ASSOCIATED PRESS • December 15, 2021
The company that announced this summer that it would stop buying milk from 89 organic dairy farms in the Northeast next August has offered to extend those contracts another six months. Danone, parent company of Horizon Organic, notified officials in Vermont, Maine and New York this week. The 28 farms in Vermont and a total of 61 in Maine, New Hampshire and New York were expected to lose their contracts at the end of August next year when Danone would stop buying milk in the region. Maine Gov. Janet Mills called Danone’s offer a “modest but welcome development” in response to pressure from officials but said there are still many challenges ahead from Danone’s decision not to renew the contracts. There are 14 organic dairy farms in Maine that will lose their contracts.