Total Dairy Farm Operations: (L)arge, (M)edium, & (S)mall Farm Operations (2012-2022)
Between 2012 and 2022, the total number of dairy farms in the state dropped by 32.09% and the average herd size increased from 138 head/farm (2012) to 214 head/farm (2022). The quantity of milk being produced has not seen much change, even with fewer farms. As smaller farms closed, their herds were absorbed into the medium and large farms.
Farm losses are attributed primarily to financial difficulties and a lack of generational transfers from parent to child. The average age of Vermont's dairy farmers is rising as fewer members of the newer generations are taking on agriculture as a career. A reduction in input prices (e.g diesel, freight, seed, fertilizer, feed costs, and especially payroll) would better allow small farms to weather economic headwinds.
- Large Farm [Over 700]
- Medium Farm [200-699]
- Small Farm [Under 200]
Total Certified Organic Farms (2012-2022)
The total number of organic dairy farms fell by 24.39% during the same period as non-organic farms. This is nearly 10% less than conventional diary.
Organic milk occupies a different economic market than non-organic and while both types of farms face similar input price pressures (e.g diesel & feed costs), organic farms are affected differently from the broad economic factors that produces volatility in non-organic markets (i.e export conditions, seasonality of milk production, and perishability of milk) and have seen slightly better returns than conventional diary. In practice, it can be assumed generally that those individuals who value organic products for their health benefits and can afford organic milk, will continue purchasing it even if the economy struggles.
For the farmer, organic milk is more costly to produce, yet fetches a higher price per hundredweight. However, switching to organic dairy production may not be the answer for conventional farms that are struggling financially. The organic milk market faces the same issues of oversupply as the conventional milk market. There is more production of organic milk than there is demand for organic milk. Some farmers have benefited financially from the change but that is not always the case.
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What Can Be Done?
I am asked frequently, what can be done to support Vermont's dairy, and especially small dairy farms? The first step to this doesn't rely on legislation and reiterates what I've supported for many years - buy more dairy products, especially local dairy, and support your farmers in your community. This isn't only my opinion, it's also the opinion of the Vermont Agency of Agriculture. Dairy farms are businesses and the best way to support any business is through your individual purchase power. So, buy Vermont milk if you can and support Vermont dairy producers in cheese, ice cream, and other products.
Domestic milk and dairy products can be more expensive. Local smaller-scale production is almost always more expensive. But personally, I would rather spend an extra dollar on domestic Vermont dairy to support our in-state industry, and I'm not alone on this. In November 2014, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets conducted a survey and found that...
- 91% of those surveyed believe dairy is important to Vermont’s quality of life.
- 91% of those surveyed believe buying locally produced products is important.
- 85% of those surveyed are willing to pay more for domestic Vermont dairy.
So, buy Vermont dairy and know that most Vermonters stand with you. Drink your kefir with pride!
Vermont dairy farmers suffer from a market glut of milk. More demand for Vermont dairy through increased fluid milk consumption or adding additional dairy processors, would help the dairy industry by increasing demand. Opening new dairy processing operations (i.e cheese, yogurt, kefir etc) through the state's available grant programs is an option for those with the expertise and passion to enter the agriculture industry and help dairy farmers.
This is also one strategy that has been utilized by dairy farms. Some farms have added onsite processing facilities to add value to their milk by making cheeses and other products. This vertical integration allows the farmer/producer to bypass wholesale pricing of milk and use their own milk supply directly, thereby only paying farm operating costs and avoiding much of the cost that puts a premium on wholesale milk (transportation/diesel, etc).
Another way to help our farms, the state could lower input/operating costs or work to keep them as low as possible. Cheaper transportation, feed, fertilizer, and fuel will always help our farms prosper. In support of our farmers and our communities at large, I am opposed to measures to raise the cost of fossil fuels or penalizing those that use it. I am in favor of encouraging farmers to diversify their energy sources with efficient renewables.
The state could also work to address the volatility in milk prices. The federally set price for milk fluctuates wildly based on supply, demand,
I tour farms and interview farmers, and I hear the same message everywhere I go - remove or lower farming regulations. There must be conversations to the damage being done to our diary industry.
This isn't just coming from me and the farmers I've interviewed. Anson Tebbetts, current Vermont Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets expressed the same idea. "We need to give farmers options and not dictate one practice over another, we need to continue to invest in programs that give them a better option to stay in business. That means not putting more onerous regulations on them — the ones we have in place are working."
This is what it boils down to, when farmers are struggling financially, they should have multiple options to turn to and never feel trapped.
In relation to environmental regulations in dairy, there are compromises that can be made between farms and the environmental concerns. Regenerative farming practices, including cover cropping and no-till planting methods to develop healthy soil biodiversity and sequester carbon from the atmosphere, along with riparian buffers to prevent runoff, can be adopted. Supporting farms to make these decisions, rather than mandating regulations, is a better path to take in our environmental policy. As a dairy farmer told me recently, "farmers want to prevent runoff too; farms lose money when those nutrients leave the fields and get into the rivers".
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Meet Sam Douglass!
A Northeast Kingdom native endorsed by Governor Phil Scott who's standing up for a region often forgotten!