Cabot Creamery
{{short description|American dairy cooperative}}
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{{Infobox company
| name = Cabot Creamery Cooperative
| logo =
| type = Agricultural cooperative
| foundation = 1919
| industry = Food processing
| location_city = Waitsfield, Vermont
| location_country = United States
| homepage = https://cabotcreamery.com/
}}
The Cabot Creamery Cooperative is an American dairy agricultural marketing cooperative owned by Agri-Mark.{{cite news|last=Kabot|first=Courtney|url=https://www.mynbc5.com/article/cabot-creamery-renovating-facility-in-waitsfield/3309249#|title=Cabot Creamery renovating facility in Waitsfield|date=May 15, 2013|publisher=WPTZ|access-date=March 30, 2023}} The cooperative has a plant in Cabot, Vermont, but its administrative headquarters is in Waitsfield, Vermont.
History
[[Image:Sepia5.jpg|thumb|The Cabot village creamery was built in 1893.{{Cite web
|url=http://www.cabotcheese.com/history.html
|title=History
|publisher=Cabot Creamery
}}]]
The original plant had a total investment of $3,700 ({{Inflation|USD|3700|1919|r=-2|fmt=eq}}), which was paid by 94 farmers in proportion to the number of cattle which each owned. The cooperative started out making butter with the excess milk produced, and began shipping its products south. In 1930, it started making cheese. By 1960, the cooperative had 600 member farmers, although the number of farms in Vermont and across the nation was steadily shrinking.
Following a decline in membership, the Cabot Farmers Cooperative Creamery merged in 1992 with Agri-Mark, a cooperative of 1,800 farm families in New England and New York,{{Cite web
|url = http://www.agrimark.net/public/cabotcheese.php
|title = Cabot Cheese
|publisher = Agri-Mark
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080511232636/http://www.agrimark.net/public/cabotcheese.php
|archive-date = 2008-05-11
}} and was reincorporated as Cabot Creamery Cooperative Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Agri-mark.
In 2008, there were about 400 Cabot farms in Vermont belonging to Agri-Mark.{{cite news |title = Agri-Mark to halt use of BST | work = The Burlington Free Press | date = January 27, 2009}}
The Cabot Farmers' store is located at 2657 Waterbury-Stowe Road in Waterbury, Vermont.
In addition to the Cabot brand, Agri-Mark also owns McCadam Cheese, headquartered in Chateaugay, New York. Established in 1876 by William McCadam in the small community of Heuvelton, New York, the company first gained national recognition winning the first medal at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1894. In 1934, during the midst of the Great Depression McCadam expanded its cheese manufacturing to a facility in Chateaugay, which is its primary cheese manufacturing facility today. McCadam merged with Agri-Mark/Cabot in 2003.
{{As of|2012}}, about 1,200 members were located throughout New England and upstate New York. Faced with a multitude of challenges ranging from low milk pricing, labor shortages and increased operating costs over the past decade, the cooperative lost nearly 400 farms. As of 2021, there are approximately 800 farms in the co-op. The Rochdale Principles remain a part of the cooperative.{{Cite news
|url=http://www.cabotcheese.coop/pages/about_us/index.php
|title=About Us
|newspaper=Cabot Creamery
|url=http://www.cabotcheese.coop/pages/land_spreading/
|title=Land Spreading
|publisher=Cabot Creamery
|url=http://www.cabotcheese.coop/pages/about_us/faqs.php
|title=FAQs
|publisher=Cabot Creamery
}}
Cabot entered into a partnership with Dankin Farm in 2012 for e-commerce and other reasons.{{cite news |last=Morter |first=Darcey |url= https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/2015/08/21/dakin-farm-history-tradition/32058355/ |title= Dakin Farm: A history of tradition |date= August 21, 2015 |newspaper= The Burlington Free Press |access-date= March 30, 2023}}
Awards
Wine Spectator listed Cabot cloth-bound cheddar as one of "100 great cheeses" of the world in 2008.{{cite web |title=The World of Cheese: 100 Great Cheeses |url=http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Archives/Show_Article/0,1275,6709,00.html |work=Wine Spectator | date=September 30, 2008 | accessdate=2009-06-10 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081119053617/http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Archives/Show_Article/0,1275,6709,00.html | archive-date=November 19, 2008 | url-status=dead }} Also in 2008, Cabot Monterey Jack received an award from the American Cheese Society.{{cite news | author = Pasanen, Melissa |title = Vermont cheesemakers win a variety of honors | work = The Burlington Free Press | date = August 20, 2008}}
Ownership
As a co-op, Agri-Mark is a membership organization incorporated in Delaware on April 21, 1980. The members of the Agri-Mark cooperative, who supply Agri-Mark's equity capital and directly elect its directors, are not stockholders of record, so have no right under Delaware statutory law to inspect the corporation's books and records.{{Cite web|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-2nd-circuit/1118819.html|title=Shaw v. Agri Mark Inc|website=Findlaw|access-date=2018-03-13}} Only the directors hold a share of stock, so are owners under Delaware law.
The co-op retains much of the excess profit, up to $150,000 per farmer, as equity in the form of noninterest bearing loans. For farmers departing the co-op, this equity is repaid over seven years. Dividends in excess of the retained equity are returned to the members.{{cite news | first=Bethany | last=Dunbar | title=Farmers upset about Agri-Mark report | publisher=the Chronicle | location=Barton, Vermont | pages= 13 | date=18 March 2009 }}
The Delaware stock corporation signs yearly marketing agreements with the farmers who produce milk. They can decline to resign any producer without reason at the end of the contract.
Operations
Controversy
On several occasions, Cabot has been penalized for pollution incidents by the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources. In 2000, Cabot was cited for a "minor violation of [its] indirect discharge permit and land use permit."{{Cite web |url=http://www.anr.state.vt.us/site/html/enf/EnfActions/Jan00.htm |title=State site |access-date=2007-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070523110603/http://www.anr.state.vt.us/site/html/enf/EnfActions/Jan00.htm |archive-date=2007-05-23 |url-status=dead }} In 2007, Cabot paid a $50,000 fine with an additional $50,000 funding of a Supplemental Environmental Projects.{{Cite web |url=http://www.anr.state.vt.us/enforcement/index.htm |title=State Enforcement |access-date=2007-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070817211452/http://www.anr.state.vt.us/enforcement/index.htm |archive-date=2007-08-17 |url-status=dead }} In 2007, Cabot also pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act after an ammonia spill killed thousands of fish in the Winooski River, in July 2005. The spill destroyed all aquatic life for {{convert|5.5|mi}}.{{Cite web |url=http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20071128%2FNEWS01%2F711280346 |title=Times Argus |access-date=2007-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081004165514/http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20071128%2FNEWS01%2F711280346 |archive-date=2008-10-04 |url-status=dead }}
In 2011, the Vermont Attorney General's office alleged that some Cabot products made in 2009 and 2010 could not be certified as free of rBST, a hormone that causes cows to produce more milk. Cabot settled with the state, agreeing not to make such representations, to pay a $65,000 fine, and to donate $75,000 worth of dairy products to local food banks.{{Cite web |url=http://www.atg.state.vt.us/assets/files/Cabot%20Agri%20Mark%20AOD.pdf |title=State of Vermont, Superior Court, Washington Unit, in re Agri-Mark, Inc., d/b/a Cabot Creamery Cooperative, Docket No. 489-8-11 Wncv |access-date=2011-08-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929114419/http://www.atg.state.vt.us/assets/files/Cabot%20Agri%20Mark%20AOD.pdf |archive-date=2011-09-29 |url-status=dead }}
In April 2025, Cabot Creamery's Extra Creamy Premium Butter with sea salt was recalled in Arkansas, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont due to being contaminated with elevated levels of coliform.{{Cite web |date=April 9, 2025 |title=1,700 pounds of butter recalled over bacteria contamination |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/nexstar_media_wire/5241399-1700-pounds-of-butter-recalled-over-bacteria-contamination/}} The recall included about 1,700 pounds of butter that had a September 9, 2025 best-by date.{{Cite web |title=Cabot Creamery Butter Recalled in 7 States Over Bacteria Concerns, FDA Says |url=https://www.health.com/cabot-creamery-butter-recall-11711976 |access-date=2025-04-09 |website=Health |language=en}}
See also
- {{portal inline|Companies}}
- {{portal inline|Food}}
- List of cheesemakers
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|http://www.cabotcheese.coop}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20080511232636/http://www.agrimark.net/public/cabotcheese.php Cabot Cheese] – at the website of the parent co-operative Agri-Mark
{{Cheesemakers}}
Category:1919 establishments in Vermont
Category:Agricultural cooperatives in the United States
Category:Agricultural marketing cooperatives
Category:Agriculture in Vermont
Category:B Lab-certified corporations
Category:Certified B Corporations in the Food & Beverage Industry
Category:Cooperatives based in Vermont
Category:Dairy products companies of the United States