University of New Hampshire’s organic dairy research farm sent its first organic milk into the marketplace Jan. 16 via Organic Valley farmer’s cooperative. From left: Regina Beidler, Organic Valley dairy farmer from Randolph Center, Vt.; Kevin Brussell, UNH organic research project dir.; Tom Kelly, dir. of UNH Office of Sustainability; Charles Schwab, professor of animal and nutritional sciences at UNH; and John Cleary, Organic Valley’s New England regional pool coordinator.
Organic Valley welcomed the University of New Hampshire Organic Dairy Research Farm into its cooperative as a milk supplier and full voting member last month.
“The partnership between UNH and Organic Valley will help further organic education in the region and continue to build the Northeast regional organic dairy program developed by Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farm over the last decade,” said John Cleary, Organic Valley’s New England regional pool coordinator.
The UNH Organic Dairy will serve as both an applied research center for integrated organic production and management and an education center for organic dairy farmers, farmers undergoing or considering transition to organic and students of sustainable agriculture. UNH is the first land-grant university in the nation to launch an organic research dairy farm.
Stonyfield contributed $250,000 to the farm in 2006, on top of a $200,000 gift it made to the farm in 2005. Other organic dairy companies including Aurora Organic Dairy and Horizon Organic have contributed similar sums to the project.
