This blog is part of our series of Wolfe’s Neck Center Stories, focusing on the people and the programs that drive our work for farmer viability, thriving ecosystems, and vibrant communities.
Since 2015, Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment has been selling the milk from our organic dairy herd to be distributed by our partner, Stonyfield Organic. The agricultural use of our 600+ acre campus in Freeport goes back much further than that – and thanks to agricultural easements, it will be used this way for generations to come.
“It feels really good to be on a property like Wolfe’s Neck that has been an agricultural production for over 100 years,” says Elizabeth Tarantino, Manager of Integrated Livestock and Forage Systems. “And what we produce here is accessible for consumers,” whether through donations to local food pantries or picking up a quart of yogurt at the supermarket. “That’s just very meaningful to me.”
When people visit the Organic Dairy at Wolfe’s Neck Center, they are seeing how a small farming operation can integrate with a regional food system. But our work is not only about educating the public on the connection between farms and their food; it is also about making farming accessible to more people. Our dairy is a part of our Farmer Education & Marketplace Development program area. The type of intensive rotational grazing that the dairy team practices – and teaches to apprentices through the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship (DGA) program – is “low overhead, low input,” Tarantino says. When grazing is planned in a way that makes the best use of forage and allows the soil to regenerate, you “maximize the use of your land base” and minimize “inputs,” or feed brought in from outside. That efficiency “makes farming accessible to people who don’t have a lot of equity” at the same time that it builds soil health and resilience, Tarantino says.
This regenerative agriculture approach is labor-intensive and technically sophisticated. That’s why Kate Sabino, Manager of Dairy Operations, is happy for the “intentionally educational environment” that Wolfe’s Neck Center provides. “The reason why DGA exists is because there’s a need to effectively teach people the technical skills of farming,” she says. That need has also motivated Wolfe’s Neck Center’s work regionally and nationally to support farms transitioning to regenerative practices with technical assistance and financial assistance.
With the average age of farmers topping 60, making dairy farming more accessible, efficient, and resilient is a practical necessity. Tarantino and Sabino see the mission of the Wolfe’s Neck Center dairy to support workforce development in Maine, implement and study new regenerative techniques, and keep agricultural production in our communities by demonstrating how small farming operations can be viable for farmers and support vibrant regional food systems.
Visit our website to learn more about the DGA at Wolfe’s Neck Center and apply.
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