Stonyfield contributes $250K to UNH organic dairy farm

Stonyfield Farm President and "CE-Yo" Gary Hirshberg and University of New Hampshire Interim President Bonnie Newman meet a new calf named Gurt, born in late December at the UNH Organic Dairy Farm.

Stonyfield Farm, an organic yogurt maker that annually donates 10 percent of its profits to environmental causes, announced today that it has contributed another $250,000 to the organic dairy farm at the University of New Hampshire.

That donation comes on top of a $200,000 gift it made to the farm in 2005, said the company, which is headquartered in Londonderry, N.H.

"This was a great opportunity to allow our state's university to take the lead in the nation by developing the first organic dairy program headquartered at a land-grant university," Stonyfield Farm chief executive Gary Hirshberg said in a statement. "The project will not only help propel organic dairy further into the mainstream of economic viability, but provide organic dairy farmers with what they need most: a formal support system of education, research, and resources similar to that now only available to their conventional counterparts."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)