Organic Valley and Northeast farmers

A new initiative between the nation's largest dairy cooperative, Organic Valley and Northeast farmers promises to be mutually beneficial. Organic Valley-CROPP announced its commitment to providing support services to its members, especially farmers transitioning to organic. Those membership support services will include a Farmer Hotline, a staff veterinarian, and a full Farm Resource Program that will feature a new "Northeast Transition to Organic Fund," a financial empowerment program for dairy producers who are transitioning to organic. The Fund will have a three-tier structure designed to meet the needs of each transition phase, including: 1) During the first nine months of transition feeding, farmers will be paid a premium of $1.00 per hundredweight above their non-organic milk pay price; 2) For the last 90 days of feeding, farmers will receive a premium of $2.00 per hundredweight above their non-organic milk pay price; and 3) For the first three months on the organic truck, farmers will get $1.00 per hundredweight above the organic payment price. "Organic Valley-CROPP is committed to working with transitioning dairy farmers in the Northeast to overcome increased organic feed costs and other difficult financial challenges during the last year of the dairy transition to organic," said Organic Valley-CROPP East Region Pool Coordinator Peter Miller. "Our goal is to ease the burden of going organic." The transition premiums have been made possible through a partnership between Organic Valley-CROPP and Stonyfield Farm, the provider of the majority of the funds. Stonyfield Farm is one of the cooperative's oldest customers and uses Organic Valley milk in all of its organic yogurt and smoothie lines.

"Because of the premium paid to organic farmers, we see organic dairy as a critical tool for keeping farms viable and land in agriculture -- not house lots," said Stonyfield Farm President and CEO Gary Hirshberg. "Helping farmers transition to organic production is a key part of our mission to support family farms and prevent the loss of farms in our region."

For further information about the "Northeast Transition to Organic Fund," farmers in the greater Northeast (Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, and Pennsylvania) are encouraged to contact Peter Miller at 888-444-6455, ext. 407, or e-mail him at peter.miller@organicvalley.coop. For more information about Organic Valley, click here . For more information about Stonyfield Farm, click here .