This decision will help us continue providing our consumers with the products they love.”ĭanone’s decision took many dairy stakeholders in the region by surprise. “We are committed to continuing to support organic dairy in the east, and in the last 12 months alone, we have on boarded more than 50 producers new to Horizon Organic that better fit our manufacturing footprint. “We will be supporting new partners that better align with our manufacturing footprint,” the company said. In a statement, Danone said it made the decision to drop many of its dairy farmers in the Northeast largely because of the cost of trucking milk to its processing plants. Some are also struggling to reduce their debt loads and are finding that banks are unwilling to lend them more cash because of Danone’s notification. Most of the farmers are now scrambling to find other buyers for their organic milk – and say they can’t afford to shift back to producing conventional milk, which commands much lower prices. The change affects 28 dairy farms in Vermont and 46 in upstate New York, mainly near the state’s eastern border - including 17 in Washington County alone. Many farmers have shied away from discussing their situation publicly because their contract with Danone prohibits them from divulging details of their business relationship. The farmers were given the option to sign a final one-year deal with Danone, but they must find another buyer for their milk by Sept. The company said it wants to consolidate its trucking routes to include only farms within 300 miles of its plant in Elma, N.Y., near Buffalo. In August, the farmer was one of 89 organic dairy producers in New England and New York who received notice from Danone, the multinational corporate owner of the Horizon Organic brand, that the company would be terminating their contracts. “When you start dumping your product, and you’ve got to pay the people for it, you’ve got to do something soon,” said the farmer, who didn’t want his name published because he fears that speaking out could prompt retribution from the company - and could perhaps cause other dairy processors to shun him. He said the driver told him there weren’t enough farms on the route to keep the milk cold enough to make it to Horizon’s processing plant in western New York. Even after Horizon cut the price it paid him by 10 percent a few years back, he still felt confident enough to invest in increased acreage and an additional robot to automate milking.īut he did worry a bit when one of the drivers described having to dump milk that went bad in half-full trucks on hot days. He recalls hearing a rumor several years ago that Horizon Organic was considering eliminating many New England farms from its milk truck route, but he didn’t believe it. One area dairy farmer says he’s kicking himself for not seeing what was coming. Several dozen organic dairy farms in Vermont and upstate New York, including 17 in Washington County alone, are looking for new buyers for their milk after Danone, the multinational corporation that owns the Horizon Organic brand, announced it will stop buying from them next summer.
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