FARMER'S COW MILKS SALES

JULIE GALLAGHER

LEBANON, Conn. - In a show of support for the state's dairy farmers, Connecticut shoppers are lapping up locally produced Farmer's Cow brand milk, paying up to 90 cents more per half gallon.

"Farmer's Cow milk has been a very strong seller," said Robert Keane, spokesman for Quincy, Mass.-based Stop & Shop, which started offering the product seven months ago, right after it became available. "We know how much our customers value buying locally produced dairy and that's why it became such a priority for us to begin offering this milk. The strong sales reflect that our customers are willing to pay more for dairy that comes from local farms and we're glad to give them the opportunity to supports these farms."

In fact, Stop & Shop began carrying the milk in response to a customer request that appeared in a letter to the editor, published in a local newspaper.

Grade A pasteurized half-gallon containers of milk, in skim, 1%, 2% and whole-fat varieties, can be found on the shelves of 105 Connecticut stores, including all of Stop & Shop's 80 Connecticut locations, six Price Chopper stores and five Highland Park Markets. The milk is fresh from the farm - sometimes it reaches stores a few hours after being collected from the cows.

The Farmer's Cow plans to identify the milk products as free of artificial growth hormones. Producers also plan to start offering chocolate milk. Eventually, the farmers hope to supply more supermarkets

The idea for the milk was born three years ago, when the owners of Hytone, MapleLeaf, Fairvue, Fort Hill, Cushman and Graywall farms got together to share concerns about the economic future of their businesses.

"What Connecticut farmers are getting for their milk is an issue," said Robin Chesmer, managing member of the Farmer's Cow and owner of Graywall Farms here. "My sons are involved in my farm and we need to be economically viable in order to offer them a decent living."

The escalating cost of fuel necessary for planting crops for cow feed, as well as rising energy and labor costs in the face of lower milk prices have put the state's dairy farmers in dire straits. In fact, in the past 10 years, 130 Connecticut dairy farms have gone out of business, according to the Farmer's Cow. There are 174 active dairy farms left in the state, according to Connecticut's Department of Agriculture.

"We're price takers, not price makers and what we're getting for our milk right now is pitiful," Chesmer said.

During the month of March, U.S. farmers in the Northeast region were paid $1.25 per gallon for raw milk, according to the Federal Milk Market Order website. The price has held steady since January and is the lowest Northeast farmers have been paid for their milk since April 2004, when the milk was purchased for $1.20 per gallon.

During the first week of March, the retail average price of a gallon of milk in Connecticut was $3.69 for skim milk, $3.60 for 1% milk, $3.74 for 2% milk and $3.77 for whole milk, according to the Connecticut Department of Agriculture.

In 2001, the price that Connecticut farmers were paid for their milk fell after the Northeast Dairy Compact's Congressional authorization expired. The compact allowed Connecticut and other New England states to set prices for milk sold in that region. Since then, Connecticut farmers have been subject to a complicated federal milk pricing structure that doesn't take the area's restrictions into consideration. For instance, producers here cannot expand their farms.

"In Wisconsin, farmers can buy more land and expand their herds," Chesmer said. "As Connecticut farmers, we can't buy more farmland" because it's not available. "That got us thinking, here we are in the midst of one of the largest markets in the country but our product is faceless."

In the past, milk produced at the six farms that comprise the producers of the Farmer's Cow milk was collected by tanker trucks and hauled away to several unknown destinations where it was probably mixed with milk from other farms, Chesmer said. Visitors to their farms would ask where they could purchase their milk, but the farmers didn't have answers.

Before rolling out the Farmer's Cow milk, the company's owners belonged to a group called Very Alive, which was dedicated to promoting the state's agriculture.

"People think it's in demise but there is a whole segment of farmers who are changing and evolving and we're here for the long run," Chesmer said.

"We lobbied the state for farmland preservation funding and we held tours for legislators to convince them that [Connecticut farms] are a business that's worthy of investment."

During a tour of Wisconsin farms, the Connecticut farmers came up with the idea for the Farmer's Cow brand milk. They envisioned a brand with an identity that would help them connect with local customers and, by joining forces, the brand could help them enjoy greater economies of scale.

The six farmers were awarded a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for business planning and marketing analysis.

"We interpreted what consumer attitudes would be toward a product like ours and it was all very positive so we pushed forward," Chesmer said. "We designed packaging for it, named it and launched it seven months ago."

In addition to marketing the brand as locally and humanely produced, the farmers are positioning the product as one that would help save Connecticut's rural landscape and agricultural communities.

"The milk is doing quite well, we have a good following," Chesmer said. "We often get emails from consumers encouraging us because they appreciate what we're doing. They value locally-produced items, we're real farmers and they can visit our farms and ask us questions."

Sales of the milk grew by about 20% each week shortly after its introduction, according to Chesmer, who added the brand is still experiencing steady growth.

"We've had an excellent reception in the marketplace but we're still working to turn this into an economically viable business," Chesmer said. "We had a lot of start-up costs that we have to work our way through. You can't just walk into a home run, but we're on a very positive path."

The farmers eventually plan to share their success with other local dairy farmers.