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Monday, February 21, 2011

Maine organic milk company shows difficulties small producers have gaining a foothold

Organic milk sales are expected to grow as much as 10 percent this year, but many small producers are having trouble. In Edmunds, Maine, a small, farmer-run outfit called Maine’s Own Organic Milk has struggled to stay afloat since its milk first reached stores in January 2010, Katie Zezima of The New York Times reports. Since 2010 MOO Milk has relied on "a mix of investor money, grants, charitable donations and the kindness of neighbors buying half-gallons in solidarity," to keep its head above water, Zezima writes. "Our boat is made of duct tape and we’ve almost sunk a few times, but we’re paddling along," said owner Aaron Bell.

"There are folks who support what we do, but there’s not enough of them up here," David Bright, a former newspaper reporter and the organization’s treasurer, told Zezima. "So far, I haven’t been able to find 6,000 people who will buy a gallon of our milk each week." In the organic milk industry "competition is cutthroat, and small players tend to struggle," Zezima writes. Nancy Hirshberg, vice president for natural resources at Stonyfield Farm, a leading maker of organic dairy products, explained "Milk sells for a very, very small margin" of profit. "It’s about high volume."

MOO Milk started in 2009 after HP Hood, the company's predecessor, canceled contracts with local dairymen after the recession led consumers to cut back on purchases of the more expensive organic variety of milk. Nine farmers who had worked with Hood banded together to form MOO Milk, which started on donations, including $50,000 from Stonyfield, Zezima writes. The company has struggled to fund enough advertising to convince customers to purchase its product instead of its rivals. Despite the group's struggles, many of the MOO Milk farmers remain optimistic. "If we can hold everything together, I really think that we’re going to make it," said Herb McPhail, one of the MOO Milk farmers. (Read more)

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