Wish We Got Milk?

As many of you know, one of the big challenges for eating locally in this area is access to local milk. While we may be see dairy farms here and there, only a handful in the state actually have bottling facilities. Our closest dairy with a bottling facility is Homeland Creamery, which is where the Bradford Store gets its milk. It's located in Julian, in Guilford County, about 1.5-2 hours away.

During the last few weeks, I've established a relationship with a dairy farmer about 15 miles away that is interested in opening a bottling facility. This is an enormous enterprise, requiring an entirely separate business plan and operation on top of the labor-intensive work of managing the milk production.

Add to this the cost of equipment: well over $300,000. This upfront capital outlay is a giant obstacle to dairy farmers who dream of getting fairly paid for their product. I just learned at a conference that NC dairy farmers are underpaid for their milk, because the state runs a dairy deficit that requires milk to be imported from out of state, at the expense of its own dairy farmers. In addition, the farmer does not know what price the milk will yield until 2 to 6 weeks after the milk has left the farm.

I'm looking for ways to help this local farmer get his bottling operation up and running sooner rather than later. Some suggestions I've gotten so far include soliciting private investors and signing pledges of intent to purchase his milk (to use when approaching banks for loans). I'm interested in hearing what you all think about this topic...I think it would be a tremendous asset for us as a community to have access to fresh, (did I mention he's certified organic?) local milk.

Thoughts?