PastureLand: Q & A

Dan French (sixth from left, wearing green hat), a farmer-member of PastureLand, elaborates on his pastures and farming techniques.

How do PastureLand members run their farms?

PastureLand, a member-owned producer cooperative, is made up of three farms scattered in an arc around Rochester, Minnesota. The member-owners are united by their farming methods, formally known as management-intensive rotational grazing. We sometimes call it "pasture-farming", because on each gently rolling farm, permanent pastures cover the land and provide feed for the resident dairy herds. The farmers see their job as cultivating and tending the complex pasture ecosystem, allowing cows to graze each segment for limited periods of time before they are moved to fresh pasture. This approach ensures that the cows receive optimal nutrition while the land is kept from overgrazing.

No hormones or antibiotics are used in PastureLand's milking herds. The cows are not confined to barns or feedlots, and they are strong, healthy animals with life spans that are often twice as long as those in conventional dairy operations. One of PastureLand's member farms is certified organic. A second is making the transition and expects to be certified in the spring of 2005. The third farm is considering organic certification.

Why have PastureLand members chosen pasture-farming?

Pasture-farming enables dairy farmers to farm profitably and in an environmentally sound manner by challenging many of the paradigms of conventional farming as it is currently practiced in this country.

• Because farmers rely upon pastures to provide the bulk of the animals' feed, they do not need to invest large sums of money in machinery and fossil fuels to plant, cultivate, and harvest row crow such as corn and soybeans. Pasture-farming is relatively inexpensive and allows folks to begin farming without an enormous outlay of money.
• Because cows are housed outdoors year-round, they distribute their own manure, which saves the farmer time in manure management (a major concern in confinement dairy operation where cows are housed indoors year-round) and eliminates the need to spread synthetic fertilizers on farm lands.
• Cows are selected on the basis of health, hardiness, and the ability to give rich milk, rather than on the ability to give large quantities of milk. As such, they cost less than cows with purebred pedigrees, are healthier (lower veterinarian bills for farmers) and live much longer.
• Cows are not treated with hormones, antibiotics, or other performance-enhancing drugs. Instead, the farmers give them plenty of good feed, TLC, and homeopathic remedies when needed. PastureLand farmers have been on the cutting edge of understanding and utilizing organic and homeopathic remedies in their herds.
• Pasture-farming techniques are also adopted by farmers who want to improve their quality of life (less time in the tractor, less debt, more time on the land and with their families).

PastureLand is a farmer-owned cooperative. What does this mean for Wedge shoppers?

It's easy to lament the prominence of huge agri-business enterprises, but it's much more difficult to find ways for busy shoppers to connect directly with small-scale farmers. Every pound of PastureLand butter or wedge of PastureLand gouda that finds its way into your shopping cart directly supports a local, cooperative, environmentally sustainable organization that is working to preserve the model of the family farm. As such, you are directly supporting Cooperative principle Number six: Cooperation Among Cooperatives.

If it's local, how can it cost more than other brands?

PastureLand's total production each year amounts to a tiny fraction of the production of other companies. In fact, all of our three farms' production together doesn't even fill the pipes of our local dairy plant, much less its holding and processing tanks. As such, we are not able to achieve the economies of scale that most dairy companies rely upon.

We hope that you will try our products and compare our incredible color, taste and quality to some of those products that are produced on a larger scale. And remember... your dollars are supporting local, environmentally friendly, cooperative production.

PastureLand is certified by the Midwest Food Alliance.