Deal to revive MOO Milk could be imminent
PHOTO / COURTESY MOO MILK
A deal to revive Maine’s Own Organic Milk, or MOO Milk, could emerge this week, but two competing offers could create a division between the farmers who helped create the company.
Five of the 12 farmers that formed MOO Milk told the Portland Press Herald that wholesale deals have been presented by Portland-based Oakhurst and Wisconsin-based Organic Valley. The farmers currently have a temporary agreement with New Hampshire-based Stonyfield Farm until they can set up a long-term deal with another company.
The farmers told the newspaper that they haven’t heard any details of Oakhurst’s offer and that Organic Valley has directly approached some farmers — two factors that could potentially create tension among MOO Milk farmers. They also said that MOO Milk CEO Bill Eldridge and majority owner Norman Cloutier have not included them in negotiations.
“Interpersonal relationships among farmers are at risk, because we’re being played with,” Spencer Aitel, owner of Two Loons Farm in South China, told the Press Herald.
At the time of MOO Milk’s abrupt closure, the company was selling up to 10,000 gallons of milk a week. MOO Milk closed after the company determined that its equipment had a strong likelihood of "catastrophic failure" and after it determined it could not build a new facility in central Maine fast enough to sustain production.
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