Organic Valley expands into Aroostook County for organic dairy
Organic Valley, the nation's largest cooperative of organic farmers and a leading organic brand, announced at its regional office in Portland today the addition of an Aroostook County organic dairy farm to its lineup of Maine suppliers, bringing its state total to 33 farms.
“That 33 is just a beginning,” said Steve Getz, coordinator of Organic Valley's New England dairy pool. “Maine is a big state for organic dairy farms. We see a lot of potential here.”
Getz said the recent addition of Chase’s Organic Dairy in Mapleton, located near Presque Isle in Aroostook County, enabled Organic Valley to add a third truck to its fleet of milk tankers in Maine. Doing so, he said, creates an opportunity to add milk volume from additional organic dairy farmers and help defray shipping and hauling costs to Stonyfield Farm’s processing plant in New Hampshire.
“Organic Valley has the energy and resources to really expand the dairy market for us,” said Vaughn Chase, who owns and operates with his wife, Laura, the 100-cow dairy farm in Mapleton. Their first delivery of organic milk via the Organic Valley tanker took place on July 2.
“It’s a stable market,” Chase added. “It’s a paycheck you can count on week after week.”
Jeff Bragg, an eighth-generation dairy farmer in Sidney, said his Rainbow Valley Farms has supplied milk to Organic Valley for 10 years after making the switch from conventional non-organic dairy farming in 2003. “It’s a grassroots cooperative,” he said, noting that his involvement in Organic Valley’s cooperative has given him the opportunity to network with other organic dairy farmers both regionally and nationwide.
Despite the recent disbanding of Maine's Own Organic Milk, the 12-farmer company better known as MOO Milk that was founded in 2009, Getz is bullish about the potential for organic dairy farming in Maine, identifying Aroostook County and central Maine as two regions where a lot of interest is being shown in transitioning to organic dairy operations. The expansion into Aroostook County, which required a 25-cents-per-hundredweight premium payment to cover the extra hauling costs, was strongly endorsed by Organic Valley’s 30 member farmers and its farmer-led board of directors, he said.
“This means our Maine farmers are going to reach into their own pockets as an investment in opening up the market in Aroostook County,” Getz said.
“It’s a very forward-looking approach,’” added Bragg. “The more we can strengthen the Maine organic milk pool, it’s better for all of us.”
“The organic market has legs,” Getz said, noting that nationally, sales for the cooperative’s array of organic food products increased from $857 million in 2012 to $928 million in 2013, for over 8% growth.
Dairy products were the largest category of the growing $29 billion organic food sector, according to the Organic Trade Association’s 2013 Organic Industry Survey. Organic milk and cream sales were worth $2.6 billion, the survey found. Sales of whole, organic milk were up 10% in 2013, making it the fastest-growing category of milk.
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