In yet another example of corporate consolidation affecting smaller towns, the former Fairdale Farms dairy plant in Bennington, Vt., will be closing at the end of June, officials announced April 19. Now called Garelick Farms of Vermont, the milk processing plant, which currently employs 125 workers, has long been a staple on the west side of town along Route 9. Over the years, it offered visitors young and old an inside look at the commercial dairy industry, giving tours to school children and others interested in seeing dairying firsthand. Its red barn also sold old-fashioned ice cream cones and confections, and the adjacent property offered a bucolic setting to spend an afternoon.
New owner Dean Foods, a Dallas-Tex.-based company that now controls some three-quarters of all milk sold in the Northeast, said the move was a part of its ongoing efforts to consolidate its considerable holding of milk processing plants. The Bennington operation will move to a larger facility in East Greenbush, N.Y., about 40 miles west. Dean Foods plans to spend $4 million upgrading the East Greenbush plant, and will increase production there by 25 percent. They added that the New York site was more conveniently located near interstate highways and larger population centers.
Employees at the Bennington plant earn anywhere from $25,000 to more than $55,000 a year. About half of those employees have been offered transfers to work in the East Greenbush plant; the others will be given severance packages and help on their job search. Many of the workers at the plant have been employed there for more than 10 years.
According to Gary Warren, general manager of both the Bennington and East Greenbush plants, "We decided to merge the two milk processing operations and upgrade the East Greenbush plant to improve our operations and better serve our customers." Warren continued, in the statement, that "Our Vermont plant is in a residential neighborhood in a historic section of town, and understandably, it is not well suited for expansion."
Warren said the company plans to continue to buy milk from its current suppliers, a group of farms within a 70-mile radius of the East Greenbush plant. He said the move was the right thing to do for consumers, to keep prices down. The recently passed 2002 Farm Bill has included a provision that will essentially continue the Northeast Dairy Compact — which sets a minimum price for raw milk from dairy farms — but will include all 50 states.
At the end of June the 23-acre facility, located along Route 9, will be left with a refrigerated warehouse and offices. Dean Foods is considering donating the property to the Bennington County Industrial Corporation (BCIC), to be used for some unspecified operation. The nonprofit BCIC is the county’s business stimulator, which already hosts business incubator space at it North Bennington headquarters.
BCIC Executive Director Lance Matteson said Tuesday that "we're having some very positive talks right now [between BCIC and Dean Foods]," but said it was too early to elaborate on any future plans for the site.
“Obviously, we’re very disappointed with the move,†said Matteson. “We knew they were going to be expanding, but we had hoped they would stay here.â€
The Fairdale Farms began operation in 1946 as a family-run dairy farm, owned by the Holden family, whose descendants still live nearby and continue farming, on a smaller scale. The farm was sold to Garelick Farms several years ago, which was a subsidiary of Cumberland Farms.
Dean Foods is the country’s largest processor and distributor of retail milk products, according to the company’s web page. It also carries a line of specialty foods, some under familiar names such as Hershey, Borden and Land O’ Lakes. Formerly the Suiza Foods Corporation, the Texas company changed its name after a December 2001 merger with the Chicago-based Dean Foods, a major dairy processor in the Midwest. Dean Foods bought out Cumberland Farms, which had owned several milk processing plants in New England, all under the name Garelick Farms.
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Letter: Let's Prioritize Investment in Public Education in Massachusetts
Letter to the Editor
To the Editor:
Across the 1st Berkshire District, our schools face a unique set of challenges. Declining enrollment, rising transportation costs, workforce shortages, increasing special education expenses, and growing student mental health needs are placing significant pressure on local districts and taxpayers alike.
We need to continue to strengthen the connections between our primary schools, higher education institutions, career training programs, and local employers so that more young people can build successful futures right here in the Berkshires. Whether it's early college programming that has been spearheaded and highly successful right here in the 1st Berkshire District with MCLA, new trades training like the HVAC program at McCann, or the high demand certifications and trainings in healthcare now being built and operated at BCC, MCLA, and within our K-12 system. Each of these represents an example of how we do things well right here in our region, and lays the groundwork for how we can continue to advance educational support.
A strong public education system is directly connected to housing, childcare, transportation, workforce development, and economic opportunity. If we want to retain young families, attract new residents, and build a stronger regional economy, we must continue investing in educational excellence at every level.
I support continued and enhanced investment in public education, career and technical education, and early childhood education. I also support policies that recognize the unique challenges facing rural and small-city districts, particularly around transportation funding, the imbalance of special education costs and state funding formulas, and educator recruitment and retention. When local students' needs change, we need to be aggressive in advocating and designing policies that remain agile to the cost-of-service impacts and be willing to change existing practices such as the Chapter 70 funding formula. Together, we need to foster a culture of equitable education investment that lifts up our students and families, not one that measures their value based on standardized tests that have proven to be determined more heavily by median household income, and not the quality of our educators, the commitment of our students or the support of our communities.
Every student deserves a pathway to success, whether that pathway leads to a college classroom, a skilled trade, military service, entrepreneurship, or a career right here in the Berkshires. As your State Representative, I will work collaboratively with educators, families, school leaders, higher education institutions, workforce partners, and state agencies to make sure that the Berkshires have a strong voice in shaping the future of education policy in Massachusetts, and will ensure that our communities get the tailored support we need and deserve.
Sincerely,
Andrew Fitch North Adams, Mass.
Candidate for state representative, 1st Berkshire District
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