N.Y. Farmers Launch Organic Dairy Brand

Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
N.Y. Correspondent

GREENE, N.Y. — You could call Empire Organics “lean and green” for the company’s business model. For six years, senior partner Dean Sparks, along with his business partner Dan France, have been working together to launch “nymilk,” a line of organic dairy products which the duo has recently released.

Operating from Sparks’ and France’s farms in Greene and Cobbleskill, N.Y. (respectively), Empire Organics is able to offer their 20-farms cooperative $32 per hundredweight, a price that Sparks and France have locked in by contract for the next two years.

“It equates to a little higher retail price in some cases,” Sparks said. “We don’t have any overhead to speak of. We don’t have a sales staff, significant debt or office space. We can keep retail prices at a pair price and equate that price back to farmers.”

The milk comes only from certified organic farms in New York. This means that the milk is “third-party certified to use sustainable farming methods without the use of antibiotics, added growth hormones or dangerous pesticides. Just green pastures, clean water, fresh air and sunshine,” the website, www.getnymilk.com proclaims.

Keeping sources local reduces transit time and expense and conserves resources. Six hours represents the longest drive time the milk travels. Buying locally-produced milk also helps bolster consumers’ confidence in light of recent years’ tainted food scares.

Nymilk is sold in HDPE recyclable plastic containers by the half gallon and gallon, including whole milk, 2 percent and fat-free varieties. The nycheese label also offers four kinds of organic cow milk cheese in eight-ounce bricks: Colby, raw milk cheddar, Monterey jack, and pepper jack.

Sparks hopes to add yogurt and possibly eggs by early fall.

The milk and cheese are currently available at retailers in the Hudson Valley, New York City, Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, and Binghamton areas, nymilk is sold at 125 locations only three weeks after its launch.

“We’ve done a pretty good job in marketing the milk,” Sparks said. “Retail sales have been very good and we’re very optimistic.

“We want to develop a brand. All the packaging will be similar to what you see on the website (www.getnymilk.com) for the cheese and the milk so consumers will know that in buying it they’re supporting New York farmers.”

Empire Organics also supports the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (www.nofany.org) with a portion of each nymilk product going to the organization.