Cabot Creamery

History

The original plant had an investment of $3,700 in total, 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, though the number of farms in Vermont and across the nation were 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, 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.

Cabot has facilities in many locations, including Cabot, Vermont, Route 100 in Waterbury, Vermont, and Quechee, Vermont, as well as a newly added store in Portland, Maine. Each location offers samples of products from the expansive line of Cabot goods, specialty foods from local vendors, and souvenirs. Additionally, at the Cabot Visitors Center, guided tours are given for those interested.

as of 2012, about 1,200 members are in Vermont, upstate New York, and New England. The Rochdale Principles remain a part of the cooperative.

Cabot began marketing cheese internationally in 2007.

Wine Spectator listed Cabot cloth-bound cheddar as one of "100 great cheeses" of the world in 2008. Also in 2008, Cabot Monterey Jack received an award from the American Cheese Society.

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. 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.

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

In 1994, when the two companies merged, they had $30 million in sales. This reached $350 million in 2008.

Legal violations

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." In 2007, Cabot paid a $50,000 fine with an additional $50,000 funding of a Supplemental Environmental Projects. 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 5.5 miles (8.9 km).

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.