22 October 2007

1 minute read

North America

Buildings were demolished recently at the Platteville farm as part of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Removing the buildings cleared space for more pasture.

Some of the farm's 1,075 black-and- white Holsteins amble across a pasture while others in open-air paddocks chew on a moist mixture that includes alfalfa hay, soy hulls and mineral supplements. Throughout the day, semi- trucks shuttle into a state-of-the-art plant where the milk is pasteurized, packaged and prepared to be sent to Wal-Marts and other supermarkets across the country.

Aurora Organic Dairy's sprawling Platteville farm - one of five the company operates - might not be quite the bucolic image of a family farm that shoppers envision as they pay sometimes twice as much for organic milk. But founders of the nation's biggest private-label organic milk provider say that such large facilities are necessary to capture economies of scale that lower prices and spread the ecological benefits of organic farming practices.

"If we really want to change what we do in agriculture, we have to be able to work with all sizes of customers and make organic milk available to people throughout the country and not just at high-priced specialty stores," said Mark Retzloff, Aurora's president.

Source: Rocky Mountain News