Here’s a news story about some hard-working dairy farmers, who are starting to explore direct sales of raw milk and other raw dairy products, in response to wholesale fluid milk prices that are way below the cost of production. This is from the Hudson Valley region of New York state. Story by Kyle Wind, excerpted from the Daily Freeman:
Frank Brooks, his sons Randy and Scott, and wife, Cyndi, stand inside the dairy barn where the cows are milked twice a day. These NY farmers work 12 hour days and off-farm jobs to keep shipping milk at a financial loss. Daily Freeman photo.
“TOWN OF MARBLETOWN — After 20 years of growing produce and raising heifers, the F&C Brooks & Sons Farm took a leap of faith in a down economy and expanded their business.
Co-owner Cyndi Brooks said the family bought another 48 acres on Tongore Road from the Open Space Institute for $240,000 in April 2008, and by that summer, they had shipped their first tank of milk. Since then, it’s been a tumultuous ride, but she said she has no regrets.
She described dairy farming as “one of the few industries where you can’t determine how much you’ll be paid,” as they sell milk to Dairylea Cooperative, Inc., which dictates a price of about 90 cents per gallon while it costs about $1.50 per gallon to produce the milk. Continue reading
The Bovine 