Categories
Equipment

Get Creative with Tufa

With winter coming on here in Minnesota, it’s time to empty out planters. One of my favorites is the tufa trough I made a few years back. It’s about 10 inches high and wide by 34 inches long and looks like an old stone planter. It is actually a mix of Portland cement and organic matter. Lighter and more interesting looking than standard concrete, tufa is also an invitation to creativity.

As with any concrete work, wear rubber gloves. While the amounts will vary depending on how big a project you have in mind, mix one part Portland cement with three parts potting soil (no fertilizer) or with 1 1/2 parts peat moss, 1 1/2 parts perlite and 1/3 cup polypropylene fibers. Add water to a workable consistency.

Forms can be made from plastic, metal or wood. Cardboard will also work as a one-time form. The key is to remove the project from the form after it has set for six to eight hours. Handle it carefully as it hasn’t achieved full hardness and can easily break if stressed too much. At this stage, it is still soft enough to be easily worked.

Using any sharp object, such as an old putty knife, kitchen knife or even a piece of saw blade, you can sculpt your creation. Create a textured effect on flat surfaces with a steel brush or with the edge of a saw. This is also a good time to drill a drain hole or two if you are making a planter.

Once you’ve made your alterations, let is sit for another 10 to 12 hours. Then spray it with water, and cover it in plastic. Let it cure for at least two weeks.  As is the case with any concrete object, the longer it sits, the stronger it gets.

While I made a planter, your imagination is your only limit with tufa. Good starter projects include stepping stones or even ornamental spheres. For more information and ideas for working with tufa, pick up a copy of Making Concrete Garden Ornaments by Sherri Warner Hunter, Lark Books. She does a great job making working with tufa easy and rewarding.

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Categories
News

Urban Farm Empowerment

 

 

Growing Power founder Will Allen speaks in Lexington, Ky.

 

UF managing editor Lisa Munniksma and Growing Power founder Will Allen met at the Idea Festival booth for Heine Brothers’ Coffee, a locally owned business that provides coffee grounds for Louisville’s Breaking New Grounds compost project.
Read “Growing Urban Farms” about Will Allen’s visit to Lexington, Ky.

 

What gets me out of bed at 5 a.m. on a Saturday? Nothing that doesn’t have to do with agriculture, horses or urban farming. So when I found out Will Allen, founder of Growing Power and urban farmer extraordinaire, would be speaking on a Saturday morning at Idea Festival in Louisville, Ky., I knew I’d be there, bright and early.

Allen spoke to the crowd about Growing Power’s work to train urban farmers and educate people around the world about sustainable agriculture and nutritious foods.

“It’s not a good food movement anymore. It’s a revolution,” he says. “We all have a responsibility to make sure our neighbors, our friends and especially our young ones are eating nutritious food.”

By 2050, Allen says, 80 percent of the world’s population will live in cities. “We’re losing land as we speak. We’re losing farmers as we speak.”

Learning to grow food in urban environments is more important than ever for feeding people good food. Allen points out that within one week of being taken from the vine, vegetables lose 50 percent of their nutrients. “That’s why local food is so important.”

After his session, Allen took a few minutes to talk to me—making him late for a workshop with Breaking New Grounds (Sorry, folks!), an urban- and sustainable-farming training organization in Louisville—about the urban-farming movement. Here’s a sampling from our conversation:

LM:What are some of the biggest challenges facing people involved with urban farming?

WA: You can go out and get all the land you want, build up all the infrastructure you want, and that really doesn’t mean very much if you haven’t done the first thing, and that’s to engage the community—to get the community on board—and that sometimes takes a long time. I think that is the key piece. Every community is different; some communities are easier to engage than others.

[Start small.]

I hear people say, “The city is offering me 200 vacant lots.”

And I look at them and say, “OK. So, what are you going to do with it?”

And they say, “Oh, we can grow food.”

No, you can’t. “How many people do you have working?”

“It’s just me and somebody else.”

“So how are you going to grow on 200 vacant lots?”

It’s OK to take one vacant lot and put a demonstration there of what [an urban farm] can look like. Bring people there from parts of the community, and show them that this is what you have done, and they can say, “I want one of those on this vacant lot over here.”

To me, that makes sense. It also provides you with a place where you can take politicos, funders and other people to get them on board, because words are just cheap. You can say anything. The reason I show those images [in the presentations] is because that’s the work we do; it’s concrete. People can’t deny it. …

I think that’s really important—the engagement. If you can’t do that piece, you can’t move forward. You can spend all the money in the world. I’ve seen projects where people get $200,000 for a 100- by 100-foot lot, but a year later, it’s all in weeds. What does that mean? You’ve got to have passionate people; you’ve got to have more than one person. See, I was one person starting this group (Growing Power), but I always tell people to get more than one person because I wouldn’t want anybody to do what I did.

Get yourself some passionate partners. … You’ve got to have somebody who’s going to hang in there.

LM:In some cities, ordinances are preventing people from keeping bees, chickens or goats. Do you have any advice for working with government bodies?

WA: That demonstration farm that I was talking about, bring the politicos there. They’re more likely to make policy change when they see something is an asset to the city.
Politicians react to what’s going to give them votes. They don’t react to the right thing, because the right thing might not get them reelected. But if you’re able to garner enough support and you have something that people want to see and you can demonstrate that, they’re going to support it. I move policy further along with our demonstration project than I do with just getting in a line to talk to them like I’m a lobbyist.

LM:How can people who are just getting started in urban farming find the resources they need?

WA: Come to workshops. At Breaking New Grounds [in Louisville, Ky.], we’ll be doing a series of workshops as a regional training center. They can come to Milwaukee for hands-on training from the ground up. That’s how you get started. [Additional Growing Power Regional Outreach Training Centers are listed at www.growingpower.org, and other organizations hold workshops in communities nationwide.]

At those workshops, you meet other people. Many times, people come to a workshop and they meet people in their own region who are doing similar work that they didn’t even know about. That’s another way for them to get engaged, because you need partnerships to do this work. You can’t do it in isolation. … This is communal stuff.

 

Urban Farm EmpowermentWill Allen, the face of urban farming today, makes his case for local, sustainable foods at Idea Festival.By Lisa Munniksma, Urban Farm managing editor10/06/2009Will Allen, the face of urban farming today, makes his case for local, sustainable foods at Idea Festival.Will Allen, the face of urban farming today, makes his case for local, sustainable foods at Idea Festival.news, ufnewstrain urban farmers, nutritious food, Will Allen

Categories
News

Urban Farm Empowerment

 

Growing Power founder Will Allen speaks in Lexington, Ky.

UF managing editor Lisa Munniksma and Growing Power founder Will Allen met at the Idea Festival booth for Heine Brothers’ Coffee, a locally owned business that provides coffee grounds for Louisville’s Breaking New Grounds compost project.
 
Read “Growing Urban Farms” about Will Allen’s visit to Lexington, Ky.

What gets me out of bed at 5 a.m. on a Saturday? Nothing that doesn’t have to do with agriculture, horses or urban farming. So when I found out Will Allen, founder of Growing Power and urban farmer extraordinaire, would be speaking on a Saturday morning at Idea Festival in Louisville, Ky., I knew I’d be there, bright and early.

Allen spoke to the crowd about Growing Power’s work to train urban farmers and educate people around the world about sustainable agriculture and nutritious foods.

“It’s not a good food movement anymore. It’s a revolution,” he says. “We all have a responsibility to make sure our neighbors, our friends and especially our young ones are eating nutritious food.”

By 2050, Allen says, 80 percent of the world’s population will live in cities. “We’re losing land as we speak. We’re losing farmers as we speak.”

Learning to grow food in urban environments is more important than ever for feeding people good food. Allen points out that within one week of being taken from the vine, vegetables lose 50 percent of their nutrients. “That’s why local food is so important.”

After his session, Allen took a few minutes to talk to me—making him late for a workshop with Breaking New Grounds (Sorry, folks!), an urban- and sustainable-farming training organization in Louisville—about the urban-farming movement. Here’s a sampling from our conversation:

LM:What are some of the biggest challenges facing people involved with urban farming?

WA: You can go out and get all the land you want, build up all the infrastructure you want, and that really doesn’t mean very much if you haven’t done the first thing, and that’s to engage the community—to get the community on board—and that sometimes takes a long time. I think that is the key piece. Every community is different; some communities are easier to engage than others.

[Start small.]

I hear people say, “The city is offering me 200 vacant lots.”

And I look at them and say, “OK. So, what are you going to do with it?”

And they say, “Oh, we can grow food.”

No, you can’t. “How many people do you have working?”

“It’s just me and somebody else.”

“So how are you going to grow on 200 vacant lots?”

It’s OK to take one vacant lot and put a demonstration there of what [an urban farm] can look like. Bring people there from parts of the community, and show them that this is what you have done, and they can say, “I want one of those on this vacant lot over here.”

To me, that makes sense. It also provides you with a place where you can take politicos, funders and other people to get them on board, because words are just cheap. You can say anything. The reason I show those images [in the presentations] is because that’s the work we do; it’s concrete. People can’t deny it. …

I think that’s really important—the engagement. If you can’t do that piece, you can’t move forward. You can spend all the money in the world. I’ve seen projects where people get $200,000 for a 100- by 100-foot lot, but a year later, it’s all in weeds. What does that mean? You’ve got to have passionate people; you’ve got to have more than one person. See, I was one person starting this group (Growing Power), but I always tell people to get more than one person because I wouldn’t want anybody to do what I did.

Get yourself some passionate partners. … You’ve got to have somebody who’s going to hang in there.

LM:In some cities, ordinances are preventing people from keeping bees, chickens or goats. Do you have any advice for working with government bodies?

WA: That demonstration farm that I was talking about, bring the politicos there. They’re more likely to make policy change when they see something is an asset to the city.
Politicians react to what’s going to give them votes. They don’t react to the right thing, because the right thing might not get them reelected. But if you’re able to garner enough support and you have something that people want to see and you can demonstrate that, they’re going to support it. I move policy further along with our demonstration project than I do with just getting in a line to talk to them like I’m a lobbyist.

LM:How can people who are just getting started in urban farming find the resources they need?

WA: Come to workshops. At Breaking New Grounds [in Louisville, Ky.], we’ll be doing a series of workshops as a regional training center. They can come to Milwaukee for hands-on training from the ground up. That’s how you get started. [Additional Growing Power Regional Outreach Training Centers are listed at www.growingpower.org, and other organizations hold workshops in communities nationwide.]

At those workshops, you meet other people. Many times, people come to a workshop and they meet people in their own region who are doing similar work that they didn’t even know about. That’s another way for them to get engaged, because you need partnerships to do this work. You can’t do it in isolation. … This is communal stuff.

 

Categories
Animals

The Lowdown on Pigs

 

Carlotta loves being on the farm but Wilma wanted to be free
Photo by Sue Weaver
Carlotta

We have a pig on our farm. Her name is Carlotta.

We used to have two pigs, but they broke their fence one night and ran away into the woods. Our other pig was a feral hog named Wilma.

When Wilma was a tiny piglet, she got lost from her mama out in the woods; some nice people found her and bottle raised her on goat milk (goat milk is good stuff—ask me, I know!).

Then Mom bought her and brought her here. She was happy for a while but longed to be free. When Wilma ran away, Mom walked in the woods for days and days, calling her. She never came back. Mom was very sad.

Carlotta is half Wild Boar and half Ossabaw Island hog, so she looks a lot like Wilma did but Carlotta has cute, fringed ears.

Carlotta has never been wild, so when Mom called her she came home. Now she’s an only pig, but she’s happy because the horses let her live with them when she isn’t sleeping in her hut in the pig pen.

Carlotta is smart! Pigs are smarter than most of us think. They can learn to do amazing tricks and play video games even better than chimps (and some people!).

Carlotta doesn’t have any video games, but she does have a ball that she plays with. She also likes to play with Mom. Carlotta waits till Mom opens the gate and then Carlotta races out.

Then she walks around the yard ignoring Mom and chuckling under her breath while Mom shakes a bucket of corn calling, “Carlotta! Pig pig pig!” (that means, “Carlotta, it’s time to eat”). 

Tame pigs have been around a long, long time. Scientists think they joined up with humans about 9,000 years ago in eastern Turkey and again later on in China.

That’s almost as long as us goats, but we were the first species tamed.

Mom says pigs make neat farm pets—except when Carlotta is ignoring Mom’s bucket of corn (I can’t tell you what Mom says then). They’re easy to take care of and they’ll eat your leftovers, so your ‘fridge doesn’t get too full. There’s even an email group called Big Pigs for people who keep full-size or feral pigs as pets. Maybe you need a pet pig too!  

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Categories
Crops & Gardening

Italian Rice

 

One of the many fields passed by on the train to Milan 
Photos by Rick Gush

Field by Milan

I took the train to Milan last week, and was as usual impressed by the enormous agricultural activity in the Po river valley.  The top of Italy is a huge river valley, almost the same size as the central valley in California. 

Agriculture is dominant in this area, and when one sees the number of cultivated fields, it is easy to see why Italy is one of Europe’s agricultural powerhouses.

The olives that dominate the hilly regions of Italy give way to a more mixed cultivation here in the big flat river valley. 

All along the edges of this area, where the flat plain gives way to the foothills that lead to the Alps in the north and the Apennine mountains in the west (The Apennine mountains are the chain that runs more or less north south in a ridge in the middle of the peninsula), fruit orchards are common. 

Yes, Italy does grow a lot of grapes in her foothills, but she also produces a huge amount of tree fruits, and exports a lot of them to the northern European countries.

The flat terrain towards Milan is dominated by rice farmers
Rice fields

But the flat area is dominated by rice growers.  Riding on the train that runs through the middle of this huge valley, one sees a whole lot of rice fields, and in September, the fields are all golden and ready for the imminent harvest. 

Here and there are dotted fields of tomatoes, field corn, onions, squash, wheat, timber poplars and alfalfa, but three quarters of the area seems to be planted to rice. 

After Asia, Italy and California are the biggest rice growing regions in the world.  Like California, Italy exports a lot of rice to Asia, but Germany, France and England are the largest consumers of Italian rice.  Many Italian growers grow specific varieties destined for German customers, and Italy produces more organically grown rice than any other country.

There’s a good mix of agribusiness and small farming here.  Medium-sized farmers face the same difficulties of foreign competition as do American farmers, but they aren’t being bought up or forced out in the same way. 

Some fields are similar looking to those in California
These fields look like the tomato fields in California.

Family run farms are more common than not and there are a whole lot of organic growers.  Most of the small farmers grow for the local markets as well as producing specialty products that can be exported through cooperatives. 

This big valley starts in the northwest at the base of the mountains that separate France from Italy and runs down to the Adriatic Sea.  The Po River is only the largest of the numerous rivers, creeks, canals and watercourses that criss-cross the valley. 

Milan is the huge sprawling city in the northeast corner of the valley, but even Milan is dwarfed by the surrounding rice fields that come right up to the edge of the city.  No surprise that the most famous dishes in Milanese cooking are based on rice.

<>

Categories
Homesteading

Farm Dogs on Holiday

 

Brett Langlois with his dog, Pippin 
Courtesy Cherie Langlois
Brett Langlois and Pippin take a break during play on a sand dune.

Have you given your farm dog (or dogs) some love recently? 
 
How about a break from the farm? 
 
This month has been designated AKC Responsible Dog Ownership Days by the American Kennel Club, and I just finished surfing over to read and sign their AKC Responsible Dog Owner Pet Promise (like to join me? Click here). 

As a former zoo keeper and veterinary assistant, I’ve always prided myself on being a pretty responsible pet owner. 

Our two dogs, Pippin and Daisy, get a good diet, exercise, veterinary care and loads of love.  They’re fixed, and we don’ t let them roam. 

Still, one item on the Pet Promise list gave me a guilty twinge:  “I will socialize my dog via exposure to new people, places and other dogs.” 

Of course, this kind of socialization is critical during puppyhood to turn out a well-adjusted family pet, and we tried to make sure Pippin experienced many different people, dogs and places as a pup (Daisy came to live with us as an adult). 

But in recent years, it seems like we’ve taken the easy way out and allowed both dogs to become farm-bodies. 

Sure, they love it here: sniffing through pastures for rodents, treeing squirrels, stealing bread from chickens, lazing in the sun.  But just like with us, I think it’s good for them to escape from the farm every so often. 
 

Cherie Langlois' dog, Daisy
Courtesy Cherie Langlois
Daisy does the dunes — a happy farm dog on holiday.

Not long ago, for instance, we took the dogs with us on a camping trip to the Oregon Coast.  Don’t ask me how, but we managed to stuff two adults, one teen, a large Coonhound mix, a Terri-Poo, AND our camping gear into our petite Nissan Versa. 

Six hours later, we extricated ourselves, thrilled to hear the roar of the ocean again, breathe in the salty sea air, and see the Umpqua River Lighthouse gleaming white against the sky.  The dogs were ecstatic.

We visited Grandpa and Grandma, walked around wooded lakes, and climbed a giant sand dune to find a surreal, lonely desert of undulating dunes stretching to the ocean, a place where the dogs could run, dig and roll to their hearts’ content. 

How huge and exciting that world must have seemed to them after so much time spent within the boundaries of our five-acre farm!

So I’ve promised my farm dogs more off-farm excursions in the future.  After all, they’re part of the family.

I’d love to hear about what you do to enrich your faithful friend’s life 🙂

~ Cherie 

Categories
News

New Administrator for NOP

Miles McEvoy is the new deputy administrator of the National Organic Program

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently announced that Miles McEvoy has been hired to serve as deputy administrator of the National Organic Program (NOP). McEvoy assumes his position on Oct. 1.

 

Vilsack also announced that the NOP will become an independent program area within the Agricultural Marketing Service because of the increased visibility and emphasis on organic agriculture throughout the farming community, evolving consumer preferences and the enhanced need for governmental oversight of the program.

 

The NOP will be receiving increased funding and staffing in the new fiscal year.

 

“Miles McEvoy has worked in the field of organic agriculture for more than two decades and has a solid understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the organic community,” Vilsack said.

 

For more than 20 years, McEvoy led the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s Organic Food Program, one of the nation’s first state organic certification programs. In 2001, he helped establish the WSDA Small Farm and Direct Marketing Program.

 

From 1993 until 1995, McEvoy was the founding director of The Food Alliance, a program that blends sustainable farming practices and social welfare components into an eco-label program.

 

McEvoy helped establish the National Association of State Organic Programs in 1998 and currently serves as its president. He also assisted the Montana Department of Agriculture to develop the state’s organic certification program and has been helping the Oregon Department of Agriculture in developing its own organic certification program.

 

The NOP is responsible for regulating the fastest growing segment of U.S. agriculture, the organic industry. U.S. sales of organic foods have grown from $1 billion in 1990, when the Organic Foods Production Act established the NOP, to a projected $23.6 billion in 2009. Congress increased NOP funding to $2.6 million in FY08 and to $3.2 million in FY09.

Categories
News

‘Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food’

Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food is a program set up by the USDA to help spread word about local food systems

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan today announced a new initiative – ‘Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food’ – to begin a national conversation to help develop local and regional food systems and spur economic opportunity.

Secretary Vilsack launched the initiative with the first of several videos, which can be viewed at USDA’s YouTube channel.

“An American people that is more engaged with their food supply will create new income opportunities for American agriculture,” said Vilsack.

“Reconnecting consumers and institutions with local producers will stimulate economies in rural communities, improve access to healthy, nutritious food for our families, and decrease the amount of resources to transport our food.”

The “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative, chaired by Deputy Secretary Merrigan, is the focus of a task force with representatives from agencies across USDA who will help better align the Department’s efforts to build stronger local and regional food systems.

“Americans are more interested in food and agriculture than at any other time since most families left the farm,” said Merrigan.

“‘Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food’ seeks to focus that conversation on supporting local and regional food systems to strengthen American agriculture by promoting sustainable agricultural practices and spurring economic opportunity in rural communities.”

In the months to come, cross-cutting efforts at USDA will seek to use existing USDA programs to break down structural barriers that have inhibited local food systems from thriving.

Today, USDA announced a small initial group of moves that seek to connect local production and consumption and promote local-scale sustainable operations:

  • USDA’s Risk Management Agency announced $3.4 million in funding for collaborative outreach and assistance programs to socially disadvantaged and underserved farmers. These programs will support “Know You Farmer” goals by helping producers adopt new and direct marketing practices.

    For example, nearly $10,000 in funding for the University of Minnesota will bring together experts on food safety and regulations for a discussion of marketing to institutions like K-12 schools, colleges, universities, hospitals and other health care facilities.

  • USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service proposed regulations to implement a new voluntary cooperative program under which select state-inspected establishments will be eligible to ship meat and poultry products in interstate commerce. The new program was created in the 2008 Farm Bill and will provide new economic opportunities for small meat and poultry establishments, whose markets are currently limited.
  • USDA’s Rural Development announced $4.4 million in grants to help 23 local business cooperatives in 19 states. The member-driven and member-owned cooperative business model has been successful for rural enterprises, and bring rural communities closer to the process of moving from production-to-consumption as they work to improve their products and expand their appeal in the marketplace.
  • USDA’s Rural Development will also announce a Rural Business Opportunity Grant in the amount of $150,000 to the Northwest Food Processors Association. The grant will strengthen the relationship between local food processors and customers in parts of Idaho, Oregon and Washington, and will also help the group reduce energy consumption, a major cost for food processors.
  • As the “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative evolves, USDA will continue to build on the momentum and ideas from the 2008 Farm Bill and target its existing programs and develop new ones to pursue sustainable agriculture and support for local and regional food systems.
Categories
Crops & Gardening

Garden Pollinators

There are a majority of great pollinating insects
Photo by Jessica Walliser

I was lucky enough to be invited to Rhode Island this summer to film a segment for the television show Cultivating Life. 

Last year, on the tails of the release of my book Good Bug Bad Bug, I was invited to talk about beneficial insects in the garden.  This year they asked me to discuss alternate pollinators. 

The show’s overall focus was the honeybee, but they also wanted to focus on some of the lesser known pollinators found every day in our landscapes. 

Most gardeners don’t know there are over 3,000 species of native bees across North America; most of which don’t sting and live solitary lives.  They do the important work of pollinating literally millions of plants and are busily trying to pick up the slack left behind by Colony Collapse Disorder. 

Unfortunately, many of these little guys are suffering from habitat loss, parasites, and pesticide exposure just like the European honeybee (who seems to get all the press lately). 

Orchard mason bee nesting blocks
Photo by Jessica Walliser

These little native bees are real workhorses in the orchard and garden.  You can encourage them by planting a diversity of blooming plants, especially those with clusters of small flowers (like dill, fennel, alyssum, yarrow and the like), by cutting out the chemicals, and by allowing a portion of your garden to stand through the winter. 

Cutting perennials and grasses to the ground each fall, eliminates overwintering and egg laying sites for all sorts of beneficial creatures, including some species of native bees. 

Making a few orchard mason bee nesting blocks and hanging them up around the farm is another sound idea for luring in this specific, and very important, pollinator. 

Bees, though, aren’t the only pollinator we discussed on the show.  Beetles, flies, wasps, and other insects, as well as hummingbirds, moths and butterflies are all helpful pollinators. 

A diversity of plants around the farm is always a good idea.  The more the merrier.           

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Categories
News

Help for New England Dairy Farms

The Keep Local Farms program is a way to ensure farmers are paid a sustainable price for their milk

On September 13, New England state agriculture leaders joined forces with dairy promotion organizations to launch the Keep Local Farms program.

Inspired by the “Fair Trade” concept, Keep Local Farms will help get more money directly to dairy farmers while creating stronger connections between farmers and their customers. 

The program is an effort to ensure dairy farmers in the Northeast are paid a sustainable price for their milk and to provide consumers with a way to support local dairy farmers, their community and the local economy.
 
“The Keep Local Farms program is a creative and innovative approach to help our struggling dairy farmers in a very difficult economic environment. Vermonters are committed to helping preserve our dairy heritage and this program is one way we all can contribute.  I look forward to the seeing the Keep Local Farms program succeed,” said Governor Douglas.

The Problem

Dairy farmers all across the Northeast and the nation are struggling to survive due to the low prices they are paid for their milk and the high cost to produce milk.

Most consumers are not aware that a dairy farmer currently gets about .97 cents per gallon of milk while it costs about $1.80 to produce. This is not sustainable and threatens to undermine the dairy industry in the Northeast. 

“Our dairy farmers are the backbone of agriculture in Vermont. They are stewards of the land and contribute significantly to our economy and way of life,” said Roger Allbee, Vermont Secretary of Agriculture.

“There is not a dairy farmer in the state who has not been impacted by this crisis and while not a silver bullet, Keep Local Farms is a way for people to support this important industry and help dairy farmers get a more equitable price for their product.”

What’s at Stake

The dairy industry in New England has a significant economic impact on the region. The milk produced on these farms is valued at $12.2 billion, and creates over $5 billion in economic activity. 

There are approximately 1880 farms in New England and 99 percent of them are small, with fewer than 100 cows per farm. Nonetheless, they provide upwards of 22,000 jobs in the dairy industry, including farming, farm supply businesses, milk haulers, processors, marketers, farm service firms and agencies.

Consumers Vote with Their Dollars

Consumers play an essential role in the Keep Local Farms program and the future viability of dairy farmers in the region. 

In addition to purchasing nutrient-rich dairy products at the store, Keep Local Farms allows consumers to contribute directly to dairy farmers through the Keep Local Farms website (KeepLocalFarms.org) and in the future, through co-branded dairy products.

By contributing to a fund that will be shared with farmers of the Northeast, consumers can help guarantee a fair wage for dairy farmers and support the fresh, local food network they help to sustain.  

“We encourage consumers to purchase and enjoy nutritious, high quality and dairy products from our New England dairy farms,” stated Darryl Williams, Dairy Farmer and board member of the New England Family Dairy Farm Cooperative, “And if consumers would like to do more to support dairy farmers the Keep Local Farms program helps them do that.”

The Keep Local Farms program will grow through partnerships with retailers, organizations, colleges/universities and businesses that share the core values of support for local farms, community, economy and you the consumer.  These are partners who value farms, local foods and sustainable business practices. 

For more information on the Keep Local Farms program please visit www.keeplocalfarms.org or call 877-388-7381. Keep Local Farms is a partnership between the Vermont Dairy Promotion Council, the New England Family Dairy Farm Cooperative with Cooperative Development Institute, and the New England Dairy Promotion Board.