Thursday, November 8, 2018
Dear loyal customers and friends,
Last week I talked about certified-organic milk, and described how and why so many traditional family dairy farmers, both organic and conventional, are going out of business across the country.
It boils down to the fact that big corporations have established industrial milk production facilities (thousand of cows confined in barns or on mud lots with no access to pasture). This milk is cheap to produce, since pasture is expensive, but it can’t be as nutritious as old-fashioned milk. (When cows eat grass, as they evolved to do, their milk contains more nutrients good for people).
But organic milk is supposed to be from cows on pasture. That’s the organic standard. However, the USDA, under pressure from lobbyists, does not enforce this standard. So industrially-produced milk can be labeled “organic”. And priced well below the cost of production of family farms that use pasture.
But we consumers can still support family organic dairy farms that use pasture, by buying the right brands. NOT the most common one, “Horizon,” NOT store brands. The best real (pastured) organic milk I know of is “Natural by Nature.” Not my choice of words, but excellent milk, produced near DC in southern PA by mostly Amish and Mennonite farms. Another good choice is “Grassmilk” by Organic Valley. Some OV milk is industrially produced, but this sub-brand is true organic milk. Try them!
See you Saturday.
Dear loyal customers and friends,
Last week I talked about certified-organic milk, and described how and why so many traditional family dairy farmers, both organic and conventional, are going out of business across the country.
It boils down to the fact that big corporations have established industrial milk production facilities (thousand of cows confined in barns or on mud lots with no access to pasture). This milk is cheap to produce, since pasture is expensive, but it can’t be as nutritious as old-fashioned milk. (When cows eat grass, as they evolved to do, their milk contains more nutrients good for people).
But organic milk is supposed to be from cows on pasture. That’s the organic standard. However, the USDA, under pressure from lobbyists, does not enforce this standard. So industrially-produced milk can be labeled “organic”. And priced well below the cost of production of family farms that use pasture.
But we consumers can still support family organic dairy farms that use pasture, by buying the right brands. NOT the most common one, “Horizon,” NOT store brands. The best real (pastured) organic milk I know of is “Natural by Nature.” Not my choice of words, but excellent milk, produced near DC in southern PA by mostly Amish and Mennonite farms. Another good choice is “Grassmilk” by Organic Valley. Some OV milk is industrially produced, but this sub-brand is true organic milk. Try them!
See you Saturday.
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