Farmers Can Make It Small and Local...

...but they've got to hustle!

The conventional thinking (I hesitate to call it wisdom) in farming is "Get big or get out," a philosophy that empties out the countryside of all but the biggest corporate farmers and destroys the sense of rural community. As South Dakota's small, independent farmers (and Mrs. Madville Times) will be happy to read, smaller dairy operations in Wisconsin are finding a way to defy that thinking.

MDL runs an AP report on dairy farmers in Wisconsin packaging and selling their own milk, cheese, and ice cream to local and regional buyers [Associated Press, "More Wisconsin Dairy Farmers Are Choosing to Diversify, Stabilizing Their Income," Madison Daily Leader, 2007.09.21]. The advantages:

1. "We control the market all the way to the consumer," says dairy farmer Troy DeRosier. Farmers set their own prices and have more control over their destiny.
   
2. "Consumers sense they are getting a fresher product. They are willing to pay extra," says Jeremy Foltz, assistant professor of agricultural and applied economics, University of Wisconsin.
3. Citizens can buy products from people they know instead of big faceless corporations.
4. Buyers and producers pump their money into the local economy, instead of seeing value slip away to out-of-state corporate middlemen.

The main disadvantage: farmers have to learn new skills, like packaging and marketing. Operating a small store right on one's farm, like DeRosier, requires a whole 'nother skill set. of course, farmers have always had to be jacks-of-all-trades, so maybe adding retail skills to the mix is no big stretch.

Marketing homegrown products in town may not be ever farmer's strong suit, but we're happy to see any way that small farmers can keep their operations small and local and still succeed.