The Hometown Creamery Revival

#1. To conduct necessary processing and market research.

Library – our shared library has provided a wealth of information for the original project participants, as well as for those who attended the cheesemaking workshops we sponsored. Materials on grazing and animal care have also been made available to a local pasture group, which has about 150 members on the mailing list. We have made several hundred loans of books and tapes, and have had very good luck getting the materials back so that they can be loaned again. This will be an ongoing process, even after the project is over, although in the future it will be necessary to require borrowers to pay for mailing costs.

We also purchased multiple copies of several of the more expensive cheesemaking reference books, for personal use by the original project participants.

Conferences, seminars, workshops, cheesemaking schools, consultants – all of the farmer participants took advantage of at least a few of the available opportunities, and most were very positive in their evaluations. University cheesemaking schools were particularly well-received; three project cheesemakers attended these and felt that the experiences helped them to refine their skills significantly. Others attended privately sponsored cheesemaking classes or workshops, with varying levels of satisfaction, though most were positive in their response.

A Holistic Management workshop presented by the HCR near the beginning of the project left participants feeling positive at the end of the workshop, but evaluations later indicated that as many as half of the participants didn’t really see its application to their own situations or to the project as a whole. The other half were very enthusiastic about the workshop and felt it gave them useful tools for decision-making and management on their own farms.

The dairy processing workshop offered by the Virginia Tech Food Science and Technology Department was quite well received by most attendees, who ranged widely in their experience level. In particular, the beginners described the workshop as a good introduction. A few people felt the workshop was too focused on goats; there may have been some misunderstanding that most participants would be potential goat cheesemakers.

Leonard Bergey of Bergey’s Dairy was particularly helpful as a consultant on equipment during the initial stages of the project. A stainless steel fabricator did some work for us to determine the practicality of manufacturing small-scale equipment. He found that, because of the strict requirements for the type of steel and the way it must be formed, as well as the need to have the equipment 3-A certified, there would be little financial advantage to custom fabrication over purchasing available equipment. Later we learned from Steve Tate of Goat Lady Dairy in North Carolina that custom fabrication of a pasteurizer can result in savings of several thousand dollars, and may enable the processor to purchase a pasteurizer in a size not available commercially. Unfortunately, we’ve been unable to confirm that a similar custom pasteurizer would be allowed in Virginia or other states.

We also held several meetings with dairy inspectors, and David Shanks of the New River Valley Small Business Development Center offered a one-day seminar on business plans and marketing. These were all very helpful in answering specific questions that producers had.

On-site visits – It was agreed that visiting operating plants was one of the most valuable of all ways to explore processing options. There is absolutely no substitute for seeing equipment installed and working, and asking direct questions of the owners and operators. The HCR arranged several group visits for this purpose; some participants instead used their funds to make private arrangements for visiting cheesemakers long distances away. We found it difficult to arrange group trips at times because of the many commitments farmers have. In the winter, when farming activities slowed down, the weather was often uncooperative.

Market trials – The two processors who were making and selling cheese each do their own marketing, and both are successful in their own arenas. As mentioned above, the two farms have quite different operations: one is a larger cow dairy, making several hundred pounds of cheese per week; the other is a small goat dairy, generally making less than fifty pounds of cheese per week.

Both processors sell at farmers’ markets, which offer an excellent way to introduce a new product to the public. Cheese sampling allows the producer to receive direct feedback and to interact with customers, developing a loyal clientele. Customers seem to enjoy the breadth added to the farmers’ market by cheese producers, and market managers are pleased to have cheesemakers featured. Selling at a farmers’ market allows the processor complete control over the product until it goes into the customers’ hands, an advantage over wholesale outlets when dealing with a perishable product. And, of course, the farmers’ market brings retail prices to the producer. The major disadvantage of selling at farmers’ markets is the commitment to be at the market each week (or several times a week), and of having to load and unload the product. Depending on the size and quality of the market, sales may or may not be enough to compensate for this commitment. From HCR participants’ experience and that of many other on-farm processors, however, we have found that farmers’ markets are considered one of the most valuable market outlets for the small-scale producer. In fact, a cheesemaker from the Minnesota Farmstead Cheese project, who tried large-scale wholesale production and other marketing possibilities with the project, returned to seven farmers’ markets as the primary outlets for her considerable cheese production (about 1500 pounds per week). Even when dairies become large, their presence at farmers’ markets keeps the dairy name in front of customers; Straus Family Creamery, which delivers milk to stores and homes in seven western states, also has a spot at the San Francisco farmers’ market.

Locally-based health food stores and wineries are quite open to showcasing good local cheeses, and these products acquire loyal followers. Sharon Lawson experienced some problems with a local health food store that had problems keeping the cooler cold enough; because most of her cheeses are high-moisture, fresh cheeses, they tend to spoil quickly at improper temperatures. Several local wineries have featured Meadow Creek Dairy’s cheeses – one has the cheese both in a display case in the lobby and in several dishes on the restaurant menu; another offered the cheeses paired with wine in a special tasting.

On-farm sales are important for many producers who live in areas where people are willing to drive to the farm. Sharon Lawson does sell some cheese directly at the farm, but doesn’t focus on that avenue because of the restrictions it puts on her and because of her remote location. Meadow Creek Dairy, as mentioned before, has opened an on-farm store, perhaps in hopes of attracting customers from the Blue Ridge Parkway, as well as local ones. Sweet Home Farm in Alabama sells exclusively from a shop on their farm, attracting snowbirds and other tourists along the Gulf Coast, as well as chefs who make the drive to buy their cheese. In North Carolina, Maple View Dairy sells their bottled milk and butter from a cooler outside their plant; and Goat Lady Dairy keeps frozen goat cheese in a freezer near the door of their cheese plant for customers who happen by. The latter sales are both operated on the honor system so that personnel can pay attention to their processing duties.

#2 To encourage cooperation and information exchange between formerly isolated dairy farmers, and to provide educational resources and opportunities for participating farmers.

This objective has been well met. Educational resources and opportunities utilized are outlined under #1. There have been many avenues through which we have encouraged cooperation and information exchange:

Meetings and pasture walks – Early in the course of the project the HCR participants held regular meetings on different farms and other places, and pasture walks on the farms of the original participants only. There was some frustration expressed by one of the farmers that the meetings were too big, involved too many people, and (she felt) were wasteful of resources and somewhat unproductive. We had a few meetings that involved a smaller group, but then ran into major problems with weather. After the winter was over, the farmer participants became so involved in their own operations that they were unable or unwilling to attend meetings, so attempts to hold meetings were abandoned. We continued to communicate through e-mail, and there was a great deal of interaction between some individuals. Over time it became clear that three of the farms would be unable to meet their goals to build processing plants over the course of the project, and the two remaining farms had such different operations that it wasn’t felt particularly useful to bring them together.

The pasture walks were more successful. As mentioned above, the Pucketts’ farm was the focus of a couple of pasture walks, with suggestions and assistance offered to the family by participants and the NRCS. David and Tina Puckett were extremely appreciative of the help they received on improving their water system and pasture management, as well as visits to look at processing operations:

“Being part of the Creamery Project for us has been wonderful. The people we have met and the knowledge we have obtained has been terrific. The trip that we took to Hillsboro was inspirational, in that it showed us practical equipment that could be used for our own needs. Also, our cows and our billfold continue to benefit from rotational grazing. We continue to try and learn more.”

As mentioned previously, several members of the group were instrumental in starting local grazing groups that meet on a regular basis. Rick and Helen Feete have demonstrated leadership in a group in Carroll and Grayson Counties (VA), and occasionally writes for the publication of the Virginia Forage and Grasslands Council, The Grassroots Connection. Since they live in between, the Pucketts have attended Carroll-Grayson’s pasture walks, and also occasionally come to those of the New River Graziers, the group I’ve been involved in. These groups hold genial and generally well-attended pasture walks and meetings, where most of the attendees are conventional farmers looking for inspiration.

On-Line – We have been heavily involved in e-mail discussion groups, particularly one called “Artisan Cheesemakers” on Onelist. This group offers a wealth of information and networking opportunities and a number of attendees for HCR-sponsored cheesemaking workshops have come from this group. In addition, this year I was asked to co-moderate, with Andy Lee, a new discussion group on Onelist called “dairycreamery,” which has several hundred members, many of them farmers interested in on-farm processing. Although less active than the cheesemakers’ list, the dairycreamery list is a good place to ask questions about grass farming and processing. In fact, Jo Robinson, author of Why Grassfed is Best, has participated on the list, encouraging farmers to provide dairy products from grassfed animals. Other HCR participants belong to other listservs, notably Graze-L and some of the larger ones that have too many posts for me to keep up with. In general, e-mail discussion groups, as long as they don’t get too political, seem to be an extraordinary, convenient resource for farmers.

Workshops and conference talks – as will be more extensively outlined in later sections, the HCR sponsored a number of workshops to share information with other interested people and help to establish networks. These have ranged from a small 3-hour local workshop held at Sharon Lawson’s cheese plant to a widely advertised three-day advanced cheesemakers’ workshop at Goat Lady Dairy in North Carolina. We have also spoken at farm conferences and other meetings.

One-on-one mentoring – Helen Feete felt more comfortable with showing individuals some of her cheesemaking techniques and the plant itself. She and Rick have shared their experience with quite a few visitors who have contacted them on their own. Sharon Lawson has also taught a number of individuals the art of cheesemaking.

#3 To incorporate and emphasize soil and water quality improvement, humane animal treatment and food safety as essential elements of sustainable dairying.

This objective ties in with #2. The changes made on the Puckett farm are among the most outstanding accomplishments within the original HCR group, but the Leonards and the Groots have also implemented management intensive grazing and getting water to animals on pasture, rather than allowing them to foul streams and springs. In addition, The Small Dairy Resource Book included pasture management as a major component, with reviews of materials that emphasize grazing as opposed to confinement management. More than 1000 copies of this book have been distributed to date. The Resource Book also contains a chapter on food safety resources.

Producers attending dairy processing classes and workshops always get a substantial dose of food safety information. Hygiene during milking, sanitation of milking parlors and processing rooms, control of unwanted organisms, proper storage of milk and products, proper cheesemaking techniques, packaging and storage of products at the retail level are some of the topics covered in these workshops. Many attendees have commented that they learned about hazards they were unaware of.

In addition, on the “Artisan Cheesemakers” e-mail discussion group, several of us have been working on formulating a model HACCP plan for the small-scale cheesemaker. Although HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) plans are not required for dairy processing yet, it is only a matter of time. We feel that, since there is considerable attention being paid to raw milk cheese and mandatory pasteurization, we need to begin to put practices in place that will minimize food safety hazards. Additionally, the most recent issue of CreamLine contains an introductory article on HACCP.

#4 To design and oversee construction of low-cost facilities for the on-farm manufacture of dairy products, expandable and adaptable for various production capabilities; to investigate requirements for transport of small amounts of fluid milk to allow sharing of facilities.

Although the HCR had plans to hire consultants for carrying out the first part of this objective, the two farms that went into production did not choose to use them. Both had independent plans for their facilities and went ahead with them. As mentioned in last year’s report, it is noteworthy that the two farms completing their cheese plants both had existing buildings that could be renovated, using mostly their own labor. The other three farms would have required new buildings to get started. Although intentions were good, money and time were the two greatest factors in preventing at least two of the farms from proceeding; the third experienced a lack of cooperation from partners not well invested in the idea of on-farm processing.

We did gather information on the two processing facilities, to be published in the Getting Started in Dairy Processing manual, and have corresponded with and visited other facilities to gain breadth. For example, we had no one in the project interested in bottling milk, although there is significant interest in that option from mid-size dairies. Accounts of visits to some of these plants have been published in CreamLine and elsewhere.

As noted in the previous section, fluid milk transport issues did not arise, partly because there was a general unwillingness to share facilities. This is understandable – there are contamination, scheduling and storage issues that would make it difficult for any small plant to open its doors to another cheesemaker. We are interested in the “cheese condominium” idea that is being tossed around in Wisconsin, in which cheesemakers own their own portion of a larger facility, sharing some of the costs of construction and maintenance. That will be reported on later in CreamLine.

#5. To begin production, develop shared marketing tactics and begin trial marketing within the local region.

It is disappointing that three of the five farms were unable to make the move into dairy processing during the course of this project. This percentage is perhaps representative, however, of the number of farms that look into the possibility and reject it. Although the Groots indicate that they would still like to build a cheesemaking facility on their farm within 3-4 years, they are so consumed by other obligations – including a new sustainable logging business Harry recently established – that it appears questionable whether they will actually be able to move forward on dairy processing. The Pucketts have made progress on their pasture and water system, but still require a new milking parlor before they can begin to think about processing. Additionally, their steer raising venture became highly successful last year, requiring more of their time and energy. My understanding is that the Leonards sold their portion of the family farm.

As a “hub” for information on dairy processing, the Hometown Creamery Revival receives large numbers of inquiries from people interested in making their dairy farms more profitable by value-adding. Many have no idea what it really takes to get into dairy processing and just drop the idea once they realize what the startup costs are. In some ways this screening benefits those who do make the investment. If going into cheesemaking were too easy, the market would certainly be flooded with goat cheese and probably a lot of inferior cheeses that could ruin the market for others.

In retrospect, it might have been better to locate some of the farmer participants after the beginning of the project, recruiting applicants and screening them carefully using business plans. We had so little time during the proposal planning period that this was impossible then. Nevertheless, events beyond our control came into play as well. One participant lost his job and had to jump right into starting his own business. Family issues prevented progress in other cases.

Still, the two farms that moved ahead with their cheesemaking plants have both been quite successful, albeit on different levels. Although they have chosen not to share marketing tactics, as idealized, both have begun to fill niche markets with their carefully crafted cheeses.

#6 To involve end-users by eliciting direct feedback from them, at the same time informing end-users about the health, quality, social and economic advantages of purchasing locally produced products.

Feedback from customers of farmstead processors, both those in the HCR project and beyond, has been very positive. Most farmstead scale products are easy to market if they bear features that distinguish them from what is found in the grocery dairy case. It is clear that growing numbers of consumers want to support small farms, and use their pocketbooks to say so. The word is spreading about sustainable agriculture and local and regional production: farmers’ markets are growing in popularity, chefs are committing themselves to purchasing local and seasonal food products, and consumers continue to support CSAs despite some inconvenience and sometimes higher costs.

Within the HCR project, we have found consumers, in general, to be receptive to and positive about small-scale dairy processing. Some of the things they have indicated they are looking for: different varieties of cheese, including European style cheeses; fresher milk; raw milk and raw milk products; goat milk products; creamline milk; Jersey milk; old-fashioned buttermilk, butter and cottage cheese; dairy products from grass-fed animals; dairy products from animals not treated with rbGH; homemade ice cream; milk in glass bottles; organic milk; milk from animals treated well. Interestingly, the dairy industry is not responding to most of these consumer desires; many they cannot provide because of the nature of mass production. Processors, instead, are focusing on various packaging options, flavorings, ultrapasteurization and advertising. Thus, there remain a number of niches for small dairies to fill.

Our new partnership with the WNC Nature Center has given us opportunities to reach the public in a different way. The HCR sent several people from the Center for training in cheesemaking, and they have incorporated cheesemaking as one of the demonstrations that they do for visitors. Unfortunately we lost the services and enthusiasm of Chase Hubbard, our original contact there, when he found it necessary to seek higher-paying employment with a computer firm. Recently, however, I’ve learned that Chase has taken a job in the Farm Center at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. Warren Wilson once had a dairy, and one employee of the WW farm told me that they were looking at reinstituting the dairy, so Chase’s experience and training may yet be employed! Chase did present an excellent beginning cheesemaking class at the Nature Center even after he left their employ. The new cheesemakers at the Center, Kristin Hillegas and Julia Patterson, offer demonstrations to the public as they pass through the Center’s barn. The Nature Center also has demonstrations on the preservation of rare farm breeds, which dovetails nicely with preservation of the art of cheesemaking.

#7 To document and disseminate all of the above in various user-friendly forms by others.

The results of this objective will be more appropriately discussed in the sections that follow.