing to step in poo up to your knees to gain farmer buy-in today, and yet tomorrow put on a clean shirt and do a professional luncheon with a benevolent benefactor. Do you know what I mean?

Even if I do not get the job, I hope whoever gets the job is able to permanently protect farmland in Maine for the foreseeable future.
 
I seriously doubt it will kill the market, it will put a dent in it as the fence sitters won't have the disposable income to buy the higher priced product. Those that are died in the wool (good pun for you Travis!!) will find and spend the money. If this is your family, they need to go door to door with some of the better restaraunts and create a working partnership. It will open some new doors for some, it will shut the doors permanently for others. It is another one of those opportunities to get out of your comfort zone and bang on some doors. I will state I hate this as much as the next person, to much like being in high school and asking a girl for a date, hate having my fate in someone else's hands so to speak. Hope things work out Travis.

Just to clarify Jonathan, no this does not effect me or my family as we are in Dairy Farm Country here in Maine. There are plenty of farms here so milk will flow from this area for a very long time. Granted the price of milk has plummeted to $9 cwt as compared to $22 cwt a year ago. Still the demand is there. Last week the creamery called when we delayed the milk truck by ½ and hour. They were literally screaming for milk so they could get product out for the weekend. I guess from now on we cannot sleep in until 12:30 AM but get up at Midnight instead. Yes you read that right. In order to get the job done, we have to start milking at at 1AM to get done by 9:30 AM. Of course the second shift starts at 1PM and gets done by 9:30 PM, not leaving many hours in between.

The only way to make it at this price is to add more cows. That means we will get bigger (one of the top 21 farms in Maine) while a smaller farm will probably have to go under since they may not have the workers, equipment or acreage to make it with more cows. Ideally we would just take over the smaller farm and thus nothing really changes, but that is unlikely. The mega potato farmer could grab these freed up acres, or the farm could just go vacant like so many others...who knows?
 
The mega potato farmer could grab these freed up acres, or the farm could just go vacant like so many others...who knows?[/quote]

Why does this happen? Are the owners reluctant to sell or is there some other reason. Fascinates me this farming stuff but if there is demand for the land why does it go vacant.
 
"spelts"???

I was going to ask you what a spelt was but, fearing Vaughn would chastise me for not using Google first, I Googled and Dictionary.com'ed it.
Still learned nothing. Most frequent reference was to genealogy name tracking and a few other, non-farming, references.
Found one site that sells organic grains and, from that, it appears that 'spelt' can be generically applied to any of a number of different grain products that are either organically grown or come from this particular company.

All of which was no help. So....wattsa spelt???
 
Main Entry:
1spelt
Pronunciation:
\ˈspelt\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin spelta, of Germanic origin; perhaps akin to Middle High German spelte split piece of wood, Old High German spaltan to split — more at split
Date:
before 12th century
: an ancient wheat (Triticum spelta syn. T. aestivum spelta) with spikelets containing two light red grains ; also : the grain of spelt


Frank, here it is. I knew it was an old grain but didn't realize it was a wheat :huh: Duh!! Some small horse farmers raise it for their own bread and claim it is wonderful. Makes a great grain to feed animals also.
 
A new program here in Maine is looking to add a new employee to their roster. Its a private organization that matches vacant farms with new farmers. It also promotes easements for current farmland to remain protected from development.

my mom was from Maine...and all I can say is that it gets sooo cold up there, that those cows have to wear fur coats...:D

but I'm glad they're protecting the farmland from developing. 90% of the farms/orchards that I grew up around, are now houses. talk about sad....
 
It's a small Grain, Frank. Not very much in use today. Oh though it is quite common around Amish communities.

Amish farmers raise it for feed and flour, They will feed it to the horses when they are working them hard since it gives more energy than oats.

It can be ground with or without the hull. If you hull it it takes about 2 bushels of hulled to make one bushel of un hulled spelts. Wife keeps both kinds of flours here. The stuff ground with hulls she uses in certain cookies, The stuff ground with out the hulls she uses in bread and dough mixes.

You can also get it rolled or steel cut for use as a hot cereal like rolled oats, or boil it whole for use as a rice substitute.

They are tiny, about half the size of wheat or oat berry
 

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It's a small Grain, Frank. Not very much in use today. Oh though it is quite common around Amish communities.

Amish farmers raise it for feed and flour, They will feed it to the horses when they are working them hard since it gives more energy than oats.

It can be ground with or without the hull. If you hull it it takes about 2 bushels of hulled to make one bushel of un hulled spelts. Wife keeps both kinds of flours here. The stuff ground with hulls she uses in certain cookies, The stuff ground with out the hulls she uses in bread and dough mixes.

You can also get it rolled or steel cut for use as a hot cereal like rolled oats, or boil it whole for use as a rice substitute.

They are tiny, about half the size of wheat or oat berry

Very interesting. Why is it not more popular? What are the advantages/disadvantages compared to other grains? As a former cattle rancher, the more energy part is attractive. Less grain, more grass/hay would be more economical way to raise cows.
 
"spelts"???

I was going to ask you what a spelt was but, fearing Vaughn would chastise me for not using Google first, I Googled and Dictionary.com'ed it.
Still learned nothing. Most frequent reference was to genealogy name tracking and a few other, non-farming, references.
Found one site that sells organic grains and, from that, it appears that 'spelt' can be generically applied to any of a number of different grain products that are either organically grown or come from this particular company.

All of which was no help. So....wattsa spelt???

Frank, the very first Google hit I got was for this entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelt

:huh:
 
Frank
Advantages
Takes less fertilizer than typical wheat's we grow today
More energy
Can plant fall or early spring, Essentially no difference between the two variaties

Disadvantage
Yields less per acre if your de hulling it due to the small berry size

If you want it de hulled it has to be run through a de huller
Most combines you can't get the cylinder close enough to the concave to de hull it while harvesting. I've been told by a couple old timers that my old AC all crop harvester will though. I'll find out next summer.

Thats the biggest reason we got away from it. The wheats we grow today will dehull in the combine due to their larger size

If your grinding feed out of it theres no need to de hull it. And you can grind hull and all for flour, but it makes a courser flour

Another reason you don't see more of it,,, farmers get in a rut and are hesitant to try something differant
 
Wow thanks Robert and all. I find this farming stuff very interesting. Typical city slicker I never thought there was such complexity in the farming of grains and did not realise the varieties that exist. I mean wheat was wheat and oat are oats thats how I understood it.

If I had to follow in Larrys footsteps and do a Tour I would be picking the direction I could visit most farmers. I really got to get out to a farm that does all these things and see it in real life. I would like to know more about the life of a farmer. Suppose I should check out a friendly farming forum.:)
 
Another reason you don't see more of it,,, farmers get in a rut and are hesitant to try something differant

I here this statement a lot, and as a conventional farmer I must disagree entirely. In your case you are trying to grow spelt in the hopes that you can harvest it, so in essence you really don't know, but you are small enough in size so that you can take that risk. For a farmer with 7000 acres, they simply cannot take that risk.

Of course there are many, many more traits bred into the hybrid wheats of today, and one of the major ones is the height of the stalk. Lodging is an incredibly huge factor in wheat and grains, not to mention reducing chaff tonnages, fertilizer uptake and reduced growing days to maturity time.What good is it to plant 7000 acres of a type of wheat that might be destroyed by one day of heavy wind? It doesn't and so conventional farmers hedge their bets with hybrids and genetically modified seeds that reduce the height of the wheat so that it is resistant to the wind and other factors.

The problem with heritage breeds is that we already know what we are going to get. The ultimate quest for farmers today is to make ever shrinking farming lands into more productive farms. I hate to scare anyone but Ronald Regan did away with the Food Reserves back in the 1980's. What we grow is what we have to eat...period. No stock piles for emergencies or famines.

We simply cannot take chances now that ½% of this nations population feeds and incredible 80% of the food. (1% of this nation is farmers, but 65% of those farmers are retired people with hobby farms, so thus 45% of farmers actually produce the majority of food in the USA. Pretty darn scary).

I have no issues with what you grow on your farm Robert...take chances and experiment, but don't say that we get into a rut. With the world's food supply at stake, we simply do not have the latitude you have. Failure is not an option for us....the nation would starve.
 
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The mega potato farmer could grab these freed up acres, or the farm could just go vacant like so many others...who knows?

Why does this happen? Are the owners reluctant to sell or is there some other reason. Fascinates me this farming stuff but if there is demand for the land why does it go vacant.

It is rude to answer a question with a question, but who are we going to sell too? Kids are leaving Maine and Agriculture in the State of Maine is all but dead. There is some renewed interest in organic veggie farming, but as the original thread shows, when pressed for money, the consumer's check book always beats out quality, but expensive food. For the few that continue to buy, its going to be just like organic milk...too many growers and not enough buyers. Can people that move into Maine and buy farms compete against longer established farmers that do not have mortgages, equipment purchases and livestock overhead's to contend with? Not very likely in an already crowded arena.

It would be great if the mega-potato farmer grabbed these inactive farms, but that is not likely. Potatoes are incredibly hard to grow, and I would dare say they are probably the toughest row crop to raise. It starts with finding the right soil. Potatoes like a very particular kind of soil called Gravely Loam. That is because if the soil is not well drained, the potatoes will rot in the field while growing. But the potatoes also need good loam to allow quick uptake of nutrients by a plant that grows quickly. In short it has to be a unique mix of fertile, but rocky soil.

Then the area this soil is in needs to get plenty of rain. If you don't get rain, then the potatoes just won't grow, but as mentioned before, the excess water must drain off, but not on slopes so steep they would cause erosion.

Complicating things is the market. Obviously potatoes have to be a certain size or the buyers do not want them because the peeling to potato ratio would be high. But the market for potatoes is mostly for french fries so the potatoes cannot get too big either. So even in well drained soil, if the potato farmer has a drought, the potato crop is low because of undersized potatoes. Too much rain that summer and they are too big. You can't win!!

So you simply can't just potato farm anywhere. The two big areas for potato farming in Maine is in my town and in Northern Maine. (Thorndike and Caribou)
Now Caribou still has potato farms but we have converted into dairy farms...the last potato farm in my town ended in 1995. Now this great farming soil is used by local dairy farmers who depend on it to feed their cows. Dairy farming is not in danger of ending here, so there is too many people hoping for the same good soil. The other farmland...well there is no one interested in that so it goes fallow.

It takes about 3 years for the trees here to take over a field and make it useless for farming. It depends upon the size of course, but I hayed fields that are now harvestable for forest products and I am only 34 years old. In fact in 1900 90% of the land here was in fields, while 10% were in forests. Now it is 10% fields and 90% in forests...quite the change in 100 years. All would be well if the forest products industry was doing well, but papermills are closing at about 3 per year while saw logs are down in price by almost 50%.

I'd like to reverse the trend of losing fields to forests on my own land, but the cost of bulldozing stumps and rocks, tilling and reseeding is out of my price range and the NCRS will not cost-share for this. Even for dairy farmers and potato farmers, the cost is too high to do so on their own.

My plan is sheep. If I can clear land as my flock builds, they can graze around the stumps and browse the smaller brush down. I'll obviously sell the big wood and burn the slash, but ultimately the sheep will be an agriculture use for land that tractors cannot use...until the stumps are rotted enough to plow up. I'll slowly expand the fields and take back forest that use to be fields. It is a slow way to do so, but the cheapest way. Within 5 years I should add about 20 acres to this farm. By that time I can look at the woodlot and decide if agriculture or wood will be in my best interest. The way food is becoming scarce...I would say fields will be more beneficial then forest.

Unfortunately, I seem to be one of few people thinking this far ahead. I got plenty now, but I am concerned for my daughter. If there will be something for her and her husband...I got to start planning now. Will my plan work? Maybe not, but not planning will certainly ensure there is nothing left.
 
I never said plant the whole farm in it Travis, I'm not that stupid. But if you find something different,, plant 10 acres of it for 3 or 4 years and track its performance. If does well plant more of it, if it doesn't move on.

To say I'm planting spelts in the hope that I will harvest it?
I got news for you,, I have to make it also,, What I plant is my lively hood just as much as yours. Just because I'm small doesn't make it any less important.

Growing spelts isn't an experiment. Spelts are reliable old world grain.
Fact, the are cheaper to grow than wheat or oats.,
Fact,, they do yield less,, but you feed less of it.

Heres where that rut comes in,, to many farmers( I'm not saying you) only see the amount of grain coming off of an acre, and don't look at the nutritional value of that grain.

Feed a more nutritional feed and feed less of it. Then you end up with a higher net income. We don't feed any oats or wheat anymore. Even in the cold weather we had this year my brothers chickens never quit laying, years before it was not uncommon to have egg production down 50 or 60% in cold weather. Now we are only down 15 to 20%

Meat chickens go to slaughter a week sooner.
Hogs on average go 30 days sooner.

The ONLY reasons we got away from spelts. if you want a fine four You have to de hull it after harvest if you want to grind fine flour.

If your making feed, grind hulls and all. Tell some guys your grinding the hulls and they think we are nuts.
 
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