Family farm model

3 Farms, family and corporate 8.3.1 Family farm model 

The family farm model is based on family farmers, scattered across the landscape. Each producer must comply with Grade A and Interstate Milk Shippers (IMS) requirements, and have the capacity to store four milkings of milk between pickups. The milk is loaded on insulated tanker trucks, and taken to a plant within a 100-mile radius of the farm. At the plant it is segregated, and produced into a variety of organic products. The plant/facility also must undergo certification. The product is then aged, staged, consolidated, and subsequently shipped to a consolidation warehouse across the country for distribution and sale (see Fig. 8.1). 

Two of the strengths of the family farm model are the local production of feed and the local production of dairy products. Both of these fuel energy and strength into the local 

These families all have the opportunity as small businesses to grow and further develop their enterprises. They are their own boss. Solid organic dairy pricing allows the farmer to plan on his expansion, or lack thereof. Commitments to milk haulers based on a mileage payment allows them to budget and plan constructively. Farmers now constitute less than 3% of the population in the United States, however much of the nation s economy is driven by the wealth of the farmer. When farmers prosper, the economy is healthy. 

Product is transported via tankers to the local dairy, and converted into cheese, butter, powder or fluid milk prior to making the longer trip to the distribution centre. While there is a cost to small farm milk pickup (around 15-25 per farmer, on average 1.10 per hundredweight of milk), the objective is to keep the milk in a fairly localised area. This reduces the cost of the final product by transporting the milk in a more concentrated form (such as butter, powder or cheese) on to its final destination. 

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Organic dairy has many faces and models in likeness to conventional dairy. The original model is family farm based, and I believe the more sustainable method. Family farmers who grow at least 50% of their feed, and are active in the day-to-day management of the farm appear to have good success. By trading off their physical labour, they return more dollars to the acre than the conventional farmer. The second model is the modem model where cattle are kept en masse, and feed is brought to them. This model has many of... 

The modern model generally relies on feed brought in from surrounding areas because the large number of animals housed in one location cannot be supported by the available local feed. This model does support family farms, in that they often purchase their feeds from small farmers. The dairy itself must meet GRADE A and IMS requirements. 

The organic dairy sector has modelled itself on the conventional dairy world in that it is represented in every feature of the dairy supermarket. From yogurt to milk, from cottage cheese to cheddar, from butter to powdered milk, there is an organic counterpart to each conventional product. The farms range in size from 9 cows to 1000, from family owned and operated to corporate enterprises. 

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