Munroe Dairy East Providence, RI
Munroe Dairy - Staying the Course
Good news according to the Providence Journal, the 137-year-old Munroe Dairy in East Providence that had been tentatively sold, will stay under the same ownership and expand operations making new products like ice cream and butter. That means its local farms will continue to have a small processor to buy their milk. If the company does get sold, the current owners hope it will be to an employee-owned entity.
If you have never tried the Munroe Dairy milk products, they are a wonderful surprise. The company delivers to a large area near their home base. With the huge product line they carry to your doorstep, it’s like a grocery store at your fingertips, order online and wake up to the goods in your milk box
Marcus Dairy Franklin, MA
Future now looking brighter for local farms
The Sullivan County legislature approved a grant to support a business plan to allow for the opening of a local creamery. This comes as a great relief to the affected farms and farmers as prior to this Marcus Dairy had advised that they would no longer be buying their milk after the fall.
The proposed creamery will go by the name "Ma and Pa Creamery." It will feature higher end dairy products, such as organic and grass fed milk servicing this niche market.
The highly collaborative effort between multiple farms shows that there can be a good outcome in the dairy industry, when people are willing to come together in to help keep the cows
Marcus Dairy Franklin, MA
Marcus Dairy Cuts Farms Loose
Marcus Dairy in Massachusetts has notified its farms it will no longer buy their milk, according to reports in Connecticut and New York newspapers. The farms originally had until June 30 to find another buyer but then continued under an extension to the end of July. What August will bring for these farms is unknown
More than 50 farms are involved in the scramble for a new buyer. Explanations for the closing of Marcus Dairy in reports point to the price of milk in China determining New England milk prices along with a decreasing demand for milk. Marcus Dairy continued to operate under the name but was purchased by Dean Foods in 2005 and operations moved to Franklin, MA.
Now, thirteen years later, however, the second largest milk processor in the country, behind only Nestle, announced plans to close 7 plants nationwide including the MA facility.
Shaw Farm, Dracut MA
Shaw Farm a Local Treasure
To be a dairy farm in operation in New England today meant travelling a twisted route through days of austerity and prosperity.
The grit of the Shaw Family is told on their website
Started in 1908, Shaw Farm has celebrated 100 years as a dairy farm, but there is much left unsaid about the qualities of steadfast loyalties and faithfulness that worked hand in hand with fate.
Shaws has built its current home delivery business and strong community support, through consistency and quality dairy products. It stands as a beacon of hope for others and a model for the future.
Wallace Farm Waterbury, VT
Fast Moving Easter Fire Incinerates all at Vermont Farm
Instead of celebrating a resurrection on Easter Sunday this year, Rosina Wallace and her brother Kay watched their beloved Vermont farm go up in flames and take with it the lives of all their cows.
Lost in the fast moving, devastating fire were 23 animals, the barn and outbuildings and both Rosina and Kay’s houses. Her dog was rescued from the burning house by the firefighters
The farm had been in the Wallace family for more than 150 years. Reports of the fire held little clue as to the cause. One report pointed to some equipment in the milking parlor but nothing specific.
Rosina, a former teacher, was not just a dairy farmer. She was a dairy educator who held a children’s camp every summer for youngsters, getting them up close to the animals. She carried on in her father’s footsteps because of her deep love for the land and all the creatures who inhabited it along with her.
In an interview she gave in 2008 she expertly described her relationship with the farm and the rewards she gained, none of them monetary.