Marburger dairy grows
FORWARD TWP — As many dairy farms across the country are struggling with oversupply and low milk prices, Marburger Farm Dairy is thriving and growing.
It is expanding its production facility on Mars-Evans City Road and bringing on new dairy farms, while Dean Foods, the largest dairy company in the country, recently announced it was ending business with more than 100 dairy farms in eight states, including Pennsylvania.
“We reiterate that we not only care about where our milk comes from, but we also care about the small family farms that fill our label every day,” Marburger Farm Dairy said in a statement released April 2, in response to the Dean Food contract cancellations. “Being a working dairy farm ourselves, with 100 cows and working farmland, we know how hard it is for the family farm to survive these tough conditions.”
In light of Dean Foods announcing it was ending milk procurement contracts, Marburger picked up two larger dairy farms, one in Jamestown, Mercer County, and one in Centerville, Crawford County, adding 20,000 gallons to its production, according to the news release.
Dean Foods cited decreasing public demand for milk and a surplus of milk as the reasons for dropping the dairy farms.
In addition to milking its own cows, Marburger buys milk from 70 farms in Butler, Armstrong, Beaver, Mercer, Crawford, Venango and Washington counties, equaling more than 7 million pounds a month.
While Marburger produces a number of milk, tea and dairy byproducts, one of the drivers of the company's success is its award-winning buttermilk, said Craig Marburger, company vice president.
Marburger's gourmet buttermilk is shipped all over the country, all the way south to Florida, west to New Mexico and north to Wisconsin. The buttermilk can be shipped further because it has a longer shelf life than regular milk.
“I don't think the public understands the reach the dairy has outside of Evans City,” Marburger said.
That nationwide reach and the company's commitment to quality products and customer relations is what has helped the dairy grow, Marburger said. Marburger Farm Dairy is adding a three-story, 40-foot-by-60-foot addition of manufacturing area to its facility and actively hiring more workers. The dairy hopes the expansion will be complete by fall so Marburger can begin using it to get more product on the market.
Jim Marburger, company president, said it built the most recent addition in 2000, and he never thought he'd see another expansion. But Marburger is producing at capacity and needs more room to meet the demand, he said.
Marburger's gourmet buttermilk took first place at the dairy product contest at the World Dairy Expo last fall in Madison, Wis. The buttermilk went up against 30 other entries and scored 100 out of a possible 100 in the international competition.
It was the first year the company entered its buttermilk in the competition, the Marburgers said. They were curious to see where they would rank.
“We knew we had good buttermilk,” Jim Marburger said.
Brad Legreid, executive director of the Wisconsin Dairy Products Association, said 48 judges evaluate the entries in the dairy product contest over three days. They use a complex scoring system that looks at flavor, texture, appearance and more of the various dairy products entered.
“These judges come from all parts of the United States and are considered to be some of the best sensory people in the dairy industry,” Legreid said.
The Marburgers said their production method — vat pasteurization — is what makes the buttermilk so good. Anyone can do it this way, Jim Marburger said, but few do because it takes longer.
“We make it the old-fashioned way,” he said. “That's what makes it what it is.”
