Program Overview

What is Keep Local Farms™?

  • Keep Local Farms is an education and contribution program that connects consumers with local dairy farmers and enables those interested in purchasing local foods to support local farms. It is a way to educate consumers about the value of local dairy farms, raise funds to support dairy farms throughout New England, and boost dairy sales.
  • Dairy farms that are part of Keep Local Farms will receive semi-annual payments to help stabilize and enhance their income despite fluctuations in milk prices.

What are the goals of the Keep Local Farms™ program?

  • Promote the purchase of milk and dairy products.
  • Educate consumers about the value dairy farms and open land bring to communities.
  • Provide a stable income to New England dairy farms by generating contributions.

How can consumers become involved?

  • Buy milk, cheese, yogurt and other dairy products made locally in our region.
  • Contribute generously to the Keep Local Farms contribution page on this site.
  • Support the businesses and organizations that display the Keep Local Farms logo. Visit our Partners page to find out more about these organizations.

How will dairy farms be paid?

  • The New England Family Dairy Farm Cooperative (NEFDFC) is recruiting all dairy farms in the region to join its cooperative. NEFDFC will collect and distribute the funds for Keep Local Farms program to its members.
  • The goal of program is to make payments to dairy farm members every six months to coincide with months where farms have high expenses: spring planning (April/May) and fall harvest (September/October).
  • Information on the total money distributed and the average amount returned per dairy farm will be posted on the Keep Local Farms website.