![]() ![]() "Some of what we're doing now is looking at different ways that we can get the retail buyers to support the initiative. "We've done studies that - and everybody has done studies - that says that such a brand is viable in the Northeast," he said. Maltby says his organization and others are looking to establish a regional cooperative to market organic milk from Vermont and other states in the region. "Faced a situation like this, then there is nothing that producers can do, they just, there's no alternative there." “We just have basically Organic Valley … CROPP cooperative," he said. Letter from organic farming organizations to the USDA Farm Service AgencyĪt the big-picture level, Maltby says there's a problem with lack of competition in the organic dairy market. "And what we're pushing for now is something that can be based on organic cost of production and organic pay price." If it's doing well like it has in the last year, then there is no coverage, because margins have been very good this year," he said. "If the conventional market is doing badly, then organic dairies can benefit from it by signing up. Maltby says the Dairy Margin Coverage Program, based on the gap between conventional dairy prices and conventional production costs, doesn't always work in organic dairy farms' favor. In the longer-term, NODPA and other organizations want the 2023 Farm Bill to include a safety net program specifically for organic dairy farmers. More from Vermont Public: Vermont Organic Dairy Farms Fight To Survive As Industry Consolidates The federal agency did not return an email from Vermont Public. ![]() "Organic agriculture is also a climate-smart system of agriculture worthy of federal investment and support." "The organic dairy industry is an important economic engine in the ortheast and organic dairies serve as anchor businesses to many local rural economies," the letter reads. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency (FSA) sent in September, NODPA and nine other organizations are asking for a "short-term targeted solution using federal funds." For starters, they are seeking money from the federal government to go directly to farmers. Maltby's organization and others are working on several solutions. producers are having to pay grain bills with credit cards." Proposed solutions He added: "We're in a disaster situation. "Otherwise, we're going to have large numbers of organic dairy farms leaving dairy, leaving organics, returning to conventional." “Something needs to be done immediately," said Ed Maltby, the executive director of Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance (NODPA). Only one organic dairy cooperative - Organic Valley - is left in the area. Organic farming nonprofits say more could leave the business, due to high feed and fuel costs, plus an increasingly non-competitive market after Horizon Organic's parent company, Danone North America, terminated its contracts in the Northeast. State data show that nine of Vermont’s organic dairy farms have stopped shipping milk since last year. Ed Maltby, Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance ![]()
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