New England Cooperative Offers Premium

Chuck ZimmermanDairy Business

Agri-MarkNew England milk cooperative, Agri-Mark, has formed a new cooperative called New England Family Dairy Farms Cooperative. According to the news release, the cooperative hopes to sell bottled milk locally at a premium to be distributed to area farmers when prices are low.

The product will bear a “New England Family Farms” label that Agri-Mark and others hope will stir milk drinkers to spend a little more to help local farmers when times are hard. “We’re looking at an extra 10 cents to a quarter per gallon,” said the fledgling organization’s executive director, Christine Rasmussen. “It won’t cover all the costs of production, but it will go a long way, and the psychological value will be huge. It will show local dairy farmers people here care.”

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