Surplus milk yields more cheese

FINGER LAKES--More than 15 years ago, artisanal cheesemaking began to emerge as a new taste in the Finger Lakes, a complement to the wine industry with the accompaniment of local cheese while giving a needed boost to farm families. Creating a value-added product helped several dairies weather the ups and downs of milk prices.
One of the earliest area cheesemakers is Carmella Hoffman of Sunset View Creamery at Hoffman Dairy in Odessa. As milk processors accept less milk from the dairies that supply them due to reduced demand and sporadically diminished food processing capacity during the pandemic, Hoffman has her own solution already in place - to make more cheese. The Hoffman Dairy's milk cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America, is currently taking only 85 percent of the milk each farmer produces.
When Sunset View Creamery's retail store re-opened for the season in March, Hoffman could already see the need for expansion. So in addition to the cheese curds, havarti, mozzarella, bel paese and heritage cheese she makes and sells there, she added some additional necessities like bread, grass-fed beef, eggs, and bottled raw milk. Because her cooperative will currently accept only 85 percent of the milk she sold them in March, she's ramping up cheese production. "We'll be picking up at least one more day a month if not two or three to use up [the milk] we're required to not produce," she says.
And while she hadn't intended to open a grocery, her customers have made her aware their need for staples is great. Families staying home simply need more food. "If you sit down with four or five kids and a breakfast of pancakes and eggs, you'll go through a dozen eggs easily," she notes. They've added grass-fed beef, eggs, butter, yeast and locally-milled flour. "I think people are learning to make bread at home."
While Hoffman is faring well, she describes what most farmers are going through as "tragic." There's additional work keeping up with new regulations on food safety and much uncertainty about plans in the near future as well as further down the road. "Better days are going to come eventually," she says.
Lorin Hostetler, owner of Shtayburne Farm in Rock Stream, is a cheesemaker and dairy producer with the Finger Lakes Cooperative, which has drastically reduced the amount of milk they'll accept from each farm.
"Most of it just gets dumped," he says glumly. "Our coop is a small group of about 100 farmers, and our processor supplies dairy products to restaurants," he explains. "Obviously, that's taken a huge hit."
While Hostetler makes cheese, and will be making more cheese this year, his is a family farm with young children, so he doesn't have enough help to enable him to drastically increase production.
Investing in expensive production equipment and packaging machinery, taking time for training and jumping through the hoops of federal inspections to add a new product line just isn't feasible for most already overworked farmers, particularly at a time of economic scarcity.
Hostetler has a retail outlet on the farm where he sells several varieties of cheddar, monterey jack and cheese curds as well as 10 different flavors of ice cream by the pint. He plans to add more products to the store - but wonders how many tourists will be visiting the wine trail this summer.
"I'm scared if we can't have tourists here for the next six months," Hostetler says. "Our revenues are down and we can't do too much. It has forced us to be creative in connecting with our local community and trying to make sure people have food available." For instance, his store is now offering customers a chance to pre-order and pre-pay for food and have it brought out to their car by an employee when they arrive.
"It's a frustration of mine - we have this milk that's a great food and how do we get it to the local community?" he asks.
A cheese producer outside this readership area has one answer. Lively Run Dairy in Interlaken, New York, a goat dairy owned by the Messmer family, recently launched a "Go Fund Me" page whose original goal was to raise $20,000 to enable its owners to purchase cow's milk that would otherwise be dumped. Their plan is to make this into cheese for donation to local food banks, themselves stressed by an increasing number of clients. In two days, they surpassed their original goal and upped their goal to $40,000. In a video explaining their project, cheesemaker Pete Messmer explains this will not totally solve the surplus milk problem but it's one modest way people can help each other.
Most dairy producers see a small uptick in milk prices each fall as people prepare for the winter holidays, but that relief is many months away and it's no real help now.
"Like a lot of dairy farmers, we're going to have a tough year regardless," he says.