The Challenge of Sourcing Local Milk
As we’ve been preparing to open our new retail space, Cooks’ Country Store, we’ve been having conversations with farmers and food producers from all across the North Country. Through those conversations, we’ve found a great selection of products that will complement our farm’s own offerings; we’ll have everything from specialty cheeses and applesauce to locally roasted coffee. However, one item has remained surprisingly elusive: milk.
At first glance, that probably sounds strange. After all, there are dairy farms everywhere in Franklin County. In fact, in 2024 there were more than 15,000 dairy cows in Franklin County alone, and more than 123,000 across the greater North Country. That represents nearly a quarter of all dairy cattle in the entire state of New York! So how can local milk be hard to find?
The answer lies in how our food system is structured. Despite the number of dairy producers in our region, the North Country currently has no fluid milk pasteurizing plants and only ten manufacturing plants. This means that the milk produced here is either transported elsewhere to be processed and bottled or it is turned into yogurt, cheese, whey, and other dairy ingredients. Much of it leaves the region entirely. In other words, we live in one of the most dairy-rich regions of the state, and yet, we have very few options for locally sourced milk. This is one example of how centralized our food system has become.
We define “local” as coming from within 200 miles of our farm. Even with that relatively broad definition, our options for milk are surprisingly limited. We did find a few promising dairy operations in the Capital Region, but logistics quickly became the barrier. Those producers don’t distribute their products as far north as we are, and we simply can’t travel that far south on a regular basis to pick up inventory. We spent hours researching and reaching out, trying to find a distribution solution that might work, but ultimately we came up empty.
Price was another factor we had to consider. Milk is a staple food, and not everyone can afford to pay a premium for it (which is something that we completely understand). When we surveyed customers about what they most wanted to see in our store, two items came up again and again: bread and milk. This left us with an important question: does our commitment to local food outweigh our commitment to serving the needs of our community? After a lot of thought, that question led us to our final decision.
We’ve decided to carry two types of milk in our store: one local and one non-local. Our local milk will come from Hidden Acres Dairy in nearby Champlain, NY, a small farm that operates its own on-site bottling facility. They produce an incredible Certified Organic creamline milk that is truly something special. It’s richer and more flavorful than most milk you’ll find in the grocery store, and in our opinion it’s well worth the price. To start, we’ll be carrying their pints of flavored milk: chocolate, maple, and coffee. These pint sized bottles make a great treat! For those who’d like to buy larger quantities of Hidden Acres milk, we’ll be offering half gallons on a pre-order basis. Every few weeks, when we travel to their farm to pick up fresh inventory, we’ll let customers know ahead of time so they can place an order and either pick up their milk at our store or have it delivered along with the rest of their order. At the same time, we’ll also carry conventional milk and half-and-half so that these everyday staples remain accessible to families in our community who may be watching their grocery budgets.
Our long-term goal is to eventually transition to offering local dairy products exclusively. We would love nothing more than to see another small bottling facility open near us, offering full gallons of milk, half and half, and more! Until that happens, we’ll just try to do the best we can to balance our commitment to local agriculture with the needs of the people we serve. Building a truly local food system doesn’t happen overnight: it happens one farm, one producer, and one customer at a time. We’re grateful that our farm, and our new store, will play a part in that process here in the North Country.
