The dirt roadway leading to the Stuart Farm in Stratham is lined with silver maples, the leaves of which are tinted gold and yellow in the fall. According to local folklore, the majestic trees served an unusual purpose for former owner Charles Whitcomb, who operated the farm 100 years ago. Whitcomb supposedly planted the trees to guide his carriage horses home after long nights of carousing the pubs in Newmarket.

A century later, the maples still watch over the road like stolid sentinels, guiding visitors into a 270-acre dairy farm now operated by the family of Lorraine Stuart Merrill. On a recent morning, a herd of pregnant heifers grazed in a distant pasture, flipping their tails and munching grass in the morning sun. A couple hundred other cows fill three barns on the property, divided into groups based on lactation cycles. Another barn is filled with calves and young cows in stalls, the newest resident being Alaska, a calf born on Wednesday, Nov. 7. Merrill’s granddaughter named the calf while they were milking cows together.

Merrill seems to be on a first-name basis with each of Stuart Farm’s 240 cows. There’s Babette and Lion and Popcorn and Cracker and Canyon and Morty Honey. The family recently began hanging screen curtains along the barn windows to protect the animals from snow and wind, but they don’t mind the cold.

“Fresh air is the most important thing for their health and comfort,” Merrill said as she shoveled feed toward the cows. “It’s a very demanding industry. It’s so 24-7. Dairy cows need a lot of tender love and care. They need to be milked every day, a couple times a day.”

The farm life isn’t easy. Over the course of a typical day, Merrill and her family, along with four or five full-time employees and a couple of part-time working UNH students, must feed, milk and clean up after the animals, while also doing crop work, maintaining and repairing equipment and conducting myriad other projects.

“It starts early. My husband starts milking the cows at 4 o’clock in the morning. My son’s in charge of the feed and getting the cows’ breakfast out. I usually come down around 6,” Merrill said. “It depends on what time of year and how light it is and so forth, but I usually come down around 6 and get my chores done early, which is something I hope to continue to do if I am confirmed (as agriculture commissioner), because I’d like to keep in touch in a real way with the animals and the day-to-day operation of the farm and the herd.”

The lifelong farmer was scheduled to meet with the N.H. Executive Council on Wednesday, Nov. 14, to be interviewed for the title of Commissioner of the Department of Agriculture. If confirmed by the Council at the end of the month, Merrill will replace current Commissioner Stephen Taylor, who has held the post since 1982.

Merrill’s experience as a farmer and freelance agriculture writer make her an obvious candidate for the state position. She grew up on a family farm in Massachusetts in the 1950s. When the state decided to build a highway through the farmland, her family relocated, taking over the historical property on Route 108 when Merrill was 10 years old, in 1961. Over the last 46 years, Merrill has seen the farming industry change dramatically.

“When we moved here, Stratham was known as a farm town. It was very rural. Stratham was so rural, historically, so agrarian, that there was never a town center. We don’t have the little village green, like you see in so many New Hampshire towns. We don’t even have that in this town. It was just wall-to-wall farms that I remember, and there were so many dairy farms, in particular, I couldn’t begin to tell you how many there were,” Merrill said. “There were also vegetable farms and apple orchards. It was a diverse farm economy then. But, certainly, dairy was probably the biggest. We are now the only dairy farm left (in Stratham).”

The number of dairy farms across New Hampshire has shrunk to a fraction of what it once was, but those that remain have grown significantly larger. According to Taylor, there were more than 500 dairy farms in the state in 1982. Today, there are 134. The average number of cows on those farms, however, has risen from 48 to 128. One farm in Northern New Hampshire currently milks 1,000 cows.

The trend is part of what Taylor and Merrill see as two distinct pathways in New Hampshire’s farming industry. The total number of farms in New Hampshire has actually gone up over the last 25 years, and consumers are becoming increasingly aware of where their food comes from. But, dairy farms across New England are struggling to survive.

“We have one track, which I would call bulk commodity, traditional agriculture. That would be dairy farming and large-scale apple production. That track is characterized by fewer numbers of farms, but the remaining ones getting ever larger,” Taylor said. “They’re under heavy stress from the forces of globalization and the concentration and shrinking of market channel opportunities. Those farmers are tending to be very heavily leveraged, because agriculture doesn’t attract much equity, so they owe a lot to the bank, and, particularly here in New Hampshire and New England, they’re trying to operate in an environment where the land prices are just skyrocketing. So, we’re not optimistic about the next generation of farmers milking cows in New Hampshire.”

Merrill has seen her herd quadruple since her family moved to Stratham with about 60 cows in 1961. Stuart Farm was forced to grow in order to survive and continue to operate for future generations. Today, Merrill, her husband, her son and her daughter-in-law are all partners in the farm.

“It’s just been necessary for us to grow the operation in order to remain competitive and stay in the dairy business and get the older generations retired and bring in the younger generations,” she said. “We’ve had to expand the herd in order to do that.”

Stuart Farm sells all its milk to Agri-Mark, one of two major dairy wholesalers in the United States, the other being DFA (Dairy Farmers of America). Agri-Mark distributes to major production companies like Hood and Garelick Farms, which pasteurize and bottle fluid milk for distribution to stores. When a consumer picks up a bottle of Hood milk at a local grocery store, there is a good chance that the milk contained therein came from the udders of a cow at Stuart Farm or another area dairy farm.

When Stephen Taylor began as agriculture commissioner, farmers had five or six options for marketing milk, which has now essentially been reduced to two. Perhaps even more alarming, according to Merrill, is consolidation of the processing industry. A large company called Dean Foods, based in Dallas, Texas, owns about 70 percent of the fluid milk processing facilities in New England, she said.

“That has been a challenge in terms of farmers getting the kind of price for their milk that they really need to get in New England, which is a high-cost place to produce food,” Merrill said. “That, I think, has contributed to the difficulties of the dairy business that have forced quite a few dairy farms out.”

Times have been tough for New Hampshire apple orchards, too. Apple acreage in the state has shrunk from about 5,500 acres to about 1,500, Taylor said. Apple production in places like Washington state, Chile, Europe and China have made the market unviable for most New Hampshire farmers.

“A lot of the apple orchards have been converted to subdivisions and so on, and that’s because of a global glut of apples. It’s just a hopeless global market that it isn’t worth trying to compete in anymore,” Taylor said.

It is a sad thing when a farm shuts down. Granite Staters hailing from generations of farmers are often forced to abandon the family trade, and historic farm properties are replaced with subdivisions.

“Many of the farms that I remember are now housing developments,” Merrill said. “We’ve had significant, excellent spoils in this town, and many of them are growing houses now.”

Taylor, who grew up on a farm in Plainfield and still runs a dairy and maple operation with his three sons, has seen firsthand the community impact of farms closing. During his quarter century as agriculture commissioner, he has spoken with many farmers who lost their farms.

“I think it creates a feeling of grief, a feeling of loss, because people appreciate the contributions that dairy farms make to communities, the open space and the economic activity,” he said. “The dollars that are made stay in the community. They radiate out and do a lot of good. Everywhere I go where there had been significant dairy farm activity and where it’s shrunken, people feel a feeling of loss, of sadness, about that.”

Now for the good news: While the number of dairy farms has gone down at a rapid pace in New Hampshire, the number of overall farms has increased from about 2,800 farm units in 1992 to about 3,200 today, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. That’s an increase of 400 farms in 15 years.

Most of those 400 farms, it must be noted, are lower-acreage properties that sell products primarily at farm stands and farmers’ markets. Taylor believes the surge in these types of farms is largely due to “buy local” initiatives and consumer awareness campaigns aimed at educating consumers about the benefits of buying locally grown products.

“It’s a change in consumer behavior and consumer attitude, and we’re playing off that and exploiting it,” Taylor said. “You have to recognize that there isn’t anything we can grow here in New Hampshire that somebody can’t grow bigger, better, faster somewhere else. But, we have the advantage of consumer perception—that buying something locally produced is good, that there are good things that flow from that, such as saving on energy, helping the local economy, doing well for the environment and so on.”

Not only does buying fresh products from local farms have environmental benefits, but the food actually tastes better. Additionally, many consumers see a certain charm in buying locally grown products and feel safer knowing exactly where their food products come from.

“The consumer goes into the supermarket and sees a sign that says ‘local sweet corn.’ They’re motivated to buy it because they like the idea of local production, the possibility that an ear of corn that’s grown on a field right down the road is going to be a little more tender, have a little more flavor, etc., and also be doing good for the local economy,” Taylor said.

Merrill agrees that expanding consumer awareness will fuel the farming industry in years to come. Despite the prohibitive cost of land and housing in southern New Hampshire, eastern Massachusetts and southern Maine, young people are finding ways to rent or borrow land where they can grow crops. 

“I think this tremendous increase in interest in local food is going to help support further development of those markets and those kinds of farms. I see so many young people who are really determined that they want a farm, and they’re finding ways to do it,” Merrill said. “The market potential is really just beginning to be tapped for local and regionally produced foods.”

The biggest bulk commodity in the New Hampshire farming industry today is what Taylor calls “environmental horticulture,” which consists of flowers, bedding plants and other decorative crops. Such crops represent a values-driven industry in which plants are purchased not to be consumed, but to make living space more attractive and improve quality of life.

“Here in the Northeast, we’re becoming much more Europeanized, expecting to have plant materials in our living spaces, our work spaces, our landscaping, our commercial properties and our residences and all that sort of thing. So, that’s what’s driving that industry,” Taylor said. “It doesn’t compare to dairy, because dairy is basically an essential food for most people, and it’s a different thing.”

Making it in the dairy industry today requires not only an ever-growing herd of cows, but careful management of costs and capital. Because milk is a highly perishable product, expensive maintenance equipment is needed to meet sanitation standards.

“It’s mandatory that it be kept in its cleanest, healthiest state, but that requires a lot of expensive stainless steel equipment, milking systems, and then to have enough cows to make it an economically viable business,” Merrill said. “It require more and bigger of everything.”

In order to survive, farmers insist on sticking together, regardless of their differences. There are still many farms in Stratham, including pick-your-own berry farms and other small-scale operations. Merrill knows just about every farmer in town, and they work together to share land and spread awareness.

There seems to be a kinship among farmers that transcends generational or political differences. Located across from Squamscott Road, Stuart Farm is recognizable around election times for the countless Democratic campaign signs that skirt its edge along Route 108. Democratic Gov. John Lynch, whose signs graced Stuart Farm property in 2004, nominated Merrill for the role of Agriculture Commissioner. But, despite the owners’ Democratic leanings, Stuart Farm borrows land from the Scamman Farm on Portsmouth Avenue to grow silage corn for cow feed. Doug Scamman is the former Republican Speaker of the N.H. House, and he has hosted a parade of Republican presidents and candidates on his property, including George W. Bush and Mitt Romney. 

Farmers of various backgrounds are helping to educate new generations about farming. Stuart Farm regularly hosts students from the University of New Hampshire and other schools for agriculture courses. A former member of the Stratham School Board and the University System Board of Trustees, Merrill has partnered with UNH in a number of environmental research and teaching programs.

The move toward more environmentally friendly farming practices has become increasingly prevalent in New Hampshire. Demand for organic products has driven many farms to reduce their reliance on potentially harmful pesticides and chemicals.
“We’re having a healthy increase in people who are committing to going to full-bore, certified organic, and a lot of people are going to what you might call ‘sustainable means,’ and it’s very close to organic, but they aren’t going quite as far in terms of the bureaucratic hurdles you need to clear in order to become certified,” Taylor said.

Looking ahead, Taylor said the state must continue to preserve an infrastructure that supports agriculture. At the state level, legislators must reject legislation that inadvertently hurts agriculture. At the local level, community officials must consider the impact of zoning ordinances on farmers. The state is desperately in need of large animal veterinarians, and a network of feed stores, equipment suppliers and specialists must be maintained.

To reach these goals, farmers and community members must work together to achieve a mutual understanding of the role of agriculture. Many people do not realize how vibrant the farming industry still is in New Hampshire, and how important it is to the state’s economy. Because farms are usually located in out-of-the way places, far from the bustling activity of downtowns, it is easy for residents to forget they exist.

“If we aggregated all the employment and the economic activity represented by agriculture and forestry in New Hampshire, and it was functioning in big buildings surrounded by hot tar parking lots, people would say, ‘Wow, that’s a very important piece of our economy.’ So, it’s a challenge for all of us in agriculture to keep on our toes and do our best to tell the story,” Taylor said.

A former newspaper reporter, Taylor plans to return to freelance writing and farming with his sons when he resigns at the end of the month. As Merrill eases into the role, she knows she will have big shoes to fill. Following in Taylor’s footsteps will be one of her biggest challenges, she said.

“He’s leaving things in very fine shape, so it’s not like there are messes to be cleaned up or some things that need to be changed right away at all,” she said.

Merrill’s parents and aunts sold the development rights to Stuart Farm to the state back in 1980, protecting the property from conversion into a housing development.

“If it hadn’t been protected, we would not be farming here today,” she said. “I think that farmland protection is a very important thing for people in New Hampshire to be thinking about.”

Merrill agrees that educating people about the importance of farms is one of the major challenges facing the N.H. Department of Agriculture. Signage for farms, slow moving vehicles on the roads and the smell of manure can cause friction between farmers and the communities where they work.

According to Merrill, only about 7 percent of New Hampshire’s landmass is farmland, and only a small fraction of that is what she called “prime” farmland. But, farmers in the state have done well to live within their means and operate in an environmentally friendly way. It is the economic side of the business that farmers must be careful about. Statewide issues like property taxes and the cost of housing have a direct impact on farmers.

“New Hampshire farms have come very close to fitting the description of sustainable agriculture, in that they’re very diverse, they are the size and scale that fits within our landscape of the state and our communities, they, in general have an excellent record of environmental stewardship and community stewardship,” Merrill said. “The part of sustainability that is the challenge is really the economic, financial profitability side.”

But, Merrill looks forward to addressing these issues on behalf of the state where she has worked and farmed for the last 46 years. She can already see more people coming to the realization that agriculture is still vital to New Hampshire. And, until we figure out a way to get milk from computers, even dairy farms will be around for a long time to come.

“I used to hear people say it here in town, that we’ve gone beyond farming and this isn’t a farm town anymore,” she said. “Now, I think people are realizing it’s not something you get beyond. People still need to eat.”

As for Taylor, he looks forward to returning to farm life and leaving his office in Concord behind. He has relished the chance to meet farmers and other interesting people over the last quarter century, but it is time to move on.

“There’ll be aspects of the job I’ll miss terribly, and, I’ll confess, there are other aspects I won’t miss at all,” Taylor said with a chuckle. “It’s always been an exciting and challenging position, but it’s time for somebody else to pick it up and have some fun with it.”