The Rural Voice, 1994-11, Page 22Seeking the niche
Pine River's new organic cheese heralds a whole
different approach in the dairy industry
By Keith Roulston
Sfitting in the curing room at Pine
River Cheese and Butter Co-
operative, it looks no different
than any other cheese around it. Taste
it and 99 per cent of consumers won't
be able to taste the difference. But
this natural -coloured cheese is part of
a revolution in the milk marketing
system in Ontario.
Sometime toward the end of the
year the first certified organic cheese
in Ontario will go on the market.
Marketed under a new label, Country
Meadow, it will give Pine River an
opening into a rapidly expanding
market. It is the culmination of
nearly cight•ycars of efforts by the
company and a small group of
organic dairy farmers.
Efforts by dairy farmer to find a
nicht market began with a visit from
Laurence Andres of Tiverton back in
1987, recalls Jim Gardner, plant
manager of Pine River. He wondered
if there was any way the factory
could work with organic farmers to
keep their milk separate from the
regular milk pool. Gardner was
interested. "Anywhere you can get
into a niche market is good," he says.
At first it was difficult to persuade
authorities at the Ontario Milk
Marketing Board that something
could, and should, be done. Gardner
credits the arrival of Bob Bishop as
OMMB general manager, with
opening the door to the opportunity
to develop a niche market product.
He and Peter Gould, director of the
18 THE RURAL VOICE
OMMB Marketing Division, have
been very supportive of the efforts by
both Pine River and the group of 15
dairy farmers. Ted Zettel, one of the
farmers involved, said it was a matter
of getting to a point in time when
other farmers could see the wisdom
of going after a niche market instead
of having just one pool of milk. After
discussing the possibility with
OMMB staff, the farmers and Pine
River finally spoke to the entire
board.
It's a tricky situation, Zeuel says.
The theory behind the milk
marketing board has been that all
milk is pooled and all farmers benefit
equally. "We had to show them that
we don't want to throw a monkey
wrench into the whole system,"
Zettel says, "but we convinced them
that if we don't (produce organic
cheeses) then other people in other
jurisdictions will fill the niche. We'll
lose our share."
The problem is how to go after the
niche market without losing the
marketing system that has protected
the livelihood of dairy farmers over
the past three decades. "None of us
want to see that wide-open, dog-eat-
dog world again," says Zettel of the
days before the marketing board
brought order to pricing.
That's the concern about letting
one group of farmers cut a deal to
supply one cheese plant. And it's a
concern on the part of the farmers
involved that they must get a
Cheese is packaged (above, left) in
the Pine River cutting room. The
organic cheese is now curing in the
room, (right).
premium for producing the organic
milk that is needed to go after this
premium market. "There has to be an
incentive or you won't want to go to
the bother (of being certified
organic)" Zettel says.
This, he acknowledges, seems like
a contradiction on the part of organic
farmers who have always maintained
they could produce at competitive
prices with conventional farmers.
But going to certified organic milk
production is an expensive step by
comparison to organic cropping.
Most farmers who were calling
themselves organic couldn't qualify
for certification by the Organic Crop
Improvement Asoociation (OCIA)
because certified organic soybean
meal protein supplements are not
available. Farmers who wanted to
qualify for certification have had to
replace soybean meal with roasted
soybeansand certified organic beans
at double the cost.
All but two of the original
group have had to make
major changes in their
operation to qualify for certification.
Zettel, who says he had streamlined
his system in preparation for the
move, was one of the two who
qualified immediately. So far six
farmers have been certified. Two of
the group are too far away to be
included in the experiment.
The issue of premium pricing for
the organic milk has still not been
settled. A proposal would see the
OMMB pay the farmers the same as
for all other milk. Pine River is
willing to pay a premium to the
farmers to get their certified milk. It
T