Urgent alert from the dairy farmers to organic consumers:
In late February, dairy giant H.P. Hood told eight Maine
organic dairy farmers in Aroostook and Washington counties that their
milk contracts would not be renewed. Hood then notified its remaining
14 contracted organic milk producers that they must cut their
production this year by 15 percent.
Now, two major producers in central Maine also have been dropped
by Hood: Richard Lary in Clinton, whose farm produces 11,000 pounds of
milk every other day, and Mark McKusick in Dexter.
Both men have been outspoken against Hood's practices, and Lary
said Saturday he believes the pair are being punished by Hood for their
active campaign against the production cuts.