A Taste of State’s Agriculture —

‘The Farmer’s Cow’ Finds Its Way To The Supermarket

By Kendra Bobowick

It doesn’t look or taste any different than other cartons of milk, but The Farmer’s Cow brand has a hidden significance. The reduced fat, lowfat, whole, and fat-free milk is produced in Connecticut, which customers such as Newtown vineyard owner Morgen McLaughlin prefer.

“Most people think milk is milk,” she said. “A lot of people think of it as a commodity and think ‘What difference does it make?’”

 Ms McLaughlin made some informal observations supporting these thoughts.

“I watched [shoppers] for about ten minutes at the grocery store and wondered why everyone wasn’t buying Connecticut milk,” she said. “I think it’s like gas — where can you get the cheapest price?”

Stressing the importance of buying local milk, Ms McLaughlin said, “It’s about the long-term sustainability of agriculture in Connecticut.”

Financially, farmers have little incentive to remain in the dairy business, she explained. The Farmer’s Cow producers, a handful of farms that had originally formed the Very Alive effort focused on supporting agriculture’s future in the state, eventually led to the locally produced milk bottling and sales. The milk brand is now in supermarkets throughout Connecticut, including Newtown’s Super Stop & Shop and Big Y stores.

“You have a group of farmers together who know people will pay a bit of a higher price,” Ms McLaughlin said.

Ms McLaughlin, who is already stocking her refrigerator with The Farmer’s Cow, continued, “I have to spend a little extra money if I want dairy to stay in the state — it’s not about where to find [it] the cheapest.”

Few actual working dairy farms remain, she said.

“At the consumer level we can really make a difference,” Ms McLaughlin said. “If you want to save farms, you can save them by buying local products.”

Farms contributing to The Farmer’s Cow are Fairvue Farms in Woodstock, Hytone Farm in Coventry, Cushman Farms in Franklin, and Graywall Farms in Lebanon. All farms are family owned. For information, visit TheFarmersCow.com.

The Farmer’s Cow managing member Robin Chesmer of Graywall Farms said the handful of family-owned farms were the founding members of Very Alive that took shape several years ago. The group was dedicated to promoting the state’s agriculture, and still meets frequently. Following Very Alive was the concept for The Farmer’s Cow as the farmers collectively produced, bottled, and began selling their milk in-state.

Behind this push to get into the supermarkets was one lingering thought.

“We don’t feel that people understand agriculture in Connecticut,” Mr Chesmer said. “A lot of people feel it’s in demise, but it’s not.”

Through Very Alive efforts the participating farms promoted farm tours, for example, proving that the farms were, “very much alive,” he said. “We’re growing and doing business.”

The tours also left visitors with questions.

Mr Chesmer said, “People would ask, ‘Where do you buy your milk?’”

The collection of dairymen came to a realization. “As dairy producers here we had a faceless product,” Mr Chesmer said. “You could go to a number of name brands, but no identity as far as Connecticut farms go.”

Some research, travel to other states’ production plants, local inquiry, and luck led to the beginnings of The Farmer’s Cow.

“We visited a production plant in Connecticut and they were open to the concept of bottling with a Connecticut label. That was the start,” he said. “We segregated our milk and packaged it, that was the key.”

The Farmer’s Cow contributors could guarantee that the milk was from this state. Their milk has been bottled and shelved within Connecticut for more than a year, growing from an idea that developed roughly four years ago.

Currently the cluster of farms are keeping up with demands for  their milk, but are aware that the demand may exceed their resources if the product becomes more popular.

“How would other farms get involved with The Farmer’s Cow? When we get to that point we’ll put the word out,” Mr Chesmer said.

Many supermarkets including Big Y and Stop & Shop chains in the state now stock The Farmer’s Cow. School districts, many of which are involved with the Farm-to-School Program, may soon be on the milk’s delivery routes.

“Once the retail is under our belt we’ll need to look at packaging per school requirements,” he said. Only one private school in Fairfield now purchases The Farmer’s Cow.

The Farm-to-School Program is a statewide program designed to use Connecticut Grown fresh fruits and vegetables in meals and snacks. This project is twofold: to support local farms and to offer fresher, more nutritious produce in the school meals, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Very Alive

Very Alive is an organization that began in 1998 to promote the positive benefits of agriculture for Connecticut. Benefits include the opportunity for fresh local food, environmental quality (scenic vistas, recreational opportunities, farm experiences)

 Mr Chesmer said, “We wanted to get across the point that while agriculture is certainly changing in our state and there is definitely a severe loss of farmland to development every year, that it is not all doom and gloom and there are farms that are planning for the future…”

Farms, like his are investing in a growing business.

Revealing the heart of The Farmer’s Cow, he said, “We’re doing this for financial well-being.”

The members of Very Alive are mostly dairy farmers, Mr Chesmer explained.

Very Alive has held annual farm tours and other events for the public, legislators, and municipal leaders to explore the benefits of agriculture and incentives provided by the Department of Agriculture’s Farmland Preservation Program.

The Farmer’s Cow was born of a common need among the dairy farmers, Mr Chesmer explained. “We had discussions about the economic future of our farms, which exposed a common desire to work together in marketing products from our farms,” he said.