A3O-Lanc*ster Farming, Saturday, June 6, 1998
Chesapeake Milk To Provide
(Continued from Pago A 1)
mium to farmers whose farms
exhibit a high standard of environ
mental protection, as well as serv
ing as a source of cost-share
money to help other farmers
achieve such standards.
The Chesapeake Milk program
is to be a one-year pilot program
that took some time in the making.
A couple of years ago, during a
press-education outing on the Che
sapeake Bay Foundation’s retrofit
ted skippctjack oyster boat, a con
cept was presented by the DPN
that ideally would set up a pathway
by which consumers could directly
support local, environmentally
conscientious dairy farms, as well
as support local farmers wishing to
undertake environmental projects
without going through federal
programs.
Dairy Network Partnership
(DNP) had formed in 1995 in an
attempt to create a cooperative and
coordinated effort to secure more
money for environmentally con
scientious farmers, and thus to
help save family farms and farm
land, and encourage effective
environmental stewardship.
The effort started
with the “green” groups,
mainly Rodale Institute,
an organization started
years ago to promote the
healthy soil/health
crops/heallhy people
relationship concepts of
the founder of the
Rodale businesses.
In addition to Rodale
Institute, DPN-member
groups include the Pen
nsylvania Association
for Sustainable Agricul
ture (PASA), a group
with the expressed goal
of creating environmen
tally balanced fanning
operations (nutrients in
equals nutrients out, or
vice versa); the Chesa
peake Bay Foundation,
whif'h has a goal of
restoring the Chesa
peake Bay and its fresh
water sources; the
United States Environ
mental Protection
Agency; and Penn State
University Extension.
At the time, the only
non-conservation group
was Atlantic Dairy
Cooperative, which had
joined the partnership in
order to be in a position
to possibly increase pro
fitability and thus sus
tainability for its mem
bers through niche
marketing.
Since then, ADC
merged into the national
Land O’Lakes Inc.
cooperative (which
recently completed
another merger boosting
its size and milk volume
control), and has
dropped out of the
partnership.
In the meantime, the
project has continued
through the efforts of
the independent DPN,
which has three staff
members: Lori Sand
man, project manager;
Leon Weber, on-farm
coordinator; and Shelby
Evans, res-earch
technician.
During that sailboat
tour of the Annapolis
area of the Chesapeake
Bay, the term “green" was used to
characterize the concept of mark
eting milk to consumers who have
a strong interest in supporting
environmental conservation on
local farms.
Surveys and polls, as well as
ancedotal evidence, apparently
had been used to support the notion
that if the group could bottle it and
get it into the retail dairy case, the
public would buy “green" milk to
support farmers, as long as the
consumers could be sure that the
farmers were going to get the
money, instead of the middlemen.
However, the concept stayed
quiet for many months.
The initial reaction to the con
cept was that it had some obstacles
to overcome: the thought of
“green" milk didn’t sound very
appetizing; getting any milk into
retail shelves is difficult as its is, as
chain stores reportedly haggle over
differences involving small per
centages of a cent, much less being
involved with a product that car
ries a sort of “deposit" and poten
tially mote work for the grocer and
his accountants.
Nevertheless, the concept was
discussed, through it was clear that
details needed to be worked upon.
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In the meantime, with little
publicity, the project has been
worked out the point of announc
ing a go-ahead pilot run.
The program of DNP under
which the Chesapeake Milk pro
ject is being carried out is called
the Environmental Quality Initia
tive and carries the slogan, “Your
choice makes a difference.”
The EQI program has its own
mark an painted representation
of a pastoral farmstead inside a
circle, with the capitalized words
“Environmental Quality Initia
tive” encircling it.
According to promotional
materials, “During a one-year test
market, the Enviormental Quality
Initiative mark will be found on
cartons of a new milk line known
as Chesapeake Milk.
“Additionally, the mark will be
found on select Natural tty Nature
organic dairy products. These pro
ducts will be sold at regional groc
ery markets in Pennsylvania,
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“By participating in the Envir
onmental Quality Initiative, these
retailers are taking a lead role on
behalf of the environment. They
are providing their customers with
a chance to make a difference.
“Each time a customer purch
ases Chesapeake Milk, 5 cents per
half gallon will be returned to dairy
farmers in the region who are
achieving a high standard of natur
al resource protection.
“The money will also be used to
assist other farmers in enhancing
environmental protection prac
tices on their farms.”
The promotional text goes on to
announce that the EQI program is
to include on-farm demonstration
events, consumer education and
outreach programs, and technical
assistance for farmers.
DNP intends to identify those
farms with qualifying environ
mental standards of protection
through the use of an “environ-
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mental farmstead evaluation,”
described in the promotional
material as, ”... an objective, stan
dardized scorecard that measures
environmental management on
Pennsylvania dairy farms.”
Initially, producer participation
in the EQI program project is being
limited to producers sending milk
to Sunnydale Farms in Brooklyn,
New York; or Natural Dairy Pro
ducts Corporation in West Ches
ter, Chester County, the producers
of the organic milk, labeled Natur
al by Nature.
After a year of operation, the
intent is to open up the project and
to make the EQI markavailable for
geographic regions and commodi
ties in addition to that produced on
southeast Pennsylvania dairy
farms.
According to DNP, while Sun
nydale is the processor involved in
the pilot program, other processors
are welcomed to participate in the
program.
For more information, call
Sandman at (610) 683-1476.
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