Dairy | Grass-fed dairy may be key to Northeast sector resilience

NHAES highlights farm management, higher milk production of grass-fed organic dairy.

The U.S. organic dairy market is experiencing a major shift. After expansion during the 2000s and 2010s, the U.S. sales of organic milk have dropped steadily over the past 5 years—by 2.3 percent in 2022 alone—and prices declined by 25% between 2017 and 2022, according to data from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. The slump is largely due to the market mismatch between the growing organic milk production and lower demand for all dairy milk in the U.S. However, challenges for New Hampshire’s small organic dairy farms, which have 100 or fewer milking cows, have been exacerbated by increasing feed costs and large organic milk processors, such as Horizon Organic and Maple Hill Creamery, recently transitioning to purchasing more milk from larger dairy operations in other U.S. regions.

Mirá también:

NIFA-funded Project Brings COVID-19 Education, Vaccines to Rural Dairy Farms

Despite these challenges, New England organic dairy farmers can increase their sustainability and market competitiveness is through innovation in their management strategies, according to Andre Brito, a scientist with the NH Agricultural Experiment Station and associate professor in the Agriculture, Nutrition and Food Systems department.

One area of the organic dairy market that has not only seen growth, but rapid recent expansion is the organic grass-fed (OGF) sector. OGF managed farms must adhere to more stringent protocols than a traditional organic dairy operation. But there are two major benefits to OGF management, explains Brito, including greater resiliency to rising costs of feed grain and a generally higher price than regular organic milk.

Until recently, however, the organic grass-fed management systems have had little research directed to identifying best practices for higher milk production. Brito was recently one of several Northeast scientists to contribute to a paper in Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems journal that studied management techniques of OGF dairy farmers. Led by researchers at the University of Vermont, the study provides a better understanding of this sector and its operations and needs.

Mirá también:

Peruvian Gloria Group buys subsidiary of Fonterra in Chile

“With the margin of profitability declining over time for organic dairy farmers, one solution has been to reduce feed costs and shift to 100 percent forage diets and produce a type of milk that has a higher price point.

“Pasture and forage are the cheapest source of feed in a dairy farm as imported grains can be very expensive,” he adds. “With the margin of profitability declining over time for organic dairy farmers, one solution has been to reduce feed costs and shift to 100 percent forage diets and produce a type of milk that has a higher price point.”

Responses from the survey were generally concentrated in the Northeast (particularly New York) and the Midwest, suggesting that the majority of OGF farms are likely located in those areas, says Brito. The researchers are seeing more and more organic dairy operations transitioning to OGF management, as one way to find a competitive advantage in an otherwise stagnating organic dairy industry.

“I’m positive that the organic dairy sector in New England allowed, and is still allowing, a lot of farmers to remain in business,” Brito says. “Otherwise, those smaller operations wouldn’t be viable economically.”

Brito’s and others’ research into OGF management is adding another tool in dairy farmers’ toolbox to allow many small and medium New England dairy farms – in some cases, farms that have been run by the same families for generations – to remain competitive and resilient.

This material is based on work supported by the NH Agricultural Experiment Station through joint funding from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (under Hatch award number 1017808) and the state of New Hampshire.

–NH Agricultural Experiment Station

Nestlé exits dairy, juices in Ecuador with Grupo Gloria deal

Look also

Returns On Capital At Nestlé (VTX:NESN) Have Hit The Brakes

You may be interested in

Fact Check: Bovaer’s active ingredient not detected in dairy products

Returns On Capital At Nestlé (VTX:NESN) Have Hit The Brakes

Federal dairy orders unpacked

Topics |
Dairy, Grass fed

Legal Notice

Legal notice about Intellectual Property in digital contents. All information contained in these pages that is NOT owned by eDairy News and is NOT considered “public domain” by legal regulations, are registered trademarks of their respective owners and recognized by our company as such. The publication on the eDairy News website is made for the purpose of gathering information, respecting the rules contained in the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works; in Law 11.723 and other applicable rules. Any claim arising from the information contained in the eDairy News website shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Ordinary Courts of the First Judicial District of the Province of Córdoba, Argentina, with seat in the City of Córdoba, excluding any other jurisdiction, including the Federal.