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News Release
RI Department of Environmental Management
235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908
(401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462
For Release: August 15, 2002
Contact: Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402
Stephanie Powell 222-4700 ext. 4418

DEM ANNOUNCES THAT MEADOWBURG FARM IN RICHMOND HAS BEEN NAMED OUTSTANDING DAIRY FARM OF THE YEAR

PROVIDENCE -- The Department of Environmental Management announces that Fran Kenyon and Rita Nuuttila's Meadowburg Farm in Richmond has been named Rhode Island's 2002 Outstanding Dairy Farm of the Year by the Rhode Island Green Pastures Committee. Winning dairy farmers from each New England state will be honored at an awards banquet on September 13 at the Eastern States Expo in West Springfield, MA. The Rhode Island Green Pastures Committee chose Meadowburg Farm because of its outstanding relationship with the community, its use of good management practices, and its commitment to open space preservation in Richmond. Meadowburg Farm is a beautiful site where cows can be seen grazing in open fields. The site brings back special childhood memories for many adults residing in the rural town of Richmond, and is helping to create new memories for young children today.

Meadowburg Farm was started by Fran and Rita's parents, Henry and Margaret Kenyon, in 1954. The brother and sister team began working with their parents on the dairy farm in 1970, and took over the operation in 1977. Meadowburg Farm has a herd of about 100 cows, mostly Holsteins, and milks about 60 of them. The farm spans more than 100 acres, which includes 60 acres of tillable land and 20 acres of pasture. The farm also rents another 100 acres for silage.

Fran and Rita grow corn, alfalfa and hay for their herd. The original milking barn was built in the early 1940s and is currently used for raising heifers, which are also sold to other dairy farmers. A replacement barn was built in the early 1970s and is used for milking, and the farmhouse is 100 years old. Meadowburg Farm's 10 year-old manure handling system has manure flowing into a concrete storage container, which can hold about six months of manure. In the springtime, manure is spread onto the fields as a fertilizer and then immediately disked and incorporated directly into the soil.

Meadowburg Farm milks its cows twice a day. The herd produces about 22,000 pounds of milk, with a high concentration of butterfat and protein, each year. The milk is shipped by a local milk transporter to Vermont, where it is used to make Cabot Cheese. Cabot Cheese has won national and international awards for its incredible taste and variety of cheeses.

The dairy farm of the year award is sponsored by the New England Green Pastures Committee, made up of agricultural interests such as state agricultural offices and university cooperative extension agencies. Membership in Rhode Island's Green Pastures Committee includes DEM's Division of Agriculture, the Rhode Island delegation of the Northeast Dairy Compact Commission, Agri-Mark Cooperative, RI Farm Bureau and the RI Farm Service Agency.

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