TOUGH TIMES FOR LOCAL DAIRIES

Local farmers are feeling the squeeze

Many dairy families are getting out of the business or switching to organic production

Terry Hankins Jake Corda, son of co-owner Tom Corda, feeds cows on the Corda dairy. Zoom Photo

The changing face of the dairy industry Sonoma County: Less than a decade ago, there were more than 200 dairies. Today there are 72. Marin County: In the 1950s, there were 20 to 25 dairies along the Highway 101 corridor alone. Today there are only 27 dairy farms left in the whole county. Organic dairies: In 2006, there were 59 certified organic dairy operations in Sonoma County. There were 75 in 2007 and the number will jump even more this year. Production costs: Two years ago, dairy farmers were paid $11 a hundred-weight for milk that cost $19 a hundredweight to produce. Today they get about $19 a hundredweight.

High gas prices, high feed costs, stricter environmental regulations and state-set prices are making for hard times in the dairy industry and local farmers are really feeling the squeeze.

How hard is it?

It’s so tough that Don Silacci and his son, Rich, got out of the business this year, after 100 years of the family’s involvement in the dairy businesses.

“I had to sell the dairy to save the land,” Silacci said. He’s now working for a local electrical contractor. Rich is still in the dairy business, tending the University of California, San Luis Obispo dairy herd, but Don misses the farm. “I loved working the land, being outdoors. It was a heartbreaking deal for me.” He still owns the 165-acre farm on Lakeville Highway, but only a few heifers are in the pastures.

Silacci estimates complying with various state requirements would cost nearly $1 million if he tried to get back into the business. He’s not willing to take on that heavy a financial load.

Ralph Sartori, who heads the Dairy Farmers of America in Petaluma, said rising expenses are having a big impact. DFA is a cooperative that processes and markets products from many local dairies.

“One of the biggest things affecting the total industry is the expense column,” Sartori said. Dairy producers in Sonoma have to transport most of their stock feed from elsewhere. Then they have to ship the milk to be processed into milk and cheese, margarine, basic protein powder and other products. In the last 12 months, the price of feed grains has more than doubled due to drought, flood and production and delivery costs.

Neil McIsaac’s Two Rock dairy farm is surviving the huge jump in feed prices this year because he contracted for delivery at set prices last year, but that’s going to end in October. “We’re going to have to tighten our belts this fall when we get into a feed crisis. Maintenance will be deferred and you do as much yourself as you can. Sometimes that isn’t enough.”

Like almost all dairy farmers in the region, McIsaac has a family history in the business. He’s a fifth-generation dairy farmer whose great-grandfather began producing milk in Marin in the last century.

Jerry Corda’s family pools its talents to run the family dairy business at the Marin-Sonoma county line. Since the 1950s, he’s seen dozens of dairy farms go out of business. There were 20 to 25 dairies along the Highway 101 corridor alone in the 1950s, but there are only 27 dairy farms left in Marin County. Sonoma has fared no better, with 72 dairies surviving, compared with more than 200 less than a decade ago.

“Two years ago, milk prices were at rock bottom,” Corda said. “Those were tough times. We were paid $11 a hundredweight for milk that cost $19 a hundredweight to produce.” While farmers are now getting about $19 a hundredweight, costs are soaring.

Though there are fewer farms, milk production is staying fairly constant with those remaining looking for an advantage to hang on. That advantage is quality — a tangible, marketable quality they can bank on.

Whether it takes the form of the best conventional farming — healthy free-range cows — or going organic, it’s what makes the North Bay farmers tick.

“The North Bay has always been an area where quality of product is a lot better than most of the rest of the state,” Corda said. “It’s a good area for cattle. There are no harsh winters, and the summers are good for cattle. It’s a great place to produce livestock. The ones who survive will be the smaller businesses, like Clover Stornetta Farms and Straus Family Creamery. They will survive because people see them as local.”

“One thing that has happened is that organic dairy products have really gone up over the last five years, and that’s been helpful to many of the producers,” Sonoma Coun-ty Agricultural Commissioner Lisa Correia said. While there were 59 certified organic dairy operations in 2006, there were 75 in 2007 and the number will jump even more this year. She says there’s a strong demand for organic, local produce.

Frank Gambonini agrees. He’s just obtained his organic certification this spring and will have 100 percent of the farm animals in the program by next year. “Conventional dairying was a lot of trouble trying to stay afloat,” he said. A Cal Poly grad, Gambonini says it’s a tough learning curve to switch over, but it’s worth it.

“The ones who are left love agriculture, love open space, and want to keep the ranches the way they once were,” he said.

But love may not be enough to save the dairy industry.

“We’ve been doing this four generations,” Jerry Corda said. “We enjoy doing it, but when the dollars aren’t there, you wonder how long you can carry it and if it can go on the next generation or not. That’s the sad part.”

(Contact Jay Gamel at argus@arguscourier.com)