Four years ago the Frye family — seventh generation farmers in Westmoreland County — became increasingly anxious about the future.
Fueling their worries were the prices that Pennsylvania's dairy farmers were getting for their milk, which were on their way to a seven-year low by May 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Some farmers chose to dump milk rather than sell it at a loss, bankruptcies ticked up.
The Fryes' Pleasant Lane Farms in Unity Township had reached a turning point, said Jason Frye, 48, who with brothers Todd and Chad are involved in the operation along with parents Ralph and Ann Frye and business partner Craig Deuel.
"Both Todd and I were sort of on track for early retirements," Jason Frye said. A place like theirs of 185 acres would "support a hobby farm, maybe beef or dairy. But you really can't scale that to the size you need in this economy. A farm of this size doesn't have a lot of opportunities to continue as a generational asset."
Todd Frye, who retired after 26 years in the Army National Guard; his father, Ralph Frye, a Vietnam veteran; and business partner Craig Deuel, a Marine veteran, are among the 7,000 former military members identified as agricultural producers in Pennsylvania. After weighing several options, including simply selling out, the Fryes decided to add cheesemaking to their operation in what agriculture experts call a "value added dairy processing enterprise."
Farmers have been taking notice.
Agriculture is a $132.5 billion industry in Pennsylvania, the biggest in the state, with 5,200 dairy farms or 17.4% of the U.S. total, according to the Center for Dairy Excellence, a Harrisburg advocacy group. Virtually all of Pennsylvania's dairy farms are family owned.
Through the state Department of Agriculture, state and county dollars are used to buy land development rights from farmers, saving the land from future development. But new subdivisions and strip malls are not the only worries.
Based on a law enacted in 1934, the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board sets the minimum prices paid to farmers, milk processors, wholesalers and retailers to assure market stability. After hitting a peak in March, 2014, the prices paid to farmers for milk began a six-year slide, which forced the closure of 6% of the state's dairy farms between 2017 and 2018, according to a state Legislative Budget & Finance Committee report.
Dairies in Erie, Fayette and Indiana counties were among those filing for bankruptcy in 2019.
That year, the Fryes began building a cheesemaking operation with the help of three grants through the state Department of Agriculture, which totaled $567,000.
The total cost of the business plan developed by the family was $2.1 million, including remodeling the cow barn and installing robotic milkers, both done in 2021, which boosted milk production by 20% by allowing cows to be milked three times a day instead of two, said Todd Frye, 46. But it was honey — rather than cheese — that was his first thought about diversifying farm revenue.
"My retirement idea was bees," he said. "Nobody really bothers you when you're messing with honey bees."
He still has 20 hives — about 135,000 bees — down from a peak of 50 hives years ago, but it's just a hobby now.
Cheese economics
Beekeeping took a backseat because cheese economics are so compelling: Pleasant Lane Farms' cheese retails for $10 per pound to $30-plus per pound while the skim milk price Pennsylvania farmers received in October was about 2 cents a pound.
The Fryes were not alone among farmers looking for a better way at a difficult time.
Concern about dairy prices was the third most common reason Pennsylvania farmers cited for turning to making cheese, ice cream and other dairy products in addition to milking cows, according to a small 2020 survey of farmers by Centre County-based Penn State Extension, an agriculture education service. The number one reason was to improve the financial sustainability of the dairy followed by creating a business opportunity for future generations.
The number of dairy farmer-cheese makers rose to nine in 2020, an increase of five between 2017 and 2019, the survey found. Cheese was the top product for dairy farmers, followed by yogurt and ice cream.
But it doesn't end there.
Schneider's Dairy Inc. in Whitehall, which is supplied by milk from 40 dairy farms, recently received a grant from the Center for Dairy Excellence for equipment to more than double the company's capacity for making sour cream. The dairy has been in business since 1935 and retails a line of other products.
The COVID-19 pandemic presented an unexpected opportunity for Pleasant Lane Farms: when a supplier said that the imported Greek feta cheese was scarce, the farm added it to its products.
Adding cheese production 15 years ago probably saved the Birchrun Hills Farm in Chester County, said Sue Miller, who owns the farm with her husband and two children. Ms. Miller, who is president of the Pennsylvania Cheese Guild, said about two-thirds of the dairy farm's revenue now comes from cheese, keeping the family's first-generation operation afloat during the lean years.
"I don't know that we would've survived the dairy crisis," Ms. Miller said. "We lost so many farms in the process."
More importantly, she said there is plenty of runway in artisan cheesemaking for Pennsylvania dairy farmers, making it possible for families to continue farming while building the agriculture economy.
Cheese desert
"We always thought of Western Pennsylvania as a cheese desert," Jason Frye said. "We haven't hit the part where we're paying ourselves yet," but rather the farm continues to plow proceeds from the operation back into the business.
"We're just now turning the corner on breaking even," he said. At the same time, Pleasant Lane cheese continues to rack up awards for taste and quality.
The Fryes sell their cheeses online — comprising about 10% of sales — and through Giant Eagle, restaurants and other stores. They also opened a store at the farm in April 2020, where they sell cheese and honey; bags of cheese curds sold out on the first day, Todd Frye said.
Cheese curds, which are separated from whey during cheesemaking, are fresh cheddar — no aging — which is sliced up and bagged to be sold right away. Pleasant Lane offers 11 flavors of cheese curds, with cheddar, buffalo and garlic among the most popular.
All together, Pleasant Lane produces between 1,500 and 2,000 pounds of cheese a week from their herd of 140 cows. The Fryes also process milk for nearby farms for others' private label cheese.
Today, fluid milk sales rank second in revenue at Pleasant Lane Farms, followed by agritourism, Todd Frye said. A spring and fall "Barnyard Bash" at Pleasant Lane features bluegrass bands, hay rides, food trucks and fireworks.
In May, some 600 school-age kids toured the farm and cheesemaking and aging rooms in one day; 1,000 kids visited during one week. Moreover, schools have already begun booking field trips for next year, Jason Frye said.
"It's definitely keeping us busy," he said.
For now, the Fryes are focused on expanding cheese sales, even though they've considered adding ice cream and butter to their lineup, Jason Frye said.
"It's very, very easy to chase the shiny object," he said. "Right now, our focus is expanding our gouda line. There's not a lot of creameries in the U.S. making Dutch-style gouda. We said, 'let's expand that product line and see where the market really goes.' "
