Real Milk: A Trip to Mauthe Farms

  "We have never been on a vacation all together at the same time." Jamie Mauthe, of Mauthe Farms, told us in our recent interview.  This quote illustrates one of the many sacrifices small dairy farms must make in order to provide our community with their home grown products.  Set on 40 acres amid the quiet, woodsy town of Progress, MS, Mauthe Farms is one of few dairy farms of its kind left in the Southern area. An abundance of happy cows, who are mainly grass fed, supply the Mauthe family with the essential substance necessary for them to earn their living: milk.
  The Mauthe family has a long history in the milk business that stretches back to the 1930s in New Orleans when raw milk was delivered by truck in the lower 9th ward.  Nowadays, their products appear in markets such as The Crescent City Farmer's Market and Holly Grove.  However, despite their decades of hard work, farmer's markets in the New Orleans area are dying.  And unlike industrialized dairy farms that mass produce milk, family owned farms receive no health insurance or retirement fund.  They are truly on their own when it comes to funding and additional support.
  Our visit to Mauthe Farms was like stepping back in time to when quality food was a necessity in America.  The farm takes care of their cows and breeds them for longevity, with their average cow living to be around 11 years old, contrary to the current industry standard.  Industrialized cows live for a maximum of 4 years and spend their days chained to milking machines. This method of raising cows comes from a perspective based purely on profits and capital gains.  As Sarah said, "It's all about the dollar".  
  Another aspect of the current industry standard for milk involves the ultra pasteurization of milk which removes the enzymes necessary for digestion.  This renders many people lactose-intolerant.  As Mauthe farms uses a low heat pasteurization process, many lactose-intolerant people are able to digest their milk without any problems.  Jamie told us, "a man who had gone 50 years without drinking milk due to his lactose intolerance tried our milk and now buys several half-gallons from us a week".  This just goes to show how loving care, dedication and hard work form the true roots of dairy farming.
  To the Mauthe family, working on the farm is not a job, it is a way of life.  Our trip to their farm was an eye-opening experience and we believe every consumer should form the same connection to their local farms.  We, as a society, have lost our way when it comes to knowing and appreciating where our food comes from.  To know the Mauthe family and to see their farm is to know what real milk is.
  Consumers have every right to know where their food comes from and how it is produced.  We must take advantage of the information and wisdom that family owned farms provide.  Thank you so much to Mauthe Farms for providing our community with a healthy and safe source for REAL milk.  Don't just take our word for it, take a trip to Mauthe Farms or to one of the local markets and see for yourself.

Farmers in the United States: A Vanishing Population

A hundred years ago, it was common for young people to be involved in farming and agriculture, whether it be through working on their parents' farm or getting a job on another. Now, according to the USDA'S Agricultural Census, the number of adults under the age of 35 working on farms has been reduced from around 1.8 million in 1910 to just 118,000. There is expected to be over 500,000 farmers retiring in the next twenty years, which puts heavy expectation on young aspiring farmers.

It is for this reason that Tom Vilsack, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, has put out a message asking for 100,000 new farmers to step up to the field. The last Farm Bill of 2008 (the primary food and agricultural policy tool for the government) contains some mostly unknown elements, like several governmental programs aimed towards young and beginner farmers. One such program is the Beginner Farmer and Rancher Development Program, and there are also direct loans available to farmers as a start up to buying and maintaining their own land. These programs would work out very well if the new farmers knew more about them; many say they have never heard of the programs, aren't qualified for them, or were misinformed.

For those who are seeking a Farm Service Agency (FSA) loan, you might be in for a long struggle. The USDA requires that any farmer applying for a loan must have at least three years of experience working in the agricultural as well as the business environment of a farm. Apparently, this secures a “reasonable prospect of success” for the farmer and/or farm. You must also show that you were more than a “laborer” on the farm by providing bills addressed to them, checks you signed for the farm, or a written statement describing their role on the farm in detail by the farmer you worked for.

The FSA process of acquiring a loan is still painfully slow, and not at all desirable with the competitive prices of buying good farm land. The FSA also doesn't offer pre approval, meaning if you find the perfect piece of land but you don't yet have a loan, even if you are in the process of getting a loan, you can't make a bid on that land. Because of the lack of pre approval, these loans are usually only suitable for those buying from patient sellers and slow real estate markets, and neither of those things are very likely to occur.