Clark Farms Creamery Ceases Production

By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
DELHI

Clark Farms announced on social media last week that its creamery, a partner business, had immediately ceased production of its branded consumer dairy products.

In an interview with AllOtsego, owner Kyle Clark said he made the decision because it became too much to manage to his standards, and he hopes to at some point try again. The farm and its herd of nearly 300 dairy cows will continue to operate.

“It has been a great joy to be able to produce dairy products for the community over the last six years,” Clark wrote in a January 28 social media statement. “The compliments and support that we have received has been unbelievable and it makes this decision that much more difficult.”

The creamery saw a rapid increase in production since its founding as a partner business to Clark Farms, which has been in Clark’s family since it was founded in 1907. The creamery put out a growing range of products, just a few including whole milk, chocolate milk, eggnog and the recent addition of cream cheese.

“To run a successful creamery, you really have to have a diversified product line that utilizes different components of the milk,” said Clark, the fifth generation in his family to work the farm.

“This was a project, basically, that grew out of proportion. It just got too big and too much, and I couldn’t keep the help,” Clark said. “So when push comes to shove, if I have to split my time, it’s going to favor the cows.”

Clark said the creamery was producing between 120,000 to 150,000 pounds of milk (14,376 to 17,970 gallons) per month, and self-distributing to around 80 wholesale customers in the region. Using a longer and more labor intensive low temperature pasteurization process—to which Clark attributes the popular taste—required a minimum of five, 16-hour days a week.

With a staff of six or seven employees, which Clark said really ought to have been 10, “I was short-handed everywhere all the time.” That, combined with what he described as inefficiencies in the production process, led him to the decision to cease production.

“I don’t want to keep pushing and damage my reputation by putting out product that I don’t think is the best I can make,” Clark said. “I love running into people who love our milk. That’s the best feeling in the world,” he added.

Clark said the creamery business was at least break-even and often profitable, especially before it scaled up. With essentially all the debts from growing the business paid and having still-functioning equipment, Clark said, the door is potentially open for resuming at a later date.

The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, which is responsible for inspecting and regulating dairy producers in the state, confirmed that the creamery “notified the Department that they would like to be placed into ‘Category 5 status,’ which indicates a temporary shutdown. This request was not the result of any action or direction by the Department.”

“At a later date, the firm may opt to reopen, following inspection by the Department, or to permanently shut down,” spokesperson Hanna Birkhead said in a statement to AllOtsego.

If that later date comes following a “good long while off,” Clark said it will be after resolving the inefficiencies and with less of an emphasis on fluid milk.

“I’ll focus more on quality and more on quality of life for me and everyone involved,” he said.

To his customers, many of whom have been expressing their appreciation for the brand online and directly, Clark says “thank you.”

“We were overwhelmed with the support, and we hope everyone’s just as excited about it when we come back.”