Farming in New England isn’t the same as it used to be. More and more frequently niche farming is popping up where dairy operations once stood. According to a New York Times article on niche farming, in just 10 years between 1979 and 1989, 700 farms opened in Massachusetts while 380 commercial dairy farms closed (NY Times, 1992). This indicates many small farms, not focused on dairy farming, sprouted amid dairy operation failure. More recently in New Hampshire between 2007 and 2017, approximately 1,230 new farms opened (Brooks, 2019). In those ten years, the average size of a farm plummeted from 141 acres to 113 acres with half of the number being fewer than 45 acres (Brooks, 2019). Through niche farming, New England farmers are reimagining their operations to combat the impacts of the large-scale dairy industry on the farming economy.
Figure 1. (Brooks, 2019) The graph on the top demonstrates how the number of farms in New Hampshire has increased since 1997. The graph on the bottom demonstrates how the average size of farms have decreased since 1997 in New Hampshire.
So why is the dairy industry in New England vanishing and small agriculture rising? Vermont was a prominent milk producer for several decades starting around the 1900s (O’Leary, 2018 ). But once an area has its specialty, and it profits well off the commodity, many others try to sweep into that market and do better. Just as Vermont’s grain industry was overpowered by the Midwest in the early 1800s, and the wool industry failed soon after, dairy has become the latest victim. As shown in Table 2, between 1960 and 2012, the Vermont All-Milk price per CWT(100 lbs), wavered relentlessly, decreasing over time. Growing up on a dairy farm in Fairfield, VT, my mom experienced that fluctuation of poverty as milk prices rose and fell regularly. It is an unsustainable way of life, and her father sold his farm when she was in her thirties. Most families can no longer survive on small-scale dairy farming because of the large competition from out west where the land supports bigger farms, more cattle, and cheaper prices.
Figure 2. (Gould, 2014) Changes in Vermont price of milk per hundredweight between 1960-2012.
Niche farming varies. At Does Leap Farm in Bakersfield, VT a family raises goats for specialty goat cheese. At Flack Family Farm in Fairfield, VT, the Flack’s turn homegrown organic vegetables into KimChi. These are a couple of niches to keep New England farming viable. Unique products are being found all over New England; Fresh Start Farms in Dunbarton, NH grows African eggplant and amaranth greens, and Nuestras Raices in Holyoke, MA is cultivating West Indian pumpkins (Ciulla, 2015). These niche farms are creating specific products that few others are producing which attracts consumers. People want to buy local products, with 85% of consumers saying they trust small local operations more than big industries (Cowell, 2010).
The key to niche farming is that it is likely to continue to change. Farmers have to predict the demand for products and hop on the market before big industries catch on (NY Times, 1992).
“About Does’ Leap.” Does’ Leap, doesleap.com/about.
Brooks, David. “Small New Hampshire Farms Are in a Growth Spurt.” Concord Monitor, Concord Monitor, 5 July 2019, www.concordmonitor.com/new-hampshire-farms-agriculture-26579517.
Ciulla, Renee. “New England’s Impressively Unusual Crops.” Rodale Institute, 29 July 2019, rodaleinstitute.org/blog/new-englands-impressively-unusual-crops/.
“Info.” Flack Family Farm, flackfamilyfarm.com/.
“Niche Farms: The Appeal of New Crops.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 24 May 1992, www.nytimes.com/1992/05/24/us/niche-farms-the-appeal-of-new-crops.html.
“Niche Markets and Small Farming Are Types of Farming Viable to New Farmers.” Grit, www.grit.com/farm-and-garden/niche-markets-and-small-farming-are-types-of-farming-viable-to-new-farmers/.
O’Leary, Tom. “Declining Milk Prices Put the Squeeze on Vermont Dairy Farms.” Basement Medicine, www.basementmedicine.org/features/2018/10/02/declining-milk-prices-put-the-squeeze-on-vermont-dairy-farms/.
The main thing that stood out to me when reading this was the constant attempts by Vermont to get a steady form of income, and each time they were unfortunately overpowered by other people coming into the market. Production of milk, wool, and grain have been viable at one point, and now the same thing here is happening with niche farming. I understand that this type of farming is specific to the region, but what is stopping the same pattern from occurring? It is hard to keep things like this going for very long as it seems like big companies always have a way to catch up whenever smaller farmers gain an edge. We’ve seen it with the whole “organic” movement, so is the same thing possible in this case? It seems that smaller farmers have and always will struggle to stand up against these challenges, but there is definitely promise with this type of farming. The main hurdle will be creating a market for these specialty items, and starting local is definitely the best starting point.