The issues discussed at the Grafton Dairy Conference are not new. All of the issues mentioned in the preceding post were discussed in detail in a booklet titled "This Milk Problem," published by UVM Extension in 1937. (Click on picture to enlarge.) Some of the best minds in Vermont have worked on "this milk problem" for over 70 years.The first sentence in this booklet is interesting: "Vermont is the only state in the United States in which the number of cattle exceeds the number of people." There were then 405,000 cattle (dairy plus beef) vs. 360,000 people. Today we have 140,000 dairy cattle as compared to 610,000 people. And Vermont dairy farmers are making twice as much milk.
Vermont has a long and rich agricultural history (5 MB PDF file), symbolized by the statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, on top of the Capitol dome in Montpelier. I do not know the future of agriculture in Vermont, no one does. The most significant lesson we can learn from the past is that the future is likely to be different from today. Whatever the future brings for Vermont agriculture, the Farm Credit System will be part of it. It is the mission assigned to us by Congress.
