Grass-Fed Party

Family Run Dairy Farm in Treadwell, NY

As we focus on regional grass-fed farming, we would like to have our weekly issue posts express the unique challenges that each region faces. Whether it is environmental or economic, grass-fed farms need to be in tune with the land and the community they reside in.  In the Northeast our challenges are mostly economic because our environment is extremely conducive to grass-fed farming.

As a farmer’s daughter and a native upstate New Yorker, I have seen the traditional family farm disappear and in their wake I have seen mega dairies emerge in western New York. I have also seen a new type of farm appear, one that harnesses the sun and delivers real profit for family farmers and this is grass-fed farming. Yet, there are still real obstacles in our way. Lack of policy initiative from our elected officials, access to markets and USDA inspected slaughterhouses stand in the way of real grass-fed change for the Northeast. On a positive note demand is at an all time high.    People are starting to not only ask for grass-fed meats and diary, they are demanding it. Where there is demand, supply will follow but because so many family farms have disappeared we have to revive farms and rebuild dying rural economies to supply this demand.  Northeast politicians, especially Senators, have not been advocates for farmers like their Western and Midwestern counterparts---it is not really their fault rural votes are small compared to  vote-rich cities and suburbs. When I was an intern in DC I sat in on many an agricultural committee meeting and all the members were from Kansas or Nebraska. Where were the Congressmen from Connecticut and New York? I was only 19 at the time but I knew that this had implications for the farmers in my community.  As a result of this, family farms have left the Northeast because pressures on them have been ignored. Slaughterhouses have been bought by large packers and closed, milk prices have become lower and lower and costs higher, and subsidies have been mismanaged helping larger farms not smaller ones.  We have an opportunity to bring small farms back, New Yorkers and Bostonians have begun to vote with their forks, supporting local farmers and producers, but we still need governmental support. We need politicians to address the fact that access to markets and slaughterhouses is instrumental for the success of small farms and we need to revisit our agricultural subsidies. Most simply put we need a voice for Northeastern farmers.