Hannaford launches program to boost dairy farmers
Citing a commitment to local dairy farmers, Scarborough-based Hannaford Bros. Co. announced today that it is the first major supermarket chain to back a program designed to sustain New England's troubled dairy farmers.
The company is joining forces with dairy farmers to launch the Keep Local Farms initiative in its 171 New England and New York grocery stores. The program encourages New England residents to buy milk from local dairy farmers through an in-store branding campaign and establishes a fund to provide money directly to farmers by offering shoppers an option to donate $2 or $5 at the checkout register, according to a company release.
"This program will help sustain local farmers, support the local economy and reduce our carbon footprint," Wendy Ward, local sourcing specialist for Hannaford, said in the release.
According to a November 2009 report from the Governor's Task Force on the Sustainability of the Dairy Industry in Maine, the state's dairy industry generates more than $570 million and employs more than 4,000 workers. But it's an industry in trouble. According to Keep Local Farms, a Barrington, N.H.-based advocacy group, more than two-thirds of New England's dairy farmers have closed, leaving fewer than 2,000 in the region. Since 2000, Maine has lost 184 dairy farms, with 315 dairy farms remaining, according to the task force report.
Keep Local Farms, launched in September, attempts to promote the benefits dairy farms bring their local communities, generate a stable income to dairy farmers and secure the farmlands for future generations, according to the Hannaford release. Keep Local Farms is partnering with retailers, universities and health care providers to support local dairy products and increase the demand for local milk.
Federal milk pricing policies often set a price point for milk below what the farmer can produce it for, triggering public subsidies, according to the task force report, which noted dairy prices dropped to new lows in 2008 and 2009.
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