NOTMILK - Maine-stream Trage-Dies

They once spilled milk as a means of protest.
Today they spill their own blood.

The Notmilk letter first reported dairy farmer
suicides on June 13, 2009:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/3293

My daughter Lizzy is spending her summer in Maine.
I received this article from her this week:

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Bangor Daily News
July 11, 2009

Economic strife in farming communities
leads some to tragic ends

BY ERIC ZELZ
AUGUSTA, Maine — It's the one topic a lot of farmers
are keenly aware of but won't talk about.

They'll discuss weather, milk prices, the cost of
equipment, cow genetics and bull semen, but they
never talk to each other about suicide.

Increased suicide among farmers is a national trend
and Maine is not exempt. "They don't call it a
depression for nothin'," one Maine farmer, who
asked not to be identified, said recently.

Earlier this year, a farmer in southern Maine hanged
himself in his barn. Recently, two central Maine
farmers in separate communities — one an organic
milk producer — shot and killed themselves.

Fellow farmers are blaming the economic crisis in
agriculture — particularly in dairy — for the tragedies.
Expansions were made, equipment purchased and
loans taken out. Then the price farmers were paid
for their milk crashed. Credit was cut off and some
farmers just couldn't see a way out.

Martin Lane of Shady Lane Farms in New Vineyard said
he believes most farmers are struggling with depression
but that they keep it to themselves. He said he has
been on anti-depression medication for two years.

"I have to get up in the morning and look my kids in
the eye and know that I'll not be able to help them
out like I said I would," Lane said. "It certainly is a
problem when I can't come through on my promises
to my children."

Widespread problem

In 2008, 14 Colorado farmers killed themselves,
according to the Denver Post, double the number the
previous year. In California, the nation's No. 1 dairy
state, two dairy farmers have killed themselves in
the past six months.

The U.S. is not alone in this trend. In April 2009,
1,500 farmers in India committed suicide after their
crops failed. Tomato farmers in Ghana and drought-
ridden farmers in Australia are also taking their
lives, according to news accounts.

The problem is so severe that the National Farmers
Union and others are lobbying federal officials to
provide funding for the Farm and Ranch Stress
Assistance Network, adopted by Congress last year,
which mandates a national hot line network for
farmers in serious trouble.

"If you had time to go and visit, one on one, with
every farmer in Maine, they'd all say the same thing.
Farmers want to talk honestly about how bad it is
but they are too full of pride," Lane said.

Speaking reverently of one of the deceased Maine
farmers, who are not being identified in this article
out of respect for their families, Clinton dairy farmer
Richard Lary said recently, "He milked 380 cows and
has gone through a lot of expansion over the past
couple of years."

Lary said he knew the farmer well and that the man
just couldn't take the volatility of the milk pricing
market.

"It just goes to show you, this economic pressure is
hitting the big guys just as hard as the little ones,"
Lary said. "I am absolutely sick over this."

Farmers aren't the only ones who know about the trend.

"We are absolutely aware of these types of situations
and they are a grave concern for us," state Agriculture
Commissioner Seth Bradstreet said last month.

"We had a conference call yesterday with the
undersecretary of agriculture and other states'
commissioners and, in fact, these tragedies are being
reported elsewhere too. The New Hampshire commissioner
said there were several [farmer suicides] over there
this year."

Collapsed economy

Bradstreet said his department has had numerous
discussions with Gov. John Baldacci's Office, banks
and other lenders, trying to solve the credit crunch
that is bringing Maine's agriculture community to its
knees, particularly the organic dairy industry.

Field representatives for dairy giant H.P. Hood have
been talking to Maine's organic milk farmers over the
past few weeks, trying to come up with a solution
for an unprecedented oversupply of organic milk.

The situation is being blamed on the economy. The
demand for organic milk — which can cost twice as
much as conventional milk in stores — has plummeted
over the past year as consumers pinch pennies.

In March, Hood told eight Maine organic dairy farms
their milk contracts would not be renewed. There are
72 farms in Maine producing organic milk. Some sell
in bulk to other processors such as Organic Valley
and Horizon Cooperative.

In its next move, Hood notified most of its remaining
14 organic milk producers in the state under contract
to the company that they should cut their production
this year by 15 percent.

A Hood spokeswoman, Lynne Bohan, said the reduction
plan fell flat. Not one farmer volunteered to cut
production.

The new proposal would establish an organic pay price,
which would be adjusted month to month based on how
much organic milk is sold.

"We are, in effect, asking our farmers to share the cost,"
Bohan said. She said farmers would be paid a percentage
of their yield at the higher organic price and a percentage
of the balance at the lower conventional price. She said
it is expected that a higher percentage of each milk
check will reflect the higher price.

"We have to work together with the farmers," Bohan
said. "Sales continue to drop. There has been no
increase. We have an unprecedented oversupply."

Lary, however, said he does not believe there is an
oversupply. "It's a power play," he said. "Hood knows
they are the only market for us. We have no option
but to accept their plan. But let me say, we farmers
are a lot more than just upset."

Lary said that he will be losing $3 per hundredweight
of milk he produces, and he ships 10,400 pounds
of milk every other day.

"That means I will lose $4,680 a month," he said.

In the retail market, organic milk can easily cost twice
as much as conventional milk and, for the farmer, this
translated into premiums and bonuses that lured many
conventional dairy farmers in Maine to switch to organic,
which they believed would be more profitable.

Organic dairies grew by leaps and bounds throughout
New England over the past 15 years. By 2006, organic
dairy farming had become the fastest-growing agricultural
sector in New England, and Maine had the highest
percentage of organic dairy farms compared with
conventional farms in the country — 16 percent.

But it takes three years to switch from conventional to
organic production and, for many of the Maine producers,
the market took a drastic slide backward during that time.

As the economy collapsed, so did consumers' shopping
habits. Organic milk purchases plummeted; even
conventional milk sales slipped.

"The result is not just a loss of farms," Lary said. "Now
it's a loss of farmers."

For those who need assistance: The 24-hour Maine
Suicide and Crisis Hotline is 888-568-1112, and the
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 800-273-TALK (8255).

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Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com