Like milk? So do dairy farmers, who also like to see a return on the investment made in the feeding, caring and housing of livestock.
While independent dairy farms lament sagging prices, Hudson Valley Fresh is one cooperative bucking the system.
Sam Simon, orthopedist by profession but dairy farmer by birth, bought Plankenhorn Farms in 1995. He retired from medicine in 1998, deciding to go back to his roots. He soon saw no lucrative return on investment for neighboring dairy farmers, who were selling milk at what Simon said were “unsustainable prices” or watching them squeezed out of business altogether, selling their farms to developers who sprouted housing tracts instead of alfalfa and hay for the herd.
“This is 150 beautiful rolling acres of farmland,” Simon said. “People want open space, but in order to make that happen, you have to make it worthwhile. Farmers were selling milk for less than it cost them to produce … and it wasn”™t helping anyone, particularly farmers who wanted to continue farming,” he said. Former state Assemblyman Patrick Manning and Simon hashed out plans to form a milk cooperative. Hudson Valley Fresh was born.
Eight Dutchess County farms are members, including its president, Sam Simon.
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“Think of it in real terms: the land stays farmland, families can remain on it and keep taxes down because they don”™t require all the services housing developments do; they bring valuable, viable products to the community at large. For people who want the beauty of open space but have it be economically sustainable, the best way to accomplish that goal is by supporting local farmers.”
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Simon put the time and effort into restoring the farm he bought in Pleasant Valley. “We started this cooperative with eight farms, including mine,” Simon said. Some have as few 25 Holsteins or as many as 100. Are they open to include more? “You bet, but they have to meet our guidelines.”
The milk produced has to meet the cooperative”™s standards as far as bacteria count and somatic cell count, which is equivalent to a human”™s white cell count, to ensure consistency and quality, Simon said. He knows the ancestry of every Holstein in his stock and cross-breeds to see if the milk produced can be even cleaner, fresher and sweeter.
“Hudson Valley Fresh cooperative members receive $20 for 100 pounds of milk, which comes to $1.85 a gallon. It costs other farmers $1.70 to produce that same gallon; contrast that with eight members of the HVF cooperative who are paying $1.20 a gallon. That”™s a significant difference… it enables them to maintain their land, their herds and stay in business. Independent farmers can”™t do that on what big companies are paying them for their raw milk … many farmers are borrowing to stay in business.”
The catchword for Hudson Valley Fresh, of course, is that it”™s local and it”™s fresh. “People like to know where what they are eating and drinking is coming from, where their beef, chicken, milk and vegetables are coming from,” Simon said.
Where can you get milk that has a 36-hour turnaround time from cow to refrigerator? Several farmers in the state and around the country are getting with the program, some using HVF as a model for their own cooperatives.
“We live in an area where 40 percent of our agricultural products are consumed in the Boston-Washington corridor, but only 15 percent of the milk is produced in this area.” Simon hopes to see Hudson Valley Fresh grow not just in Dutchess, but beyond its borders.
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Boice Dairy in Kingston picks up the raw milk the co-op members produce every day and processes it. Then, it”™s shipped out to a 30-mile radius in Dutchess and Ulster counties. HV Fresh is also distributed to some downstate areas, according to Rich Boice, dairy president.
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For processor Rich Boice, the decline of dairy farms and the sparseness of milk-processing plants are due to the buying power of conglomerates such as Dean Foods, which buys milk from all over the country and the government regulates the price. “For co-ops such as Hudson Valley Fresh,” said Boice, “as a nonprofit, they can set their own price and share the profits … but it”™s tough going in the dairy industry for many farmers.”
“We process approximately 10,000 gallons a day in varying sizes, from half-pints for schools to gallons. We also process cream, half-and-half, sour cream and orange juice under our own Boice name.”
Boice is no stranger to Hudson Valley Fresh”™s milk; in fact, he says he buys much of the milk Boice uses from the co-op. “We have our own product line and store right here at our O”™Neil Street location.”
The 15,000-square-foot plant employs 38 people, and Boice”™s nieces and nephews are the fourth generation working the family owned business, the oldest dairy bottling plant in New York state. Boice said his is just one of several milk-processing plants left. “There were more than 700 in the 1960s … it”™s very tough competing against the giants like Dean.”
With dairy farms reportedly numbering about 65,000 in the United States, the largest concentration is in New York, California and Wisconsin. Dean”™s website cites a recent antitrust class-action suit brought against it by the U.S. Department of Justice over its April 2009 acquisition of Foremost Farms in Wisconsin. No one from Dean returned calls for comments. Dean owns nearly 40 name-brands distributed in the nation.
“As a co-op, we are able to offer a choice to consumers. Big dairy conglomerates use the Capper-Volstead Act of 1922 as the basis of buying up farms and processing plants,” said Simon, “but where do you draw the line when a business becomes a monopoly?” Fortunately for Hudson Valley Fresh, it will remain out of that debate, as will other independent cooperatives and farms that are going directly to the public with their products.
