Insight With a Side of Milk.

I grew up in a small town. Richmond, Vermont is located in Eastern Vermont about half an hour from Burlington. The town was, is, and hopefully always will be a farm town. I grew up on Conant's Riverside Farm. As a child, when I accompanied my family down to the farm, I had 1,000 acres of land to run around on. 600 of those were reserved for crops and were filled with corn during the spring and summer, and pumpkins in the fall, along with three different cuts of hays and grains throughout the growing season. Watching Food Inc. baffles me every time. Because of the farm I grew up on, I was made aware of responsible farming practices. Watching interviews of people who have been sucked into the corporate side of farming makes me incredibly sad. Not only does this materialistic viewpoint hurt our nation's people and animals, it also hurts the environment.

Believe it or not, there is a reason "Riverside" is part of the name of this business. The farm is nestled between the foothills of the Green Mountains and the Winooski River. The Winooski River flows over 90 miles from Montpelier to Burlington, where it empties into Lake Champlain. The land through which it flows is greatly agricultural, especially because it makes for easy irrigation of crops. The only downside to the proximity of the river to the farmland is that runoff becomes a big issue. Responsible farming practices have been put into place by many farms along the river, including Conant's, in order to create a healthier environment. We have worked to put into place vegetative buffers not only along the riverbank, but also along natural springs that run into the river themselves. There is  also great care taken to stop runoff from all barns and feed storage areas. Now we work with a Comprehensive Management Plan that was put into place in order to protect all aspects of the environment on the farm. The plan includes soil, water, and nutrient management for the farm.

Especially after watching Food Inc and seeing how farms begin to disregard the health of their animals after they begin working with corporations such as the Tyson company. For the Conant family, the animals have always been placed number one. We have over 600 animals on the farm at any given time. About 70 more young cows are boarded at a smaller Conant owned farm about a mile up the road. About 20 more cows our owned by the Conants but are housed at the University of Vermont Agriculture Barn for research. These cows are key in learning about how to keep our animals and our food and drinks healthy. The cows at UVM are fistulated. That means they have holes that go through their abdomen into their stomach. The term stomach is used loosely, as cows have four compartments in their stomach. Each chamber has a different role in the digestion process. In order for cows to be healthy and produce milk as normal and in order for beef to grow normally in order to make good meat, they should eat grains and chew their cud. They chew this cud because their bodies have to work extra hard to break it down and extract all of the nutrients. The problem here is that many American farmers have turned to using corn to feed their cattle. When we examine corn feed as it passes through a cow, we realize that much of the food is going to pure fat storage. The lipids are being extracted and the substance is being discarded. There is no energy storage, and the cows are largely being jipped by those that are trying to save money.

The Conants have been selling their milk to the Cabot Co-op for many years. Cabot, for those that don't know, is owned and run by Dairy Farmers. They encourage farms to stay manageable and make sure that they are using ethical and healthy practices for not only their animals but also for the environment. If only all farmers would understand that the impact they have on the earth is as great, if not greater, than the number of people that need their food.