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The program is open to all dairy farmers in Vermont, conventional or organic.

Chris Torres, Editor, American Agriculturist

March 23, 2020

1 Min Read
A milker tends to a line of cows
RELIEF MILKERS: If you farm in Vermont and need some emergency help with milking, NOFA-VT can provide you a relief milker free of charge during the COVID-19 crisis. Farm Progress

If you farm in Vermont and need a relief milker during this unprecedented time, NOFA-VT may be able to help.

The organization has launched a relief milker program to help farmers whose workers are out sick, or if they are sick and need someone to take over.

“We have heard a growing concern from dairy farmers about what will happen if they get sick with COVID-19 and cannot work. Dairy farmers are already economically stressed, and milking is not the type of work that can pause for a week or two,” according to a press release from NOVA-VT.

Bill Cavanaugh, farm business adviser for NOFA-VT, says the organization has gotten 75 qualified milkers from each of the state’s counties. He says that no farmer has taken advantage of the program yet.

“In a best-case scenario, no one will have any need of this service, but we feel that being proactive is the best policy in the face of this pressing issue,” he says.

Cavanaugh says that NOFA-VT is paying the relief milkers out of its Farmer Emergency Fund.

“These relief milkers will be available to both organic and conventional farmers,” he says. “This pandemic will hit all Vermont farmers equally and we want to make sure that our efforts are able to have the maximum impact in supporting Vermont's dairy industry.”

To participate and get a relief worker, contact Cavanaugh at [email protected].

You can also make a donation online to NOFA-VT's Farmer Emergency Fund.

About the Author(s)

Chris Torres

Editor, American Agriculturist

Chris Torres, editor of American Agriculturist, previously worked at Lancaster Farming, where he started in 2006 as a staff writer and later became regional editor. Torres is a seven-time winner of the Keystone Press Awards, handed out by the Pennsylvania Press Association, and he is a Pennsylvania State University graduate.

Torres says he wants American Agriculturist to be farmers' "go-to product, continuing the legacy and high standard (former American Agriculturist editor) John Vogel has set." Torres succeeds Vogel, who retired after 47 years with Farm Progress and its related publications.

"The news business is a challenging job," Torres says. "It makes you think outside your small box, and you have to formulate what the reader wants to see from the overall product. It's rewarding to see a nice product in the end."

Torres' family is based in Lebanon County, Pa. His wife grew up on a small farm in Berks County, Pa., where they raised corn, soybeans, feeder cattle and more. Torres and his wife are parents to three young boys.

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