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By Tamara Scully, NODPA News contributing writer
It’s not every day that a young couple decides - without any lived experience in dairy farming - to become organic dairy farmers. But fact, as they say, is often stranger than fiction. Conor and Alexis MacDonald, of Bo Lait Farm in Washington, Maine, did just that back in 2015.
Read More...posted to Featured Farms on Sun, Apr 03, 2022
By Ed Maltby, NODPA Executive Director
On Tuesday, March 29, 2022 the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) published the Final Rule for the Origin of Livestock which determines which animals can be considered organic and produce organic milk and milk products. The Final Rule brings clarity and one standard that all certifiers are required to enforce and milk buyers adhere to in their contracts with farmers.
Read More...posted to Industry News on Sun, Apr 03, 2022
By Ed Maltby, NODPA Executive Director
CROPP Cooperative/Organic Valley has opened their cooperative to 90 farmers that have lost their contracts in the last year. This generous action that will enable these farmers to have a home for their milk has only happened once before, in 2009, when HP Hood dropped all their organic contracts, and once again, CROPP stepped in to pick up those contracts. With HP Hood, CROPP also took over the Stonyfield fluid brand to market their milk in a growing market. In 2022, the CROPP Board and member owners have taken on the risk of marketing the milk in a market with slow growth and at a time when its members were just ending restrictive quotas.
Read More...posted to Danone & Maple Hill Terminate 135 Dairy Contracts on Sun, Apr 03, 2022
New York, NY – March 23, 2022. NY-NE Dairy Consortium (“NY-NE”), a branded Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) company dedicated to supporting northeast organic dairy farmers, today announced a partnership with National Resources to secure financing for the first phase of a state-of-the-art dairy processing facility at National Resource’s i.Park 87. Located in Kingston NY, the park was formally operated by IBM as a 2.5 million square foot mainframe computer manufacturing facility. www.youtube.com/watch?v=un9xrhC15lc. Terms of the Partnership, which includes an equity investment by National Resources in NY-NE, were not disclosed.
Read More...
posted to Industry News on Sun, Apr 03, 2022
By Nora Owens, NODPA Field Days Coordinator
It’s been 10 years since the NODPA Field Days was held in Vermont, so we are happy to announce that the 22nd Annual NODPA Field Days will be held in Addison County, with the meeting site located in Middlebury, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post.
Read More...posted to Field Days on Sun, Apr 03, 2022
By Rick Kersbergen, Extension Professor, U of Maine Cooperative Extension, Sustainable Dairy and Forage Systems This article is reprinted with permission
It is hard to escape the news about PFAS contaminated soils, crops, and milk in Maine. For dairy farmers, whose land was often utilized for the legal spreading of biosolids, the scrutiny, frequent accusations, and worry can be overwhelming. As we move closer to another cropping season, there are some steps you can do to minimize the impact of PFAS contaminated soils on your crops and the subsequent milk your cows produce.
Read More...posted to Organic Production on Sun, Apr 03, 2022
By Brad Heins, Associate Professor, Dairy Management, West Central ROC, University of MN This article first appeared in the March 2022 issue of News from the WROC, and is reprinted here with permission.
There has been a lot of chatter lately about inbreeding within the Holstein breed. An early estimate of average inbreeding for Holstein females born in 2021 is 9.1%, with an average yearly increase of 0.3 to 0.4 per year. The average inbreeding has surpassed the recommended inbreeding coefficient of 6.25% that minimizes the negative consequences for fertility, health, and mortality. Inbreeding occurs when closely related sires and dams are mated and there is an increase in the probability that the two genes at the same locus on the chromosome are identical by descent. An increase of homozygous genotypes and a decrease of heterozygous genotypes may lead to higher frequency of harmful recessive alleles and animals are subjected to inbreeding depression.
Read More...posted to Organic Production on Sun, Apr 03, 2022
NODPA is the largest grass roots organization of organic dairy producers and has remained true to its original goal of advocating on behalf of producers, regardless of who they sell their milk to, for a sustainable pay price, plus protect the integrity of the USDA Organic Regulations.
NODPA depends on the memberships of farmers, consumers, and businesses for support of all its efforts — regionally and in Washington — on behalf of the organic dairy farmers.
If you're an organic dairy farmer, consider one of the following: a milk check-off membership or an annual newsletter membership or choose your own level of annual dues to support NODPA. Learn more >>
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