By TED BOOKER
EMPIRE FARM & DAIRY
Health-conscious consumers sometimes choose to eat organic cheese over the regular variety, and they’re willing to pay more for it because of how it’s made.
Those are the kinds of consumers being targeted by Homestead Heritage Cheese, an arm of certified organic dairy farm Homestead Fields on Eiss Road near the hamlet of LaFargeville in Jefferson County. A creamery built on the farm started making cheese curds in October for the business, which is a brainchild of farm owner W. Edward Walldroff and his son-in-law, David Van Pelt II.
During a tour of the creamery at the 130-cow, 700-acre farm, Walldroff said the launch of the cheesemaking business came after years of careful planning. While the facility is now making only cheese curds, he said, production will be expanded next spring to include cheddar and possibly blue cheese.
Production has started on a small scale at the creamery, where a partial batch of cheese curds is made once a week using a 245-gallon vat and other equipment bought from a company in the Netherlands. But Van Pelt said he believes the business will expand rapidly as more retailers decide to buy wholesale batches of cheese curds. He said the farm, which became a certified-organic operation in 2006, is among a handful across the state that make organic cheese.
“We’d like to soon be in New York City and in a couple of artisan cheese stores in Rochester,” said Van Pelt, who completed a course in the summer of 2011 at the University of Vermont’s Institute of Artisan Cheese to become a cheesemaker.
The business already has begun to sell organic cheese curds to retailers in the north country, Walldroff said. Eight-ounce packages of curds - priced in stores from about $6 to $8 - are sold at the Mustard Seed health food store in Watertown, 1000 Islands River Rat Cheese in Clayton and a bookstore at St. Lawrence University in Canton.
“We want to sell it in college towns where there’s a more health-conscious population,” Walldroff said, adding that his long-term business plan calls for eventually opening a retail store in a community along the St. Lawrence River. “We’d like to be able to do it in the next two to five years, and it would be like a health-food store.”
Walldroff, whose family has operated the farm here for five generations, said the farm has been run for nearly a decade as an organic operation. To receive a national organic certification, milk is made without using any antibiotics or pesticides. Cows are fed only a mixture of grasses and grain grown organically on the farm.
Cheese products made by the farm will complement the organic beef it already sells to area businesses, Walldroff said. The beef comes from the farm’s cull cattle - those not producing enough milk or getting too old.
“It all starts with the barn on the ground and the breeds of cattle that are going to produce milk for the best cheese,” Walldroff said. “We’re producing cheese here that others aren’t going to be able to duplicate, and we’re marrying it to an upscale market as a value-added product.”
Van Pelt is responsible for making cheese curds each Sunday at the creamery, in the same structure as the milking parlor. The process starts at 6:30 a.m. and typically finishes about 9 p.m., he said, after curds are packaged.
The farm bought the cheesemaking equipment in the fall of 2014, thanks to a $12,000 loan from the Development Authority of the North Country’s value-added agriculture loan fund and a $48,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Business Enterprise Grant program.
Though the stainless steel vat has room to make larger batches of cheese curds, Van Pelt said, he is now making batches of about 80 to 100 pounds to meet the demand of clients. To start the process, milk is pasteurized by heating it to a temperature of 145 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes.
He said milk then is cooled to below 100 degrees. Live cheese cultures are added to the milk, which begins to thicken as it’s agitated in the vat. The mixture is stirred slowly until it’s thick enough to cut into slices with a curd knife.
As part of the process, called “cheddaring,” the semisolid curd is separated from liquid whey that is released from the bottom of the vat. The whey is fed to cattle.
“Cheesemaking suits my personality and detail-oriented career background,” said Van Pelt, an accountant at Carthage Area Hospital for five years before joining the farm about four years ago.
About 150 packages were made from an 87-pound batch of curds, he said. The curds, which are lightly salted, stay fresh for about a week.
Walldroff said he plans to build a concrete “aging facility” at the farm next spring that will be used to age cheeses. He said the aging process can last from six months to two years.
The climate-controlled facility will be built by Jason Schnauber, a co-owner of the farm who is engaged to marry Walldroff’s daughter, Monica Schnauber, a Clayton native, said his construction experience has come in handy on the farm. He helped build the creamery during the past two years. But he said his daily chores vary widely.
“One day I’m a farmer,” he said, “and the next I’m a veterinarian or a builder. Every day has a different chore.”
Showing posts with label organic dairy farming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organic dairy farming. Show all posts
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Organics On the Rise
By DEBRA J. GROOM
Empire Farm & Dairy
While organic farming is growing by leaps and bounds, there is one farm in the Southern Tier that was way ahead of the trend.
Engelbert Farms in Nichols, Tioga County, began back in the 1860s when the first members of the family came to this country from Germany. The family has been on the same site in Nichols since the early 1900s.
But it was 1981 when current farm owners, Kevin and Lisa Engelbert, began to farm organically. They became certified organic in 1984.
“Before, the farm was very chemically intensive,” said Lisa Engelbert. “Our herd was not well. We came to see the correlation of the extensive chemical use on the land and what was happening with the cows. So in 1981, we went cold turkey. No more chemicals.”
This farm was dubbed the “the first certified organic dairy farm in the country” through a national poll done by ODairy, a message listserv operated by the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance.
In that poll, “Kevin responded that we were first certified in 1984 with NOFA-NY. He thinks the survey contacted certifiers, too,” said Lisa Engelbert in an email. “It was determined by that survey. We knew we were the first certified-organic dairy in NYS, but that survey actually showed that we were the first certified organic dairy in the U.S.”
Just what made the Engelberts so ahead of the game?
Lisa Engelbert said she and her husband believe a farm is only as good as its soil. The soil at the farm had been treated for so many years with various chemicals and was not in good shape, she said.
Cows were eating what was grown in this soil and they were having numerous medical problems. She said vet bills were averaging $1,000 a month on the 175-milker herd.
“It starts with the soil,” she said. “The chemicals kill all the microorganisms in the soil and the soil can’t take up any of the naturally occurring nutrients.”
It took about a year — to 1982 — before the Engelberts starting seeing benefits from not using chemicals on their more than 2,000 acres.
In addition to pastureland for the herd, they also grow vegetables and raise pigs, chickens and beef.
“Things started to heal,” Engelbert said.
Today, the Engelberts have 2,400 acres of certified-organic land that produces vegetables, pastures the cows and grows crops such as hay, corn, soybeans and wheat. The cows also are not treated with artificial hormones or antibiotics.
While the number of organic dairies continues to soar, it seems there are still a shortage of them to produce enough products to meet consumer demand.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service organic survey, New York had 13 percent of the nation’s certified-organic dairy farms in 2011, producing 8 percent of the country’s organic milk.
But Americans spent more than $5 billion on organic dairy products in 2014, with double-digit annual growth during much of the past decade, according to the USDA. While this demand increases, the supply of organic milk from co-op farmers has stayed fairly flat for the last few years, Travis Forgues, Organic Valley vice president of farmer affairs, recently told a Minnesota newspaper.
“The demand is huge, especially regionally like in the Northeast,” said Liz Bawden, a St. Lawrence County organic dairy farmer. “The highest demand is for organic dairy products and there’s also good demand for organic fluid milk.”
Bawden, who has been milking about 50 cows with her husband in the town of Hammond for about 15 years, said most organic dairies are small operations since the cows have to be in the pasture most of the time.
“Places like us could get bigger, but they still have to fit the organic standards (pasturing all the cows) and be placed along a route where they can pick up the milk,” Bawden said. “We’re good where we are right now.”
Lisa Engelbert agreed. She said it would be difficuilt for an organic dairy to reach the size of some conventional farms, such as those with 1,000 or more cows. Engelbert, who also works for the New York certification agency NOFA-NY, said there are many (she didn’t have an exact number) organic dairy certifications in the pipeline.
Becoming an organic dairy is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of planning and paperwork that goes into it.
A certified organic farm is one that goes through the certification process with an organization such as NOFA-NY. An exempt organic farm is one that follows National Organic Standards, but is too small to go through the certification process.
At one time, most states had their own standards for what it means to be organic. It made things extremely confusing, especially when it came to farmers from one state trying to sell products in other states.
Then in 2002, the U.S. Department of Agriculture set up one uniform organic standard that everyone must follow. Different organizations do the actual certification of farms, but they all use the same USDA uniform organic standard.
Farms in New York are usually certified by NOFA-NY (Northeast Organic Farming Association-New York). The Engelbert farm was certified by NOFA Vermont because Lisa Engelbert works for NOFA-NY and had to stay away from a possible conflict of interest.
A certified farm can use the USDA Organic seal on its products. An exempt farm can use the term organic, but cannot use the USDA Organic seal.
To have their land certified, farmers must prove they’ve added no fertilizers or chemicals to it for three years. They also have to be sure there is a buffer between the organic land and neighbor’s farmland, so chemicals used there don’t end up on the organic land. And then every year, there is more paperwork to recertify the farm.
According to organic guidelines, an organic dairy herd must get 30 percent of its feed from the pasture. The rest must be organic grain or hay. Lisa Engelbert said her farm’s herd is in the pasture from the end of April to mid-November, depending on the weather.
“Grass and clover — a cow’s natural feed is grass,” she said. “We don’t press them for production. We don’t feed huge amounts. Our production average is 35 to 40 pounds of milk a day.”
They sell their milk to Organic Valley, one of the largest organic dairy product cooperatives in the U.S. with nearly 1,800 farms. You’ve probably seen Organic Valley milk, butter, yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, eggs, cheese and cream in local grocery stores.
The Bawdens sell their milk to Horizon, a brand within WhiteWave Foods, the company behind Land O’ Lakes and International Delight creamers. They also grow organic hay for their own use and for sale to local farmers.
The Engelberts sell their meat products, cheese and produce at their farm stand and at some stores.
“Pigs are fed certified-organic grains, milk, hay and leftover vegetables from our organic gardens,” according to the Engelbert Farms website. “No animal byproducts are ever fed to our animals.”
Empire Farm & Dairy
While organic farming is growing by leaps and bounds, there is one farm in the Southern Tier that was way ahead of the trend.
 |
| Organic potato harvest at the Engelbert Farm |
But it was 1981 when current farm owners, Kevin and Lisa Engelbert, began to farm organically. They became certified organic in 1984.
“Before, the farm was very chemically intensive,” said Lisa Engelbert. “Our herd was not well. We came to see the correlation of the extensive chemical use on the land and what was happening with the cows. So in 1981, we went cold turkey. No more chemicals.”
This farm was dubbed the “the first certified organic dairy farm in the country” through a national poll done by ODairy, a message listserv operated by the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance.
 |
| Engelbert Farms organic veggies |
Just what made the Engelberts so ahead of the game?
Lisa Engelbert said she and her husband believe a farm is only as good as its soil. The soil at the farm had been treated for so many years with various chemicals and was not in good shape, she said.
Cows were eating what was grown in this soil and they were having numerous medical problems. She said vet bills were averaging $1,000 a month on the 175-milker herd.
“It starts with the soil,” she said. “The chemicals kill all the microorganisms in the soil and the soil can’t take up any of the naturally occurring nutrients.”
It took about a year — to 1982 — before the Engelberts starting seeing benefits from not using chemicals on their more than 2,000 acres.
In addition to pastureland for the herd, they also grow vegetables and raise pigs, chickens and beef.
“Things started to heal,” Engelbert said.
Today, the Engelberts have 2,400 acres of certified-organic land that produces vegetables, pastures the cows and grows crops such as hay, corn, soybeans and wheat. The cows also are not treated with artificial hormones or antibiotics.
While the number of organic dairies continues to soar, it seems there are still a shortage of them to produce enough products to meet consumer demand.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service organic survey, New York had 13 percent of the nation’s certified-organic dairy farms in 2011, producing 8 percent of the country’s organic milk.
But Americans spent more than $5 billion on organic dairy products in 2014, with double-digit annual growth during much of the past decade, according to the USDA. While this demand increases, the supply of organic milk from co-op farmers has stayed fairly flat for the last few years, Travis Forgues, Organic Valley vice president of farmer affairs, recently told a Minnesota newspaper.
“The demand is huge, especially regionally like in the Northeast,” said Liz Bawden, a St. Lawrence County organic dairy farmer. “The highest demand is for organic dairy products and there’s also good demand for organic fluid milk.”
Bawden, who has been milking about 50 cows with her husband in the town of Hammond for about 15 years, said most organic dairies are small operations since the cows have to be in the pasture most of the time.
“Places like us could get bigger, but they still have to fit the organic standards (pasturing all the cows) and be placed along a route where they can pick up the milk,” Bawden said. “We’re good where we are right now.”
Lisa Engelbert agreed. She said it would be difficuilt for an organic dairy to reach the size of some conventional farms, such as those with 1,000 or more cows. Engelbert, who also works for the New York certification agency NOFA-NY, said there are many (she didn’t have an exact number) organic dairy certifications in the pipeline.
Becoming an organic dairy is not for the faint of heart. There is a lot of planning and paperwork that goes into it.
A certified organic farm is one that goes through the certification process with an organization such as NOFA-NY. An exempt organic farm is one that follows National Organic Standards, but is too small to go through the certification process.
At one time, most states had their own standards for what it means to be organic. It made things extremely confusing, especially when it came to farmers from one state trying to sell products in other states.
Then in 2002, the U.S. Department of Agriculture set up one uniform organic standard that everyone must follow. Different organizations do the actual certification of farms, but they all use the same USDA uniform organic standard.
Farms in New York are usually certified by NOFA-NY (Northeast Organic Farming Association-New York). The Engelbert farm was certified by NOFA Vermont because Lisa Engelbert works for NOFA-NY and had to stay away from a possible conflict of interest.
A certified farm can use the USDA Organic seal on its products. An exempt farm can use the term organic, but cannot use the USDA Organic seal.
To have their land certified, farmers must prove they’ve added no fertilizers or chemicals to it for three years. They also have to be sure there is a buffer between the organic land and neighbor’s farmland, so chemicals used there don’t end up on the organic land. And then every year, there is more paperwork to recertify the farm.
According to organic guidelines, an organic dairy herd must get 30 percent of its feed from the pasture. The rest must be organic grain or hay. Lisa Engelbert said her farm’s herd is in the pasture from the end of April to mid-November, depending on the weather.
“Grass and clover — a cow’s natural feed is grass,” she said. “We don’t press them for production. We don’t feed huge amounts. Our production average is 35 to 40 pounds of milk a day.”
They sell their milk to Organic Valley, one of the largest organic dairy product cooperatives in the U.S. with nearly 1,800 farms. You’ve probably seen Organic Valley milk, butter, yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, eggs, cheese and cream in local grocery stores.
The Bawdens sell their milk to Horizon, a brand within WhiteWave Foods, the company behind Land O’ Lakes and International Delight creamers. They also grow organic hay for their own use and for sale to local farmers.
The Engelberts sell their meat products, cheese and produce at their farm stand and at some stores.
“Pigs are fed certified-organic grains, milk, hay and leftover vegetables from our organic gardens,” according to the Engelbert Farms website. “No animal byproducts are ever fed to our animals.”
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
There's Still Time to Fill Out Your Certified Organic Survey
In early February, survey questionnaires were mailed nationwide to all known organic farms. Later this month, NASS will begin conducting telephone follow up with producers who have not yet responded.
Some farmers may also be selected for in person interviews to assist with data collection.
“Your participation is strongly encouraged,” said NASS’ Northeastern Regional Director King Whetstone. “The 2015 Certified Organic Survey will provide vital data to assist farmers, suppliers, policymakers, as well as those in the private sector in planning the production and marketing of new programs and products to help sustain industry growth.
For example, USDA’s Risk Management Agency will use the information to evaluate crop insurance coverage to help provide adequate pricing for organic producers.”
The survey asks farmers to provide information on acreage, production, and sales for a variety of certified organic crop and livestock commodities. NASS is also gathering information about certified organic farmers’ marketing practices and transitional data. The agency urges all participants to respond.
Producers can return their forms by mail or complete the survey online at www.agcounts.usda.gov.
Friday, February 5, 2016
Money Available for Organic Dairy Farming
The New York Organic Dairy Program has partnered with the New York Farm Viability Institute to make grant money available for organic dairy producers to participate in the Cornell Organic Dairy Farm Business Summary program and select a project for immediate attention through a modified Dairy Profit Team approach.
Farms participating in the Dairy Farm Business Summary and those that have not completed a Dairy Farm Business Summary before are both eligible for grants. Priority for grants will be given to certified organic dairies, however, farms in transition to become organic are encouraged to apply.
Farmers may first apply for funds to:
** Work with a qualified farm business consultant to upload the operating and financial information for the individual farm into the Cornell Organic Dairy Farm Business Summary,
** or, if the farmer has completed a 2016 Summary, to work with the consultant to review the data to select a short-term project that will benefit the farm. Varying levels of funding are available for this initial step.
Money is also available for farmers to work with a consultant on a project that will help the business better meet its goals. Applicants for a project grant must first complete a 2016 Dairy Farm Busines Summary.
Farmers requesting project funds will be required to work with the New York Organic Dairy Program to document their desired goal and projects must be achievable within 18 months of the formation of the consultant ‘team.’
Examples of projects include, but are not limited to, developing a business plan, enhancing transitioning practices and constructing facilities. The New York Organic Dairy Program will provide up to $1,500 for the consultant and team to complete its project work.
Monday, May 18, 2015
Tuesday Webinar Focuses on Transitioning to Organic Dairy Farming
A webinar to help conventional dairy farmers switch to organic dairy farming is being conducted from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday May 19.
With the current downturn in milk pricing, demand for organic milk outpacing supply and stable pricing for organically-produced milk, now is the time for conventional dairy farmers to think about transitioning to organic milk production, says NY Organic Dairy Initiative Project Manager Fay Benson with the Cornell University South Central NY Regional Team.
The transition to organic production can be challenging to plan and may take up to three years to complete, Benson said. The ‘Tools for Transitioning to Organic Dairy’ webinar is for those who work with dairies interested in becoming organic producers and farmers considering the transition.
In addition to Benson, the webinar will feature presenters with the Northeast Organic Farming Association, USDA Farm Services Agency, and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Presentations will cover the requirements for organic certification, tools to adjust conventional farming practices to meet those requirements, and the types of federal loans and Environmental Quality Incentives Program Organic Initiative resources that can help with transition costs.
Other topics include how to develop an Organic System Plan, spreadsheets for figuring the cost of transitioning cropland, other tools for making the switch to organic dairy crops production, and return on investment data.
Register for the webinar at http://blogs.cornell.edu/
The NY Organic Dairy Initiative receives funding from the New York Farm Viability Institute and support from Cornell Cooperative Extension dairy extension teams statewide.
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