The New England Milkshed Assessment

Transcription

1 The New England Milkshed Assessment American Farmland Trust, New England Office Agriculture, Food and Environment Program September 2013

2 Where does my milk come from? What will I learn here? How can I support our region s dairy farmers? Flickr user Steven Wilke

3 Why should we care? Dairy farms dominate the rural New England landscape. They manage nearly 1 million acres of cropland, pasture, and woodland. They provide the iconic working landscape for which New England is known and loved.

4 New England dairy farms have a substantial economic impact. A dairy farm in the Pioneer Valley of western Mass. generates an average of $1.2 million in annual economic contribution, or $13,900 per cow. Across New England, the annual value of milk at the farm level is $1.28 billion. 1) Increasing Local Milk Capacity: Benefits to Pioneer Valley Consumers and Communities, American Famrland Trust, January, ) Adapted from Cryan, 2004.

5 The multiplier effect of dairy is significant: in Vermont, for example, 98% of a farm s supplies are purchased locally, and each farm dollar recycles 1.9 times through the economy. Penn State's Center for Dairy Excellence, 1) Vermont Agency of Ageiculture, Food and Markets. 2) Cryan 2004.

6 $21/hundred lbs The New England dairy industry is facing significant challenges. Farmers are caught between rising costs of production and milk prices that fluctuate wildly. $15/hundred lbs $11/hundred lbs Graph shows fluctuating price of mik farmers received between 1979 and Note the extreme swings after 1999.

7 Continued loss of dairy farms is harmful to our region s economy, environment, and identity. The average New England dairy farm owns or rents over 300 acres of cropland, pasture, and woodland.

8 Part 1: The Supply Chain

9 Who are the farmers? Dairy farming in New England is a family affair. Bree-Z-Knoll Farm - Leyden, Mass. Nearly all dairy farmers live on their farms, and over 80% of farmers have been on their current farm for at least 10 years. 40% of dairy farmers work off-farm at least part of the year. Hall & Breen, LLC, Orwell, VT

10 Where are our farms? Milk cows can be found on more than 2,200 farms in New England. Of these, about 1,700 are licensed dairy herds that produce most of the milk.

11 2007 Census of Agriculture. Dairy Farms in New England, By County

12 Share of New England Milk Production Vermont is the biggest producer by far, producing nearly 2/3 of New England s milk. MA 6% NH 7.6% CT 8.4% VT 62.5% RI.5% ME 15% 2007 Census of Agriculture.

13 How large are the farms? Small and mid-size dairy farms are still the norm in New England. Fewer than 1% of New England dairy farms have more than 1,000 milk cows; 73% of our dairy herds have fewer than 500 milk cows. New England dairy farms produce 4.2 billion pounds of milk a year, which is about half the milk we consume in milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and other dairy products. Horwitz, FMD as a Hazard for New England Dairies, 2011.

14 Where does the milk go? Almost all the milk goes to processing plants here in New England. Some of it is processed on the farm. Less than 5% leaves New England. New England processes even more milk than is produced here, with imports from New York farms to processing plants in Massachusetts, Vermont, and Connecticut.

15 Milk is hauled from farm to processor in tanker trucks. These trucks have regular routes, and typically pick up milk every day or every other day from a dairy farm. There are about 70 milk hauling companies in New England.

16 There are more than 300 off-farm milk processors in New England, employing between 5,000 and 8,500 workers Number of Off-Farm Processors milk butter cheese evaporated milk ice cream Annual County Business Patterns Series, 2009.

17 Most of the milk processed in New England is from our cows..5% Imported from somewhere else. 32% Produced in one N.E. state and processed in another. 23% Imported from NY, processed in New England. 44% Processed in state in which produced. 76% of the milk processed in New England is produced here, and nearly all the rest is from New York. We don t import milk from western states like Idaho or California. Horwitz, FMD as a Hazard for New England Dairies, 2011.

18 Milk Flow by State 92% stays in ME 5% to NH 3% to MA Maine. Maine exports only about 7% of the milk produced in the state, and imports some 15% of the milk processed there. Figures from January Percentages may have changed.

19 9% to ME 5% to VT/NY 40% to MA 43% stays in NH New Hampshire. New Hampshire sends more than 1/3 of its milk to Massachusetts for processing, and imports more than half the milk processed in the state. 3% to CT Figures from January Percentages may have changed.

20 2% to ME 46% stays in VT 5% to NY/NJ 7% to NH Vermont. 39% to MA Vermont exports 55% of its raw milk, mostly to Massachusetts, and processes most of the rest in-state. 1% to CT Figures from January Percentages may have changed.

21 1% to ME 1% to VT/NH Massachusetts. 5% to NJ 73% stays in MA 19% to CT 1% to RI Massachusetts processes more milk than any other state in New England. 27% of the milk it processes comes from New York. Figures from January Percentages may have changed.

22 3% to NH Connecticut. 1% to NY 62% stays in CT 29% to MA 5% to RI Connecticut acounts for about 9% of milk processing in New England. One-third of the milk it processes comes from New York. Figures from January Percentages may have changed.

23 Rhode Island. 45% to CT 29% to MA 26% stays in RI Rhode Island processes milk, ice cream, and cheese. Much of the milk it processes is imported from Connecticut. Figures from January Percentages may have changed.

24 Where do the products go? Much of that information is proprietary, but we know that most of the fluid milk stays here in New England, because milk is expensive to ship. New England also produces world-class dairy products that are shipped across the country and around the world.

25 Part 2: What Did We Learn?

26 Production & Profitability Dairy farmers are facing significant challenges. Dairy farming in New England has always been tough, but it s getting even tougher. Most farmers sell into a wholesale market at a price they cannot control. The milk market has been extremely volatile, with huge price swings. The lows are getting lower: the June 2009 all-milk price was 29 cents lower than what farmers got for their milk in 1979 (in real prices). The highs are getting higher, too, but sharply rising feed and energy costs are cutting into profits (a cow cost $300 more to feed in 2011 than it did in 2010, for example). (Bob Parsons, PhD, Opportunities for Agriculture Working Paper Series; Vermont s Dairy Sector: Is There A Sustainable Future for the 800 Pound Gorilla?) Farm Credit East, Knowledge Exchange Report. July, 2012)

27 New England Dairies Operating Cost, Total Cost of Production, and Milk Price Received $4.00 operating costs milk price received total costs incl. allocated overhead $3.00 $2.00 $1.00 $ Costs are per gallon, data from USDA Agricultural Marketing Service dairy survey. Price data from USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.

28 AP Photo/Toby Talbot) AP Photo/Toby Talbot) The number of dairy farms in the region has dropped steeply. Since 1992, more than 1,700 dairy farms have gone out of business a 44% decline. Small to midsized farms have been the most affected: there are now 58% fewer dairy farms milking from 20 to 200 cows (from 3,544 in 1992 to 1,482 in 2007). In the last five years alone, 256 licensed wholesale milk producers (or 13% of the region s primary milk-producing farms) have gone out of business.

29 Number of Farms Nearly half the dairy farms in New England disappeared between 1992 and ,000 4,745 4,224 3,750 2,500 3,052 2,541 1, ,, 2002, 2007 Census of Agriculture

30 Total land in dairy declined by 36% from 1992 to acres in dairy farming in New England 1,600,000 1,400,000 1,200,000 1,000, , , , , ,, 2002, 2007 Census of Agriculture

31 Since 1992, 527,506 acres of New England farmland have gone out of use for dairy farming. This is the equivalent of two Cape Cods.

32 States that developed the largest percentage of their agricultural land from 1982 to % 22.5% 18.1% 14.3% 13.2% While some of the land no longer in dairy may be used for other types of farming, much of it has been developed. Three of the top five states in the country that have developed the largest portion of their farmland over the last three decades are in New England.

33 Processing & Marketing Farmers who sell into the wholesale market keep only a portion of the dairy dollar. milk butter cheddar cheese ice cream 54% 50% 30% 18% 2010, USDA-ERS So farmers are finding ways to increase their share.

34 1) Direct to consumer sales. More farmers are processing and selling their own milk and dairy products directly to consumers, through a farm store, an ice cream stand, a home delivery service, a CSA, or at farmers markets. Where they are permitted to do so, farmers are also meeting the demand for raw milk.

35 2) On-farm processing. Farms are processing fluid milk to sell through retail outlets, farm stands, or directly to institutions. Others are producing and selling cheese, yogurt, pudding, ice cream, and other products. In Maine and Vermont alone, there has been a huge increase in on-farm processing from less than 20 farms in 1995 to more than 130 now. Shaw Farm (MA) Echo Farm (NH) Sidehill Farm (MA) Cato Corner Far (CT) Strafford Organic Creamery (VT)

36 3) Branding local milk and dairy products. Throughout New England, farmers are coming together to establish locally branded milk and dairy products that return a higher share of revenue to the farm. Maine s Own Organic The Farmer s Cow (CT) Rhody Fresh (RI) Our Family Farms (MA)

37 4) Establishing new marketing mechanisms. Keep Local Farms is using a fair trade approach, working with institutions to dedicate a percentage of milk purchases to local dairy farmers. Many of the remaining farms have gotten bigger in order to be more cost efficient: the number of New Engand farms milking more than 200 cows has increased by 36% since 1992.

38 What else are farmers doing? Going organic: There is strong demand for organic milk in New England, for drinking and for yogurt. As a result, New England has a larger share of organic dairies than in the U.S. as a whole; in 2008, 10% of our region s dairy herds were organic, compared to 3% nationally. " Producing custom milk: Milk buyers have typically offered a premium for milk with certain qualities (butterfat, protein, somatic cell count), and that trend is growing. High Lawn Farm, for example, touts its all-jersey herd which produces milk higher in protein and calcium.

39 Reducing input costs: Farmers are focusing more on renewable energy and energy efficiency as ways to reduce costs, and are improving pasture and hay quality to reduce the amount of purchased feed they need.

40 Part 3: What You Can Do to Support New England Dairy Farms

41 Buy New England Dairy Products 1. Buy directly from a farmer. Shaw Farm Store, Dracut, Mass. 2. Buy source-identified milk and dairy products. These may be identified by farm, by state, by cooperative, or by New England region.

42 3. If it s not source-identified, you can look up the dairy plant code on the label at whereismymilkfrom.com to see where the product was processed. 4. If you re buying milk or dairy products in a cafeteria, or at your child s school, ask the food service company where the milk or dairy product is from. If you don t see a New England-identified milk or dairy product, ask for it!

43 Speak up for dairy! Our Family Farms As a consumer, you have a stake in laws and programs that affect the future of our region s dairy farms. Urge your state and federal legislators to support policies that: provide buy-local procurement preferences for state schools and institutions; provide business planning to help dairy farmers consider marketing alternatives; help reduce input use; provide price support when milk prices don t cover costs of production; and protect farmland from development.

44 r u O t s e u q re ou y to New England s dairy farmers provide us with not just a dependable supply of fresh milk and dairy products, but an idyllic landscape and a strong rural economy. Now they depend on you. Please take a moment to be in touch with your U.S. Representative and Senators. Ask them to fight for the risk management, conservation, and marketing programs our dairy farms need so they will be here tomorrow and for generations to come.

45 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Principal Collaborators Cris Coffin and Julia Freedgood, American Farmland Trust Dr. Hugh Joseph and Dr. Tim Griffin, Agriculture, Food & Enviroment Program, Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy, Tufts University Researchers Jesse Appelman, Chelsea Bardot Lewis, Eliza Bemin, Rebecca de Sa, Chris Erchull, Amelia Darrouzet-Nardi, Vanessa Herald, Colin Macomber, Lucy Myles, Ronit Ridberg, Julia Simons, Alex Tung, Amanda Freund Reviewers Ken Ayars, Rhode Island Division of Agriculture Diane Bothfeld, Vermont Agency of Agriculture Bonnie Burr, University of Connecticut Tim Drake, Maine Milk Commission Ben Freund, Freund s Farm, Inc. Doug Gillespie and Brad Mitchell, Massachusetts Farm Bureau Dr. Richard Horwitz Lorraine Merrill, New Hampshire Department of Agriculture John Nunes, Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources Presentation Cris Coffin, Rebecca de Sa, and Amanda Freund, American Farmland Trust Christopher Landry, Landry Communications

46 The New England Milkshed Study was made possible through the generous support of the Claneil Foundation, Farm Credit East, Yankee Farm Credit, and Farm Credit of Maine though the Northeast AgEnhancement Program, and the members of American Farmland Trust.