An Organic Legacy
For the Corse family, the future is organic.
The Corse Farm Dairy has received countless top-quality milk awards because, Leon Corse says, “Our cows have been pastured for 150 years. It’s part of what makes our milk so high-quality. When they’re indoors, we keep the cows comfortable, clean and happy. That’s why we call them Corses’ Contented Cows.”
The Corse dairy was not always certified organic. “Luckily, Organic Valley had a meeting here for area farmers in 2005. I came home from that thinking, ‘Wow, we really need to consider doing this.’ The transition would be easier because we were pretty close to organic already.”
The farm was certified organic on May 11, 2008, which was, coincidentally, the 140th anniversary of Corse Farm Dairy.
Linda and Leon have raised three children on the farm: a daughter and two sons. Leon chuckles and says, “As the kids were growing up, folks always told me how lucky I was to have sons to take over the farm. I always said, ‘I’m betting on my daughter.’ Abbie is dyed-in-the-wool organic. Since she came back to the farm on the heels of our transition to organic, I like to think she kind of transitioned with it.”
Abbie and her husband Dave have two sons, Eli and Niko, so there is some possibility of the farm having a 7th generation of Corse family farmers.
Adding to the sustainability of farming organically, the Corses installed solar panels on the barn roof in 2016, which produce enough electricity to meet their needs.