![]() ![]() “My staff and I are working closely with state agencies and other stakeholders to look at every possible tool.” “I believe that loopholes in our organic standards are being exploited by very large dairies and I have appealed directly to USDA Secretary Vilsack to close these loopholes, which are now directly impacting our rural communities,” Leahy’s statement said. That puts farmers who closely adhere to the spirit of the certification at a disadvantage. Some farmers have used the rule to continually raise young livestock non-organically, which is cheaper. One such gap, meant to allow conventional farmers to make a one-time transition to organic farming, is a loophole that permits animals not raised organically to be transitioned to organic later on in their lives. Both relate to gaps in the National Organic Program. Two factors have made it increasingly easy for bigger farms across the country to become certified as organic. ![]() “I think that the state needs to start considering what we lose when we lose small farms,” said Abbie Corse, an organic dairy farmer who sells to Organic Valley and serves on the board of NOFA-VT of Vermont and on the Vermont Climate Council. Department of Agriculture are working on the issue, and Dehne said she’s met with regional members of the national Organic Farmers Association. Members of Vermont’s delegation and representatives from the U.S. State officials, farmers, processors and others involved with the industry, like members of NOFA-VT, have been convening for weeks to try to find solutions for the farmers affected by Danone’s decision to pull out of the region.Īnson Tebbetts, secretary of Vermont’s Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets, has assembled a task force on the matter. Some say it’s also becoming harder for newcomers to access the industry. But farmers without contracts are faced with tricky decisions, like finding innovative new markets, becoming larger, or abandoning the organic milk business altogether. Those who have current contracts with existing producers, like Organic Valley and Stonyfield Organic, remain on solid footing. Many close to the issue say gaps in federal regulations have allowed large farms around the country to maintain organic certifications, flooding the market and making it more difficult for Vermont’s organic dairy farmers to compete on a national scale. ![]() Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerīecause farmers in the organic program are paid a higher premium for their product, organic certifications have served as a way to maintain the economic viability of many of Vermont’s small- and medium-sized farms. “We’re at the point where if we don’t ship milk, it’s pretty hard to stay in business,” Joe Hescock said. Joe and Kathleen Hescock run Elysian Fields, an organic dairy farm in Shoreham. It’s been about a month since they received the letter, and the Hescocks don’t know what their future holds, or whether they’ll be able to continue farming at all. The Hescocks, who milk 325 cows at their farm, Elysian Fields, have been producing for Horizon since 1999. Last month, the Shoreham-based family, along with 88 other farmers in the Northeast, received a letter with news that Horizon’s parent company, Danone, plans to terminate their contracts on Aug. In 2017, Horizon Organic recognized Joe and Kathleen Hescock with an honorable mention for a national award praising their commitment to farming and their involvement in their community. Theirs is one of the Vermont farms whose contracts with Horizon Organic will be terminated next year. Kathleen Hescock in a barn at Elysian Fields, the organic dairy farm owned by Hescock and her husband Joe, in Shoreham on Wednesday, Sept.
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