Milk ­ the last frontier
Making the switch to organic

Photos and text by Dave Lindsay
For Atlantic Canada's ever-expanding organic food sector, milk is the last frontier. Because dairy products are highly nutritious staples, they might seem a natural choice for organic production. But the industry is capital-intensive and highly regulated, and these interconnected factors make it hard to bring organic producers on stream.
The sixth annual conference of the Atlantic Canadian Organic Regional Network (ACORN), held March 2-4 in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, presented two seminars on the subject. These provided updates on the scientific and commercial aspects of organic dairying, as well as first-hand perspectives from farmers.
Roger Henry, Maritime representative for OntarBio Organic Farmers' Cooperative Inc., served as moderator. He pointed out that milk quota costs about $30,000 per kilogram, which is roughly equivalent to the production from one good conventional cow or 1.25 organic cows.
To meet minimum production levels set by dairies, a farmer needs at least 10 kilograms of quota, Henry said, so getting into the business gradually, with a small investment, is not an option. Most organic dairy producers are former conventional farmers who made the switch.


Dr. Andy Hammermeister (left), a crop researcher with the Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, discusses growing methods with Herman Mentink, an organic dairy farmer from Grand Pré, N.S. Both participated in a dairy seminar at the sixth annual conference of the Organic Canadian Organic Regional Network (ACORN), held March 2-4 in Wolfville, N.S.

DIFFICULT TRANSITION
Peiter Beimond, a producer and director from OntarBio, talked about his conversion in 1989. "I changed cold turkey, and I didn't know a thing," he said. "I got rid of the sprayer, and I had so much weeds that my neighbors were counting the days before I went bankrupt, and I was afraid of it myself."
But with the considerable savings on chemical inputs, Beimond survived, and he kept at it. The transition was difficult because he had no one to turn to for advice, he said, and that's why he tries to serve as a mentor for aspiring organic producers today.
On his 250-acre farm in the Ottawa area, Beimond grows mixed grain to feed his cows, and he has found the most significant factors in beating the weeds are early planting and blind harrowing (that is, harrowing the planted seedbed before the crop emerges, which kills annual weed seeds at or near the surface).
"The whole thing with organic farming is to get off the damn tractor and get on your knees to look at the soil," he said, "and I always say while you're there you'd better say a prayer."
He also grows about 20 acres of organic soybeans ­ not to boost the protein in his rations, but as a cash crop. "They're too expensive to put in the mill," he remarked.


Cheryl Hiltz, of Ran-Cher Acres goat dairy in Aylesford, N.S., chats with Roger Henry, Maritime representative for OntarBio Organic Farmers' Cooperative Inc., which plans to process and distribute locally-produced organic milk in Nova Scotia.

FORAGE-BASED DIET
One of the principles of organic dairying is to feed less protein, relying instead on the forage-based diet for which ruminants are best suited. The cows give less milk, but costs are lower, and most producers report improved herd health. Beimond said that in Ontario even the conventional dairy industry is moving away from protein somewhat, for purely financial reasons.
Pasturing is extremely important for organic production, he noted. This has even become a central factor in his cross-breeding program. He is disenchanted with today's purebred Holsteins, which earn records on the basis of turning grain into milk. "I want a cow that can graze well, and that is not afraid of the sun."
Beimond said Central Ontario organic dairy farms are averaging about 27 liters per cow per day ­ the same as the national average for all dairy farms. "You have to decide on the production level you're going to aim for," he observed. "My goal in the barn is about 20 liters, so I don't need to push them too hard."
Herman Mentink, of Grand Pre, N.S., spoke of his own switch to organics, which will culminate in certification of his farm in 2007. While Beimond always did rotational grazing, Mentink ran a confinement system before he embraced organics in the late 1980s, so pasture management has been a fundamental part of his transition. Though he has recently been experimenting with crossbreeding, he said he has found his Holsteins to be good grazers.
Mentink thought it was impossible to grow corn without chemicals, but he proved himself wrong, and now his organic corn is part of the total mixed ration that keeps his cows going.
"The longer you're in it, the more you see it's the right way," he said.
Frazer Hunter, a dairy producer from Pictou County in Nova Scotia, described his challenges in switching to organics relatively rapidly. He started making the necessary changes just four years ago.
"Our yields went down and the weeds came in," he recalled. In contrast to Mentink's farm, which is composed of rich dykeland, Hunter explained that his acreage was woods until 1992, and the soil is less than ideal for growing grain.
"It has cost me $30,000 to $32,000 a year to go through this transition," he said. "And you get a pile of criticism from your neighbors."
But Hunter said he is convinced he made the right decision, and he will complete the certification process in 2007.
The Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada (OACA) at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Truro is one source of technical information that can help farmers make the switch. Dr. Andy Hammermeister summarized some of his research at OACA aimed at growing organic feed for dairy cows.
"Purchasing organic protein is very expensive," he said, with prices of $750 to $1,000 per metric tonne for certified soybeans (often imported from China, where low labor costs mean hand weeding is possible). "We're looking for something farmers can grow themselves."
Hammermeister said there is a lot of potential in mixed crops of oats or barley with 15-20 percent field peas, though there is more to be learned about the best ratios and varieties. Another option is lupin, a nitrogen-fixing crop that is high in protein (35 percent).
Recent trials have identified some promising low-alkaloid varieties, Hammermeister said, but one drawback is farmers' reliance on disease-free organic lupin seed from Australia or Great Britain.



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