Voluntary Farming Cooperative Sees Success With Their Grass-Fed Pri...

More than a decade ago, Tim Joseph and his wife Laura decided to explore the possibility of starting their own farm, which was a dream that Tim admits he's had for many years since he was a kid.

He left his corporate job and bought a farm with his wife in 2003. Starting with roughly 64 cows and basically zero farming experience which meant they had never milked a cow before in their life, they were in for an adventure that was sure to be a lucrative learning experience.

The next year, they were already producing conventional dairy products, but they had a goal of one day switching to an organic business model.

In 2007 they finally reached that goal, though Tim admits that because of the recession they found that organic grain was too expensive for them to purchase so that eventually had prompted them to lean toward a grass-fed operation.

One of the first products that they started producing was grass-fed yogurt and they began selling that at local farmer's markets around their community.

Eventually, they sought to secure their very first distributor for their products. They also established successful relationships with other farms which were able to help them meet the growing demands that they were seeing.

In 2009, Tim officially had founded the Maple Hill Creamery brand, which is now a voluntary grass-fed dairy cooperative that has over 150 different small family farms involved, that help contribute the milk that is required to make the various products that they sell.

In recent years, interest for grass-fed products has exploded and that's helped Tim and his wife be able to expand. At the moment, Tim and Laura's Maple Hill farm is producing various items such as cheeses, chocolate milk, reduced fat milk, whole milk, and yogurt.

Maple Hill opts to go with a 100% grass-fed operation, which the cooperative suggests has inspired them to refer to one another as grass-farmers instead of dairy farmers. It's now regarded as one of the fastest growing dairy brands today.

Each of the 150 farms that are a part of the cooperative are involved in practicing managed grazing. As well, Maple Hill is actively involved in trying to help support other grass-fed dairy farmers, ideally looking to incentivize and reward farmers for engaging in grass-fed farming practices.

They also support humane animal treatment and encourage environmental sustainability.

Along with the increase in popularity for grass-fed products, that has also brought with it a variety of lower quality items that many might be surprised to find are even considered to be grass-fed. The Josephs also want to try and help consumers locate the best grass-fed dairy products on the market and they think that an honest grass-fed label might do the trick.

At the moment though, the grass-fed cooperative is voluntary and for grass-fed products there isn't any centralized force involved when it comes to the grass-fed labeling that's been taking place. Those striving to produce quality products that live up to the grass-fed promise, can only hope that the people who are involved in the process are dedicated to maintaining the proper standards that people would expect when purchasing grass-fed items.

Pics:
Maple Hill
Youtube / Maple Hill
instacart.com via instacart.com/fred-meyer/products/1558647-maple-hill-creamery-100-grass-fed-cows-whole-milk-yogurt-plain-32-0-oz

Sources:
https://maplehill.com/
http://www.organicauthority.com/why-this-grass-fed-dairy-cooperative-is-rewarding-farmers-for-better-practices/
http://www.wholify.com/100-grass-fed-interview-maple-hill-creamery/
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/top-selling-100-grass-fed-dairy-brand-maple-hill-creamery-receives-minority-investment-from-sunrise-strategic-partners-300367546.html

Voluntary Farming Cooperative Sees Success With Their Grass-Fed Principles

More than a decade ago, Tim Joseph and his wife Laura decided to explore the possibility of starting their own farm, which was a dream that Tim admits he's had for many years since he was a kid.

The next year, they were already producing conventional dairy products, but they had a goal of one day switching to an organic business model.

One of the first products that they started producing was grass-fed yogurt and they began selling that at local farmer's markets around their community.

They also support humane animal treatment and encourage environmental sustainability.

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