Can you say (artisanal) cheese?
Plant in Hardwick churns out ricotta, mozzarella, yogurt
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By Andrew Nemethy Staff Writer - Published: April 8, 2007
HARDWICK – Behind the walls of a nondescript sheet-metal building in this Northeast Kingdom town, Vermont milk is taking on a distinctly Italian flavor – and one man's vision is becoming a reality.
The Italian flavor is coming from Maplebrook Farm in Bennington, which is making artisanal mozzarella and ricotta in small batches from 100 percent Vermont milk at the Hardwick plant. The vision comes from longtime farming activist Anthony Pollina, whose Vermont Milk Company is successfully moving ahead on many fronts in a groundbreaking effort to put more money in farmers' pockets.
Pollina, founder of the farm advocacy group Rural Vermont, a former gubernatorial candidate and now a weekday radio talk show host on WDEV in Waterbury, says the goal of the company he co-founded is simple. First, to give farmers more control over how their milk is processed and marketed. And second: "We want to add as much value to Vermont milk as we can."
Started in the former 8,000-square-foot Kingsey Cheese plant in the Hardwick Industrial park last August, the Vermont Milk Company is not just up and running, it's spreading in all directions. Two weeks ago the company introduced its own whole-milk yogurt, after already making a mild cheddar and cheddar-like cheese curds (small bite-sized snack cheeses that appeal to kids). The company plans to introduce its own all-Vermont milk ice cream later this spring.
"We just had our best week ever in terms of volume and in terms of dollars," said general manager Peter Burmeister recently. He's a 62-year-old small-business entrepreneur who lives in Montpelier and shares Pollina's vision of farming as supporting products that are fresh, wholesome, locally grown and produced in a way that farmers can make a living.
Burmeister says milk has simply become a fluid commodity, co-mingled from different states and farms and shipped long distances by tanker trucks that could just as well be carrying olive oil or fuel. A few large national processors control the price and farmers have no say in what they get paid.
That's the opposite of how Vermont Milk Company sees itself.
"We believe that Vermont milk is something very precious and special," says Burmeister, who works out a cramped office in the plant filled with packaging crates and other materials.
"Instead of just loading it up on big trucks, we keep it here and turn it into good food," he says.
The company was formed to create and market all-natural Vermont milk products, primarily value added, meaning the milk is turned into higher-priced items such as cheese or ice cream or yogurt, returning more money to farmers. Currently three farms are providing milk that is natural, but not organic, from growth-hormone free cows.
Pollina says the company pays $15 per hundredweight, as well as shipping costs, considerably above the current milk price. While Vermont Milk expects to handle 10 million pounds this year, the plant is capable of handling up to 50 million pounds annually.
"We hope to help others break the commodity system. It's a corrupt system and it is literally driving our farmers out of business," Burmeister says.
The plant, which now employs five people along with Burmeister, is owned by farmers and some investors and has been aided by support from the Union Bank in Morrisville. It recently won a Vermont Economic Development Authority loan to upgrade equipment and was chosen by a Burlington marketing company for a year's free marketing assistance.
If you want to see the all-Vermont philosophy and business plan in action, a visit with master cheesemaker Michael Scheps is a good place to start. Scheps is co-owner of Maplebrook Farm in Bennington, which produces Vermont mozzarella and has begun making handmade Vermont ricotta at the Hardwick plant.
On a recent Friday he was immersed in the five-hour process of making mozzarella with coworkers, stirring and rinsing the 1,400 pounds of cheese in a long vat before it is taken to Bennington to be hand-molded and stretched.
Under a partnership, Vermont Milk Company just purchased a "culinary steam kettle" from a Dutch company to make the ricotta cheese. Scheps, whose family cheese-making connections go back three generations, sells his cheese at Whole Foods and at retail markets in the state. The ricotta will also be sold at Hannafords in the future, opening doors to a wider market.
Plans are also in the works to produce provolone, again made only with Vermont milk, says Burmeister.
Vermont Milk Company is partnering with many other leaders on the farm-fresh edge in Vermont, such as the New England Culinary Institute and local co-ops, to market its all-Vermont products. In addition, the company is partnering with Vermont schools including U-32 High School in East Montpelier, Colchester, East Montpelier and Thetford to sell healthy snacks, such as its cheese curds.
"People want to be able to buy local with confidence, and we give them the opportunity to do that," says Pollina, who lives in Middlesex and has been working hard to get the plant going. "I would be the first to admit it's been extremely complicated but it's also been extremely rewarding."
A longtime critic who says the state's agricultural policies are outdated and missing opportunities to help Vermont farmers, Pollina adds, "Frankly, we could have done this a couple of years ago if the state had been more supportive.'
For Pollina, watching the growth of Vermont Milk Company is satisfying proof that there's a ready and willing market for products that bear the Vermont name and support family farms, allowing Vermont farmers to thrive, not just survive.
He and Burmeister hope that Vermont concept takes hold beyond the state's borders – giving dairy farmers everywhere hope they can take back control of their product, making not only money but a connection with consumers.
"We see ourselves as trendsetters. We see Vermont Milk Company as being a paradigm for not just Vermont, but the nation," says Burmeister.
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