Driving through KS, we have been educating ourselves on the towns we pass through.
As I write this, I am reeling from the stench of a large scale dairy farm in Rexford KS.
Sadly, seeing this farm dashed my optimistic hopes that Dannon had, in fact, done a great thing last week.
You see, one of the articles I read while touring thru exuded great enthusiasm for a recent deal struck with a local KS farmer and Dannon. This dairy farmer, who runs three farm locations, will be the sole contract for Dannon's Fort Worth yogurt facility. Milk from this 7200 head herd will be pasteurized and dehydrated at the farm's facility in Rexford KS.
I wasn't thrilled reading about the further processing required to make the yogurt. I prefer the simple act of making it from milk with minimal processing. But the scale of an operation like Dannon, and the prices consumers expect, require such additional processing to mitigate perishability.
Looking at this with a layperson's understanding of farm economics, I find the buoyant proclamation that this farmer, after two years of negotiations, is now the sole contract holder for Dannon alarming. Obviously getting a good contract is great for the farmer, but stories abound among NC poultry farmers of complete financial ruin arising from failed mono-contracts. I hope for this farmer, who seems to be assuming the capital costs of the milk processing, that this contract doesn't go south in two years and result in his bankruptcy.
But just now, passing the farm, and seeing animals crowded in pens full of muck and mire and manure, I am even more conflicted.
When we live so far from industrial dairies that we imagine a perfect pastoral existence for farmers and the dairy cows, we are kidding ourselves. If we want to make farming financially viable for farmers, healthy for the animals, and good for the land, we have to make different choices. It is not always easy....some places only carry products from companies such as Dannon. But for me, with the stench of confinement in my memory, I no longer have a stomach for Dannon yogurt.
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/15/3659830/kansas-dairy-signs-exclusive-deal.html
As I write this, I am reeling from the stench of a large scale dairy farm in Rexford KS.
Sadly, seeing this farm dashed my optimistic hopes that Dannon had, in fact, done a great thing last week.
You see, one of the articles I read while touring thru exuded great enthusiasm for a recent deal struck with a local KS farmer and Dannon. This dairy farmer, who runs three farm locations, will be the sole contract for Dannon's Fort Worth yogurt facility. Milk from this 7200 head herd will be pasteurized and dehydrated at the farm's facility in Rexford KS.
I wasn't thrilled reading about the further processing required to make the yogurt. I prefer the simple act of making it from milk with minimal processing. But the scale of an operation like Dannon, and the prices consumers expect, require such additional processing to mitigate perishability.
Looking at this with a layperson's understanding of farm economics, I find the buoyant proclamation that this farmer, after two years of negotiations, is now the sole contract holder for Dannon alarming. Obviously getting a good contract is great for the farmer, but stories abound among NC poultry farmers of complete financial ruin arising from failed mono-contracts. I hope for this farmer, who seems to be assuming the capital costs of the milk processing, that this contract doesn't go south in two years and result in his bankruptcy.
But just now, passing the farm, and seeing animals crowded in pens full of muck and mire and manure, I am even more conflicted.
When we live so far from industrial dairies that we imagine a perfect pastoral existence for farmers and the dairy cows, we are kidding ourselves. If we want to make farming financially viable for farmers, healthy for the animals, and good for the land, we have to make different choices. It is not always easy....some places only carry products from companies such as Dannon. But for me, with the stench of confinement in my memory, I no longer have a stomach for Dannon yogurt.
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/15/3659830/kansas-dairy-signs-exclusive-deal.html
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