Corse serves on the board of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont and on the Vermont Climate Council. The organic market in general has been experiencing a noticeable shift, said Abbie Corse, an organic dairy farmer who sells to Organic Valley. In the back of my mind, I was saying in five years you’re not going to a herd under 200 cows in the state.” “I didn’t think it was gonna be this quick.
#WHO OWNS HORIZON MILK HOW TO#
“They don’t know how to plan for the future.”ĭean Conant, who has been selling milk to Horizon for 14 years from his farm in Randolph, also began reaching out to other buyers, with no luck, when he received the termination letter.Īsked where that leaves him, Conant said, “with a fair amount of anxiety.” She’s been talking with farmers from around the state since farmers received their termination letters last week, she said. “So it’s also kind of devastating to think that we might lose that acreage that’s being managed in that way.”
They have to plan and manage for biodiversity,” she said. “They have to improve soil health on their farms.
Organic farmers are also required to manage their farms so they’re hospitable to the local ecosystem. If the farms shutter, the ripple effect on the local economy would be notable, she said, as the producers employ breeders, vets and grain companies, for example. Dehne said she’s hopeful, but not sure, that those contracts will become available. Nicole Dehne, director of Vermont Organic Farmers, said it’s possible Organic Valley could take on some of these producers, but with utilization contracts, which are less secure than the contracts they already have. It’s not every day 28 businesses are put on notice they could close.” “We will do all we can to try to save them. “Their businesses are threatened with this decision,” he said. Tebbetts said farmers have expressed fear in their conversations with him. “Our goal over the coming weeks is to save these organic farmers. “This a significant problem because these farmers have few choices on where to sell their milk,” Tebbetts said. Department of Agriculture, last week when Vilsack visited Vermont. He also raised the issue with Tom Vilsack, secretary of the U.S. He’s working to assemble a task force to address the issue, he said, and expects it to include farmers, Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, the University of Vermont Extension, the Vermont Farm Bureau and economic development officials. Tebbetts said he held a conference call last week with farmers who expressed great concern about the decision. “Right now, we have no options,” he said. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was concerned that Danone could act against him. He began calling around to other milk companies, but everyone, including non-organic buyers, was full. One farmer, located in the northeast region of the state, said he heard rumors about Danone’s decision three months ago.
Danone bought Horizon Organic five years ago. Representatives from Danone did not respond to requests for comment. Vermont had a total of 181 organic dairy farms at the end of 2020, according to the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont. Organic dairy farms decreased by 8% between 20. The number of dairy farms in Vermont has decreased by 37% in the past 10 years and by 69% in the past 24 years, according to a 2021 report from the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation. The move represents the latest blow to an industry that has been struggling for years from rising production costs that have outpaced consumer prices. In total, 79 farmers from Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and Maine received letters last week with the news, Tebbetts said. “This is a regional decision,” said Anson Tebbetts, secretary of the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. More than two dozen of Vermont’s small- to medium-sized organic farmers received letters from Danone last week that say their contracts will end on Aug. Other buyers in the area, including Stonyfield Organic, Organic Valley and Upstate Niagara Cooperative, appear to have limited capacity to accept new producers. Photo by Elizabeth Gribkoff/VTDiggerĭanone, a global food company and the owner of Horizon Organic, plans to terminate contracts next year with all of its organic dairy farmers in Vermont and other parts of the Northeast, leaving farmers without buyers for their milk.
A dairy cow is pictured in this 2019 file photo.
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