The Loss of One Small Dairy Farm

09-04-10 • The PPJ Gazette

A farmer for over thirty years, Guy owns a small tract in west central Minnesota and had a dairy herd of about twenty cows. His one goal always has been to leave the land he worked better than he found it, and he knew what he wanted at a very early age. Guy was, and is, the embodiment of Wendell Berry’s idea…”What I stand for is what I stand on.” He farms with horses rather than tractors to more closely observe the nuances of the land and makes decisions based on nature rather than technology. He’s never made much money, and yet, he and his family prospered in different, more profound ways, raising three children and more importantly, living a life of their own choosing. Guy, one of the first members of a well-known organic dairy co-op, sold his milk to them for many years. Like all businesses today, the co-op had to grow or die and has changed from a small, “family of farms” concept to larger economies of scale. Guy was caught up in this and it is here that this story begins.