Hudson Valley Fresh Fact Page
Hudson Valley Fresh is a non-profit dairy cooperative founded by Dr. Sam Simon and former State Assemblyman Patrick Manning in 2004. Our main business is selling premium quality milk -- whole, skim, low-fat and chocolate – while providing a sustainable future in agriculture for our cooperative members by stabilizing market prices. We take pride in the high quality of our milk and require all of our dairy farmers to comply with our strict standards regarding freshness and quality. Our farms are often recognized for the superiority of their milk, winning awards like the National Dairy Quality Award and the NYS Environmental Stewardship Award.
Hudson Valley Fresh is dedicated to showcasing the proud agricultural heritage of the Hudson River Valley, promoting it as the premier food region that it is, and producing a living wage for our farmers and their families. By ensuring a fair price for our farmers’ goods, we help keep those farmers in business, which means preventing the loss of their land to development. In the 1970s, there were 275 dairies in Dutchess County, the highest number of dairy farms in New York State -- and now there only 26. We aim to make sure that number falls no lower, and our Hudson Valley Fresh farms are currently preserving 5,000 acres of open land. Now that’s sustainable agriculture!
Things You Should Know About Hudson Valley Fresh:
• Hudson Valley Fresh has a small carbon footprint, meaning all participating dairy farms are all 15 miles away from the processing plant.
• Hudson Valley Fresh is a consortium of only family farms, no factory farms here, with an average of 35-200 Holsteins each per farm.
• Hudson Valley Fresh dairy farms represent 5000 acres of open land.
• Hudson Valley Fresh does not allow any of their participating farms to use hormones. No rBST or rBGH, ever.
• Hudson Valley Fresh is very proud of their extremely clean farms and healthy herds.
• The life span of a cow on these farms is 2-3 times longer than the average life span of a cow on a large commercial or organic farm due to good care and exercise.
• The founder of Hudson Valley Fresh, Dr. Sam Simon, was born and raised on a dairy farm and has been milking cows for 50 years. As a retired orthopedic surgeon, Sam knows well the issue of osteoporosis and the benefits of drinking milk.
Visit Hudson Valley Fresh website