To kick off the NY Organic Dairy Initiative, the Cornell Small Farm Program convened a New York Organic Dairy Task Force to identify barriers to and opportunities for organic milk production. Participants included organic milk producers, processors, grain growers and certifiers, who brainstormed production practice and business management changes that could improve the profitability of individual farms and of the industry sector as a whole. New York Farm Viability Institute Outreach Coordinator David Grusenmeyer facilitated part of the meeting.

The good thing about this kind of task force is that all the players in the industry come together to share their knowledge, to strategize, and to look at their industry from other perspectives to the benefit of all industry participants,says Grusenmeyer, who has facilitated barrier identification panels for agricultural industry sectors across the state.

Small Farms Educator Fay Benson of the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cortland County is coordinator for the New York Organic Dairy Initiative. Benson, a 20-year dairy farmer who produced organic milk for seven years, says, The barrier identification process ties together all the aspects of the industry so we can build projects to respond to farmer-identified needs and opportunities. New York farms currently produce only one-third of the demand for organic milk by New York consumers. We need to triple our organic milk production just to meet the current demand in New York. New York has a tremendous potential to become a leader in the organic milk industry.

Benson will also lead Managing for Successworkshops for organic and transitioning producers at several sites around the state. The workshops will use resources adapted for organic producers from Cornells PRO-DAIRY materials. The workshops will help farmers to understand how organic production impacts animal health, crops, and farm finances. Goal setting, decision making, holistic farm management, and essential recordkeeping that fits each farmers personal farm, family and financial goals will also be addressed in the workshops.

Benson says transition to organic does not create instant success and is not for everyone.

Managing organic farms follows many of the same principles that govern management of conventional dairy farms. The big difference is that organic producers must rely more on preventing problems without the use of synthetic fertilizers, livestock medicines and other tools that are available to conventional producers,Benson says. There is a learning curve that takes income down before it goes up for an organic producer.

Kathie Arnold of Twin Oaks Farm, an organic dairy since 1998 in Cortland County, says the opportunity for information sharing about organic milk production is greatly needed.

I get calls all the time from conventional producers trying to think through how they might transition to organic. Farmer-to-farmer networking is a hallmark of organic producers and facilitation of information sharing will be beneficial to all from transitioning farmers to existing producers,Arnold says.

Benson says a hallmark of NYFVI projects is business planning. Developing a business plan is especially helpful for evaluating the economics of transitioning to organic production and for dairies ready to develop value-added organic milk enterprises. Business planning specialists with Cornells NY FarmNet program, Cornells PRO-DAIRY Team, and the Tompkins, Cortland, and Tioga Counties Dairy and Field Crops Team will work with producers participating in the organic dairy initiative to develop plans specific to each farm.

The New York Organic Dairy Initiative will also produce organic production educational materials to help farmers statewide.

The dairy materials currently available are not keyed to organic production. It is great to see farm planning and management frameworks being built for organic production. They will be good tools for farmers to assess whether transitioning to organic production will be a good move for them,Arnold says. For existing operations, holistic planning provides the opportunity to assess management and production practice adjustments or changes that could positively impact reducing costs and increasing profitability.

The New York Farm Viability Institute, Inc. is a farmer-led nonprofit corporation dedicated to increasing product value and profitability throughout New Yorks agricultural industry. The Institute funds projects that provide producers with access to technical assistance, educational resources and a network of diverse expertise in production agriculture and horticulture, agricultural economics, value-added processing, marketing, integrated pest management, business planning, business structuring, waste management and other on-farm business opportunity development.

For more information on the NY Organic Dairy Initiative, contact Cornell Small Farm Program, 135c Plant Science Building, Cornell University, Ithaca NY 14853, 607-753-5077, www.smallfarms.cornell.edu. To learn more about the NYFVI, contact New York Farm Viability Institute, Inc., 159 Dwight Park Circle Suite 104, Syracuse, NY 13209, 315-453-3823, www.nyfarmviability.com.