Houlton Farms Dairy will stop producing milk in September, the owners said Friday.
Citing increased costs of production and supplies, as well as declining milk sales, the dairy will cut out its white milk line near the end of September.
The dairy has been an Aroostook County fixture for 86 years. Current owners, the Lincoln family, have had it for half that time. They’ve grown beyond milk to produce popular chocolate milk, seasonally famous ice cream and butter that’s so much in demand it’s rationed. But production hikes and a drop in sales, due partly to the blossoming plant-based milk trend, have made it impossible for the family business to keep going, general manager Eric Lincoln said.
“Time has caught up to us and we just can’t survive the losses any longer. Milk consumption is down for us significantly, and we haven’t had the sales,” Lincoln said. “We’re also going up against plant-based milk, and that’s another burden we have that we didn’t used to have.”
Houlton Farms will stop milk production, but it will continue to make ice cream, butter and lemonade, Lincoln said. Its dairy bars in Houlton, Presque Isle and Caribou continue to drive business, so those will remain.
Declining population and changes in Canadian business have also contributed to the dairy’s financial struggles, he said. The dairy took a hit when Loring closed in 1994 and Aroostook lost a lot of people. Then four years ago, COVID struck and closed the border, and the Canadian business has not come back, he said.
Milk sales have been falling for the past 70 years, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. People are drinking less milk as dietary habits change, and the increasing popularity of plant-based milk and an ever-growing variety of other beverages has added to the picture.
Though Maine has many dairy producers, only four dairies process white milk for drinking, according to the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Houlton Farms is the only one north of the Portland area. Hood and Oakhurst are based in Portland, and Smiling Hill Farm is in Westbrook.
The Lincoln family bought the dairy in 1981. Back then, they produced about 140,000 pounds of milk a week from 14 farms. Over the years it dwindled to about 65,000 pounds a week, and currently they are supplied by one farm, Lincoln said.
“We outsurvived a lot of family owned dairies. We lasted longer than the [Maine] Milk Commision ever thought we would. They thought we’d be gone in 1982,” Lincoln said. “I think the dairy bars are what saved us.”
The dairy employs 14 people and all have been notified, he said. Letters went out to their customers Friday. Two employees are expected to stay on to work at the plant, but the other 12 will be seeking new jobs, Lincoln said.
It’s hard thinking about the effect on the crew, he said. Most of them are veteran employees who have been with the dairy for decades, one for more than 40 years. The staff has made the dairy what it has been over the years, he said.
It’s the latest blow to the family, who recently lost their patriarch. Leonard Lincoln, 93, died on Aug. 10. Eric Lincoln said his father didn’t know about the dairy’s financial struggles.
“Thank heaven he didn’t live to see this day,” Lincoln said.
It will be a big change for a family who has revolved around the dairy business. The plant will remain in Houlton and the company has no debt as they own the facility and property, he said. They plan to buy cream to produce butter and ice cream, and are looking for a source of milk so they can turn out their popular chocolate milk.
Lincoln feels for customers, as well, but said the financial losses simply couldn’t continue. Stopping the milk production was the only way forward.
The bright spot is ice cream. Though it’s a seasonal business, it has helped keep the company going.
Milk sales were the lowest ever this year, but ice cream sales were up, he said. The family now looks to their edible products, including their famous dairy bars, to keep things going.
“When the dairy bars open it’s always a rite of spring,” Lincoln said. “It perks everybody up.”
