MONDAY EDITION
ADDISON COUNTY
INDEPENDENT
Vol. 30 No. 20
Middlebury, Vermont
Monday, September 10, 2018
32 Pages
$1.00
Dairy farm numbers still in decline Farmers seeking solution for below-cost milk prices
Foreign films hit the screen • A Spanish language movie about a transgender woman kicks off a foreign film series. See Arts Beat on Page 10.
Ferrisburgh eyes new light on Rt. 7
By MICHELLE MONROE St. Albans Messenger VERMONT — In 2017, there was an average of 796 dairy farms in operation in Vermont. As of August, there were just 711. That’s a loss of almost 11 percent in eight months, and the disappearance of 340 (or 32 percent) since 2009, when the Vermont Agency of Agriculture reported 1,051 dairy farms. In Addison County, three of 110 farms have gone out of business since January; that’s on top of the eight that shuttered in 2017. Franklin County, the state’s largest dairy county, saw 11 of its 138 dairy farms go out of business this year; Orleans County went from 123 to 117 dairy farms
go out of business but can’t because their lender is pressuring them to stay in operation, even as they lose money, because the lender has no hope in eight months. Talk to farmers or their suppliers and you’ll of recouping what’s owed to them. Enosburgh farmer Phil Parent, hear of many more operations on who recently refinanced his farm, the brink. “We could have said, “I’m 32 years at it and I’m Loss of farms poses a threat not only to farmers themselves, but to all dairy produced starting all over again.” Jacques Rainville, a farm owner the businesses they frequent, from in 10 mega-farms. the corner store to equipment and Is that where you who also works as a milk hauler, has a dramatic solution — cut feed dealers. want to go?” the milk supply 15 percent for As farmers enter their fourth year — dairy farmer six months. “Let’s say there’s of milk prices below the cost of Jacques Rainville one trailer less, we’re dumping it production, they’re sharing stories anyway,” he said. of neighbors whose milk checks are That oversupply is the problem is well known. zero after payments are sent to their lender, feed (See Dairy farmers, Page 17) dealer and other suppliers, or farmers who want to
• Officials are hopeful that VTrans will approve traffic signals for the north end of town. See Page 6.
Two Tiger teams entertain rivals • Hartford visited MUHS football, and Mt. Abe field hockey came to Jette Field. See Sports on Pages 19-21.
Former local back with a biography
• Soledad Fox Maura to unveil a new book about a headlinemaking Spaniard. See Page 2.
JESSIKA YATES PICKS apples at the Yates Family Orchard in Monkton last Friday. Yates now works full-time on the expanded orchard. Like most area orchards, it is now open for the annual fall ritual of apple picking.
Independent photo/Trent Campbell
Apple season is under way at Monkton orchard By CHRISTOPHER ROSS MONKTON — Jessika and Steven Yates didn’t move to Monkton for the apples. In 2008, after 10 years living abroad on boats, the Yateses fell in love with some land on Monkton Ridge and they bought it. That
land came with a house, amazing views and some apple trees — 120 of them. “At first we saw the orchard as this fun challenge,” said Jessika Yates, who now manages those trees. A lot has happened since then.
The Yateses have expanded their farm stand to include pressed cider, creemees, baked goods, honey, maple syrup, orchard-made jams and even art. Their operation is 100 percent solar-powered. And on Sept. 7, when pick-your-own season opened at the Yates Family
Orchard, customers fanned out with their apple bags and began to relieve 360 trees of their fruit. Picking apples is a very popular autumn activity in Vermont — and particularly in the big appleproducing Addison County. (See Apples, Page 7)