The Fairy Tale and Myth of Organic Dairy Farms: A Case Study of Millers’ Organic Dairy

Jenna Miller University of Rochester Undergraduate

Class of 2011 ANT 223: Nature, Landscape, Environment

Professor Eleana Kim

Millers’ Organic Dairy

Producer for Organic Valley

554 Hoke Road

Richfield Springs, NY 13439

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“We are, all of us, so often accused of being teary-eyed romantics, out of touch with the real world. And it is

so easy to discount the charge because our worlds and priorities and triumphs... are real to us. Yet the

accusation that we are out of touch comes to us across a bridge. And that bridge crosses a chasm which

divides humanity.” – Lynn R. Miller (No relation, 64)

In times when small farms are dropping almost like flies, how does one agricultural

cooperative weather a recession in a way that not a single farm is lost for purely economic

reasons? And why does it matter? What is at stake when a small farm goes out of business or

production is more than just a profession, a small business, a credit score and money: it is a way

of life, it is a family’s history, it is the environment, it is years of hard work, it is my childhood,

and it is your food. Who and how many will produce your next meal?

The Fairy Tale: A Cliffside Village Suffers Mudslides, Dragon Attacks

I liken the dairy industry, or farming in general for that matter, to a village on a seaside

cliff – a village which is continually pummeled by torrential rains. There are many types of rain:

financial, time and policy constraints, which often claim to “benefit the farmer,” but rarely do so

(Berry, 17-19). Each and every year the number of farms in America decreases as farms fall off

the cliff in mudslides. Violent, ugly, life-changing, destructive mudslides. Or worse yet, they are

sold out by their own political representatives in the name of “free-trade” (Berry, 19; Marx, 476,

477). Over time the farming class has been exploited by and recruited into industrial society,

“until by now it is almost extinct” (Berry, 7; Marx, 212, 386). According to the EPA, “There are

over 285,000,000 people living in the United States. Of that population, less than 1% claim

farming as an occupation (and about 2% actually live on farms)” (Demographics, 1). One percent

of the nation produces food.

The reasons for farm deaths are many, but the majority have to do with the fact that farm

profits are falling in a very complicated system of agricultural pricing, in which, unlike most

realms of production, the price of the commodity has almost nothing to do with the amount it

takes to produce it (Dome, 1; Marx, 379; Wright, 1). In that aspect only does agriculture differ

from the typical manner in which capitalism operates. Competition is evident, both between

companies and individual farmers, and like other laborers, “the [farmer] becomes all the poorer

the more wealth he produces” (Marx, 71, 73, 214). Over time, like a dragon, the larger stronger

capitalist – agribusiness – consumes the less powerful food labels and producers, and wealth is

concentrated in the hands of few (386). This occurs on the production side as well, and indeed

the number of farms is shrinking as the average farm size increases – yes, capitalist consolidation

(38, 212). It happens with milk and manure too.

The Fairy Tale: Dairy Farmers1

Farms are the stuff of modern-day fairy tales, not only because farmers have a romantic

connection to the land, but also because many of us are so entirely disconnected from them that

they might as well be mythical. We all know that farming is hard, demands long hours, and that

the profits are minimal at best, sub-marginal at worst. Yet, we romanticize farms because many

of us also want to believe that farmers objectify themselves in their labor (Marx, 70-8). And

indeed, most of them do see themselves in their product and they have a unique connection to the

land that seems to have disappeared for the rest of us (Hasselstrom, 72; Miller, 65).

Farmers farm because they love the lifestyle. They love being near their families, whether

times are good or bad. They love raising food for their loved ones. They love being part of a

stationary community and they love developing relationships with their neighbors. They love

taking care of their herds and lands. And they love the fact that no two days are ever the same.

They love that their world melds both work and play, both home and office, both fun and

education, both hospitality and stewardship, both family and friends (Hasselstrom, 72). And if

1 From this point on, each use of the term “farmers” or “farm” will refer to dairy farms in particular.

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you ever happen to be lucky enough to meet one of these dying breed, I bet if you ask him

whether waking up at five in the morning every morning, or fixing broken pipes when it is 10F

outside, or getting up seven times a night to see whether a calf has been born, or fixing the baler

for the third time this week, or losing that gosh darn needle in the haystack is worth it – I bet he

would say yes. And he would say it with a smile. No, a farmer doesn’t farm because it’s easy,

and he doesn’t farm because it pays well. He farms because he loves it and deep down I would

say all farmers are romantics. And sadly, very few people will ever understand what farming

really is unless they experience it. But then again, this is a fairy tale. In the real world, people

have words to describe their lives.

And so, I venture to tell you the tale of Millers’ Organic Dairy – my own family’s farm –

and its journey to not only discover economic stability in a global market that is increasingly

hostile to small scale farms, but of how in a cut-throat capitalist world, one cooperative banded

together to preserve every single member, not to preserve profits, but to preserve the small,

family farm – the lifestyle, the product and the idea of organics. I will tell you of the capitalist

fire-breathing dragon which assaults this cliff-side village of farmers and of the repulsive number

of farms that erode into the sea. But I will also tell you of the bit of magic that took place in the

dairy industry in 2009-2010, when despite Marx’s economic theory, not a single farm from

Organic Valley was dropped from its contract. All weathered the torrential rains and the dragon’s

most recent attack. I venture to tell you of the means to save small farms in the dairy industry, to

preserve not only a lifestyle, but to keep milk production in the hands of many despite the

capitalist dragon’s efforts. But then, alas, I will tell you the myths of victory that the warriors

encounter and the dragon that continues to plague them today. And we will build a bridge

between this magical land and your evening supper, if you’re willing to be swept off your feet.

The Fairy Tale: Millers’ Organic Dairy -- Rags to Middle-Class Clothing

Millers’ Organic Dairy began back in 1972, but that was before wives, children and

organics entered the picture, and so it was founded as Miller Brothers Dairy. Two brothers, under

the guidance of their father and neighbors, little by little worked a building and some acres into

the living, operating, breathing organism that it is today. They sold their first milk to the market

in June of 1974, a time when farms were decreasing, but nevertheless not particularly unheard of.

And so the brothers continued in their lives. They obtained and cared for more cows, shipped

more milk, and like many other family farms, grew in terms of family. From 1978 until 1988 the

brothers both got married and had five children between the two of them. They built homes,

sometimes twice if a fire ravaged the first one, deepened their bonds with their neighbors,

including neighboring farmers, and took pride in their work. But with two parents, four adults

and five children on top of roughly 80 head, things were far from easy – both financially and in

terms of labor. But then again, nobody farms because it’s easy.

Time passed by, and from the outside everything looked normal. The cows went out, they

came in, they were milked and a milk truck came every other day to take the milk to market. But

everything was not so copacetic. From its start through the early ‘90s, the farm had been

producing and selling milk on the ever and wildly-fluctuating conventional milk market. But

what fluctuates, largely, was not and is not the demand for milk, but the price that farmers

receive in exchange for the milk sold. And on the conventional milk market, in the Miller

brothers’ eyes, everything operated just like any other capitalist marketplace: it was cut-throat.

Area farmers were generally trying to out-produce one another, and around 1993, the Millers

received a bit of bad advice from the veterinarian. He advised them that their dairy herd was

capable of producing more than what they were – their output was shy of respectable for the size,

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and of course the more milk that was produced, the more could be sold and the more profits the

farm could make. – To interject a word of caution in this foreboding tale: farms are not money

pits. Increasing profits could be the difference between whether your family needs public

assistance this year or not. And indeed, that was the case on the Miller farm.

The brothers took the veterinarian’s advice and began to push their dairy, employing

methods that are common knowledge among dairy farmers to produce more milk. As their output

figures increased, so did the returns, as did the number of times the vet had to come, the rate at

which cows turned over and eventually the brothers came to a conclusion. Pushing the cows as if

they were machines was not only more expensive (and in fact ultimately unprofitable) but it

wore the cows out at a much quicker pace. It demanded too much of them. And like all gallant

heroes, the brothers quickly came to the conclusion that what they were doing was wrong on

many levels, and they stopped. The year was roughly 1993.

“On November 5, 1993, the FDA granted the landmark approval of Posilac, Monsanto’s

proprietary formulation of r[BGH],” or recombinant bovine growth hormone (Weasel, 161). As

the use of the hormone grew in popularity in the dairy industry, the Miller brothers were adamant

that their herd would never be injected with supplemental hormones – and they wanted

consumers to know it. Despite the fact that rBGH-labeling had been declared illegal – it violated

the corporation’s first amendment right to silence – the Miller brothers had a mysteriously

procured “rBGH Free Farm” sign hanging from their silo by 1994 (163).

Miller Brothers Dairy wanted a way to assure consumers that their milk was rBGH free

and since at the time labeling was not permitted, they began to look for ways around it. A local

group of farmers had recently approached the Northeast Organic Farmers Association of New

York, or NOFA-NY, as organics boasted pesticide-free, hormone-free and antibiotic-free

production. The transition period and organic certification were costly and expensive, but the

standards weren’t all that big of an adjustment for Miller Brothers Dairy. They were “organic by

default,” seeing as they had never been able to afford fertilizer or pesticides and already used

pasture-grazing methods when seasonably possible. In fact, the biggest adjustment was to switch

from using antibiotics to other forms of treatment. Organic was a “New Age” joke to many at the

time, and people thought that the Millers and the few farms that preceded them were crazy... or

stupid (Beuchner, 1). The price organic milk was fetching for the farmer at the time was hardly

worth it from a financial standpoint, but Miller Brothers Dairy wanted consumers to have a

choice in the milk they bought for their family. They wanted to produce a purer product. And so,

in 1997, the dairy gained its organic certification.

Today, the farm is successful in all of the regions which organic often touts – herd health,

animal husbandry, soil quality and land stewardship. By the 2000s, the organic milk market was

already experiencing growth in the realm of 20%, and the prices organic milk producers received

in exchange for their products were not only higher than conventional prices, but more

importantly, they were stable (Organic Valley). By shipping milk under an organic label, the

prices were locked into one-year contracts, guaranteeing the farmer a stable price. And that

guaranteed price was the very magic that the Miller farm, like so many others, needed. Rather

than operating as the pawn in the cruel world of fluctuating conventional milk prices, the organic

farmer could depend, could manage and could actually financially plan for the coming year.

And Miller Brothers Dairy did just that: they planned for the farm. They made purchases

where necessary, switching from equipment that was beyond repair to machinery that, though

used, “you could still fix when you have to.” A separate heifer barn was raised in 1998 and the

farmers were finally able to keep up with building repair as necessary. Over time, Miller

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Brothers Dairy made the necessary equipment upgrades to keep up. The brothers invested in herd

comfort to ensure quality care, and the farmers were able to “live like people somewhat.”

Switching to organic was good. No – it was great for the farm.

After producing for Horizon Organic for a few years, (which was subsequently bought

out by agribusiness giant Dean Foods), the Millers grew tired of the cut-throat atmosphere they

found on the market. They yearned to sell their milk under a label which would allow them to

produce the best milk possible without pressuring them with the quest to be number one in sales.

In 2004, Miller Brothers Dairy signed on with Organic Valley, a cooperative of organic farmers.

In the cooperative, which is farmer owned and operated, quality is emphasized as are

relationships with customers. In 2007, the dairy changed its name to Millers’ Organic Dairy, as

one of the five children joined the dairy partnership. The second generation. Another house.

Another wife joined the family.

And they lived happily ever after. The end. Or at least that’s the story the average

consumer likes to hear. But unfortunately, there is an enormous disconnect between what

consumers hear and what is actually happening on a farm and in the world of agriculture.

The Myth: Millers’ Organic Dairy

The second generation. Another house. Another wife joins the family.

But the rest of the farm did not remain static. While one of the five children signed on as

a partner, making it a truly multi-generational farm, the other four children left. “Few of the

farmers’ children will be able to afford to stay on the farm – perhaps even fewer will wish to do

so, for it will cost too much, require too much work and worry, and it is hardly a fashionable

ambition” (Berry, 18).

For a tally of the remaining Millers on the seaside cliff in the wake of the rains: two

parents, three farmers, three wives, and zero children. Of the six working-age adults on the farm,

four are employed off of the organic operation, making Millers’ Organic Dairy not all that

different from other farms. As the number of small, family farms decreases because of lower

returns and higher overhead, many farmers seek part-time off-farm employment to “[provide]

much of the income they have to meet their survival needs” (Cummins, 82). In 2010, only 13%

of farm family income is projected to actually come from the farm (2010 Farm, 2).

The Fairy Tale: Organic Valley Outsmarts the Dragon, Stops Farmer Erosion

In the organic dairy industry, 2009-2010 is a magical year. After experiencing years of

sustained growth, including growth of 22% in 2008, the sales of organic milk remained flat in

2009. This left organic producers like Organic Valley in a predicament and the cooperative was

faced with three options as demand staggered. One, they could keep the production level,

flooding the market with organic milk which would have dropped the price farmers would

receive, endangering the life of all of their farms. Two, they could drop farmers from their

contracts, endangering the life of the dropped farms. Three, they could enact a quota system,

asking each farm to “reduce their organic milk supply by 7% by July 2009,” enabling the stable

pay-price to remain in effect for farmers. Organic Valley opted for the third option.2 Through a

unanimous decision of regional representative farmers to enact the quota system, the Organic

Valley cooperative did not “drop a single farmer” throughout the twelve months the quota was in

effect (August 1, 2009 - August 1, 2010). In the cooperative’s press release, George Siemon,

Organic Valley’s “C-I-E-I-O”, praised its 1,624 member farms for supporting the collective’s

mission “to save family farms and support rural communities through economic and

2 Horizon Organic also put a quota system into effect for the same time period, although theirs only required a 5%

decrease of their producers (Suozzo, 1).

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environmental sustainability, keeping farmers on the land” (Organic Valley). Even in one of the

harshest years for both organic and conventional dairy farmers, the Organic Valley cooperative

of family farms managed to prop themselves up and weather the rain. In 2010, the sun shone

brightly on the cliff as organic dairy farmers felt the ground dry out a bit, gaining solidity. And

for whatever brief period of time – they had done it. They had withstood the capitalist dragon.

In a time when all normal laws of capitalism suggest that the number of farms should

have shrunk, the size should have grown larger and that the individual farmers would have only

been out for their own personal good, the Organic Valley family of farms chose a route which,

albeit, decreased everybody’s profits proportionally, but had the intentions to preserve each and

every farm (Marx, 386). John Cleary, the New England Regional Pool Coordinator for Organic

Valley said “It was either reduce the price to the farmer, or ask the farmers to reduce the milk. So

the farmers agreed, ‘let’s try to solve this by working together, to pull supply more in line with

demand’” (Suozzo, 1). The “How To” manual of capitalism had been thrown out the window.

And while “organic farming used to be about saving the planet; now it's about saving the family

farm” (Beuchner, 1).

The Myth: American Farms

Unfortunately many farmers were not as fortunate as the Organic Valley producers.

While the most recent figures are not out yet for farm reports, the nation lost 73,120 farms from

2001-2007 alone (USDA).3 That was before the conventional milk market suffered extreme

instability which resulted in “eleven straight months in 2008 and 2009 when production costs

exceeded average milk payments, [and] dairy farmers [faced] spring planting expenses.” Many

conventional dairy farmers fell off the cliff between 2008-2010, with average losses hovering

3 These figures represent all farms, not just dairy farms.

around $2,000-$3,000 a month (Haggerty, 1). Small scale, conventional farmers just did not have

the ability to create enough revenue to keep farming, and the policy in agriculture for years was

and still is “Get big or get out” (Berry, 19). Many simply had to get out. The consolidating

capitalist dragon consumed them and milk production centralized even more.

The Myth: Organic Markets

Many consumers are largely convinced that the organic market is a success. Grocery

stores boast “organic sections”, organic foods can now be labeled as such, and in general it looks

as if organic is everywhere (Marketing, 1). The government is quick to assure citizens that from

2001 to 2007 the number of certified organic operations nearly doubled from 6,949 to 12,941,

(although this figure is not representative of the fact that most farms transition into organic, and

are typically not founded as such) (Suozzo, 1). It is a bit more difficult to find out that in the

same amount of time the USDA records the dissolution of 73,120 farms, and that in 2007 the

overall number of farms stood at 2,075,510 (USDA). While perhaps it’s a positive change that

organic farms are increasing, they are still just a drop in the bucket.

The USDA does not have official statistics on U.S. organic retail sales, but information is available from industry sources. U.S. sales of organic products were $21.1 billion in 2008—over 3 percent of total food sales—and will reach $23.0 billion in 2009, according to the Nutrition Business Journal (Emphasis added USDA).

And while organic dairy producers take pride in the fact that they do not use antibiotics,

pesticides, or fertilizers and that their herds have the opportunity to stretch their legs and enjoy

fresh, green forage when possible, a disconnect has arisen; farmers used to seek organic status on

principle. Now, more and more seek it to remain economically solvent, and I bring this up not to

chastise or embarrass farmers, but to highlight a point made by Wendall Berry:

The concentration of the farmland into larger and larger holdings and fewer and fewer hands – with the consequent increase of overhead, debt, and dependence on machines – is

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thus a matter of complex significance, and its agricultural significance cannot be disentangled from its cultural significance. It forces a profound revolution in the farmer’s mind: once his investment in land and machines is large enough, he must forsake the values of husbandry and assume those of finance and technology (23).

There comes a certain point when farms are pushed to a breaking point, in which the values of a

farm are restrained to some degree, as those operating the farm have to base more of their

decisions on economics than on values. When in order to keep producing our food, something

must be sacrificed. In my opinion, when this happens a holy and romantic barrier is breached.

The Myth: It’s a Small Problem and Help is on the Way

Global food market systems are big. Very big. And complex. Most – nay – virtually all of

the food you and I purchase can be traced to a handful of six or seven companies. They are called

agribusiness giants, they operate in a cut-throat manner, and they are where Marx’s “capitalists”

meet food. And in the milk industry, all roads lead to Dean Foods. Well, not all, but the ones that

don’t are just dirt roads that few people tread and they’re not leading anywhere “important”, so

Dean has decided not to pave them. After all, monopolies are illegal in the U.S. Anyway, many

feel confident in saying that what is really going on with our food is “a consolidation of the

entire food chain” (Norberg-Hodge, 205). They’re not wrong.

When food meets money, it’s not very pretty, unless you’re in the finance business.

However, one would suspect that farmers have someone in their corner watching out for them.

But those in charge of policies, “university experts, bureaucrats, and the ‘agribusinessmen’ are

not under pressure to ask questions about why small farms are struggling and going out of

business” (Berry, 19-20).

The Myth: People Always Need to Eat, So Farms Will Always Be Secure

Some people find it useful to point to the productivity of American farms. They produce

an awful lot – and they do. But while American farms may produce abundance, it is an illusion

because no matter what the abundance is, it does not safeguard the producers (Berry, 20).

[In 2002] in the U.S., the real price of a market basket of food [had] increased about three percent since 1984, while the farm value of that food [had] fallen by more than 35%. Today [2002], only twenty-one cents of every dollar spent on domestically produced food in the US goes to farmers, the remaining 79 cents going to middlemen and marketers. With that 21 cents, farmers have to pay for inputs, farm labor, machinery, rent, and so on. Many are lucky to break even after a season of hard work (Norberg-Hodge, 196).

The Fairy Tale: Farmers are Romantics, They Love What They Do Some people find farm work menial and degrading. I think farmers tend to prefer the

word “humbling”. Dairy farmers take pride in their work on good days as well as the occasional

horrible ones. They enjoy spending time with their herd, working with their family, caring for the

land, and producing the highest quality product they can. Despite their aches and pains, their

fatigue, the continual need to repair one thing and purchase another, most farmers would say it is

entirely worth it. And that’s exactly why this isn’t a fairy tale. They also say that it’s worth it to

produce your food, and for your family have access to quality, nutritious food. Yet, they hope

that you care about them in return, not only because you understand the dangers of corporate

totalitarianism over your food, but also because you value farm culture, and you want to keep it

around even if you yourself have never experienced it (Berry, 12). A nation cannot exist without

farms, without people producing your food. As Wendall Berry said, “Food is a cultural object; it

cannot be produced by technology alone” (20). Farmers love to farm, and they will if we let

them.

“Eating... is an act that defines who we are and how we see the world and its inhabitants.” - Gregory E. Pence (1)

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Works Cited “2010 Farm Income Forecast.” www.ers.usda.gov. Economic Research Service of the United

States Department of Agriculture, Web. 15 Dec. 2010. Berry, Wendall. “How We Grow Food Reflects Our Virtues and Vices.” The Ethics of Food. Ed.

Gregory E. Pence. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002. Pgs. 5-25. Print.

Beuchner, Maryanne Murray. “Agribusiness: A New Cash Cow.” Time Magazine July 14 2003.

Web. Dec. 15 2010.

Cummins, Ronnie & Ben Lilliston. Genetically Engineered Food: A Self-Defense Guide for

Consumers. New York: Marlowe & Company, 2004. Print. “Demographics: Ag 101.” www.epa.gov. Environmental Protection Agency, Web. 15 Dec. 2010. Dome, Aaron. “Declining Dairy Prices Costly to West Michigan Farmers.” April 11 2009: <www.mlive.com/news>. Web. Dec. 15, 2010. Emerging Issues in the U.S. Organic Industry. The United States Department of Agriculture.

Washington: GPO, 2009. Electronic. Haggerty, James. “Milk Pricing Imbalances Causing Many Local Dairy Farmers to Sell Off Herds.” The Times-Tribune 3 May 2010. <http://thetimes-tribune.com>. Web.

Hasselstrom, Linda M. “Addicted to Work.” Rooted in the Land. Eds. William Vitek and Wes Jackson. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996. Pgs.66-75. Print. Marx, Karl. The Marx-Engels Reader. Ed. Robert C. Tucker. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1978. Print. Miller, Lynn R. “Defending Small Farms, Small Towns, and Good Work.” Rooted in the Land. Eds. William Vitek and Wes Jackson. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996. Pgs.

60-65. Print. Norberg-Hodge, Helen, Peter Goering & John Page. “From Global to Local: Sowing the Seeds of Community.” The Ethics of Food. Ed. Gregory E. Pence. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002. Pgs. 191-214. Print. Organic Valley Supply Management Program Pays Off! Organic Valley. June 24, 2010. Web.

<www.organicvalley.coop/newsroom>. December 15, 2010.

Pence, Gregory E. The Ethics of Food. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002. Print.

Suozza, Andrea. “Organic Dairy Rebounds.” Addison County Independent 24 Nov. 2010.

<www.addisonindependent.com>. Web. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), The, Website. The United States Department

of Agriculture. <http://www.usda.gov>. Web. December 15, 2010. Weasel, Lisa H. Food Fray. New York: American Management Association, 2009. Print. Wright, Leslie. “How Small Dairy Farms Can Survive: Go Organic.” The Burlington Free Press 11 Feb. 2007. <www.burlingtonfreepress.com>. Web.

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Millers’ Organic Dairy