WATERTOWN — A cooperative of almost 30 farmers earlier this month lost its contract to ship to Kraft Heinz next year, leaving it scrambling to find a buyer for most of its milk.
Kraft told the Jefferson County Bulk Milk Cooperative Inc., which negotiates deals to sell its member farmers’ milk to processors, on Dec. 2 that it rejected a deal to purchase the group’s milk for its Lowville plant for another year and decided to “use other options,” said member farmer Lynn A. Murray, co-owner of Murcrest Farm, Copenhagen. Mr. Murray, who took part in the negotiations, said Kraft provided no further explanation. After reaching out to several lawmakers for assistance, however, he said he learned from one of them that Kraft had cut back its overall milk intake for the Lowville plant because “sales figures were not what they expected.”
Officials representing Kraft did not return a request for comment.
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