Noticias
y campañas
de la OCA
en español
The sprawling 412-acre Goelz farm of Maple Lake, Minn., has been largely unchanged over the past century. Every morning, Adam Goelz's daughters help him hook up their 48 cows to milking machines, which chug softly as they pump the milk. The cows chew their cud quietly and cast their large dark eyes around the dimly lit barn. But life for these cows, and the fifth generation of Goelzes to work this farm, is changing as radically as the American diet.
Many of Minnesota's small dairy producers have disappeared over the past few decades, succumbing either to the pressures of urbanization or the volatile economics of the industry. Goelz and his wife, Sarah, have responded to those same forces by taking their farm organic.
They are in the final year of a multi-year process that required changes big and small. The fields where the cattle graze no longer can be sprayed with pesticides and fertilizer. The cows that once were coated with a parasiticide to keep flies at bay now are allowed to keep their tails long to swat flies. And when the cows get sick, they get aspirin, not antibiotics.
In the past few years, organic food has gone from serving a small sect of co-op shopping, green-minded enthusiasts to filling the shopping carts of the suburban family. Even mass merchants Wal-Mart and Target devote an increasing amount of shelf space to organic food.
Full Story: http://www.startribune.com/business/22873144.html?location_refer=Homepage:6