Cabot Creamery facts for kids
| Agricultural cooperative | |
| Industry | Food processing |
| Founded | 1919 |
| Headquarters |
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United States
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The Cabot Creamery Cooperative is an American company that makes dairy products like cheese and butter. It's special because it's an agricultural cooperative. This means it's owned by many different dairy farmers. Cabot Creamery is part of a larger cooperative called Agri-Mark. While Cabot has a plant in Cabot, Vermont, its main office is in Waitsfield, Vermont.
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The Story of Cabot Creamery
Cabot Creamery started a long time ago in 1919. About 94 farmers worked together to create it. They each paid a small amount of money, based on how many cows they owned. The total money they gathered was about $3,700.
At first, the cooperative made butter from extra milk the farmers produced. They then shipped their butter to other places. By 1930, they started making cheese too. In 1960, the cooperative had grown to include 600 member farmers. Even though the number of farms in Vermont was getting smaller, Cabot kept growing.
Joining Forces with Agri-Mark
In 1992, the Cabot Farmers Cooperative Creamery joined with Agri-Mark. Agri-Mark was a bigger cooperative with 1,800 farm families from New England and New York. After this merger, the company became known as Cabot Creamery Cooperative Inc. It was now a part of Agri-Mark.
By 2008, about 400 Cabot farms in Vermont were part of Agri-Mark. In 2021, there were around 800 farms in the cooperative. These farms faced challenges like low milk prices and not enough workers. The cooperative still follows the Rochdale Principles, which are fair rules for how cooperatives should work.
Other Brands and Locations
You can visit the Cabot Farmers' store in Waterbury, Vermont. Besides the Cabot brand, Agri-Mark also owns McCadam Cheese. McCadam Cheese started in 1876 in Heuvelton, New York. It became famous when it won an award at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1894. McCadam joined Agri-Mark/Cabot in 2003.
Awards and Recognition
Cabot products have won several awards. In 2008, Wine Spectator magazine named Cabot's cloth-bound cheddar as one of the "100 great cheeses" in the world. Also in 2008, Cabot Monterey Jack cheese received an award from the American Cheese Society. These awards show that Cabot makes high-quality dairy products.
How the Cooperative Works
Agri-Mark is a cooperative, which means it's owned by its members. These members are the farmers who supply the milk. They help fund the cooperative and vote for its leaders. Unlike regular companies, the farmers aren't traditional "stockholders." Instead, they are the owners because they are part of the cooperative.
The cooperative often keeps some of its extra earnings. This money is used to help the cooperative grow and improve. If a farmer leaves the cooperative, their share of these earnings is paid back to them over several years. Any extra money beyond what is kept is given back to the farmers.
Company Growth
When Cabot and Agri-Mark merged in 1994, their total sales were $30 million. By 2008, this had grown to $350 million. In 2020, the total sales for all Agri-Mark products, including Cabot, reached almost $1 billion. This shows how much the cooperative has grown over the years.
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