Nova Scotia Agriculture Minister Keith Colwell is disappointed about Agropur Dairy Cooperative’s plan to close the Cook’s Dairy facility in Yarmouth County.
Colwell met with representatives of Agropur on Oct. 1, the same day the company announced it will close the dairy, which has operated in Yarmouth County for around 85 years.
“Cooks Dairy was created as a family-owned business and formed a critical part of the community,” said Colwell. “I am saddened that this would happen at a time when government is trying to support the agriculture industry in rural Nova Scotia.”
Colwell is also concerned about the loss of about 20 jobs, which is a significant number in rural Nova Scotia, he says.
Employees of the Chebogue, Yarmouth County dairy were advised at a meeting the morning of Oct. 1 that the dairy will cease product production on Oct. 17. Some employees will remain until that time. Others were told that their jobs have already ended and their employment has been terminated.
Labour and Advanced Education has a transition team in place to help affected workers. Supports can include career counselling and planning, resume updating, job searches and training, if needed. Other supports include help with navigating the EI process.
Some of the workers losing their jobs have worked at the dairy for decades.
Agropur Dairy Cooperative of Quebec bought Cook’s Dairy Farm Ltd. in June 2013, saying at the time of purchase it would be business as usual.
The company says it still intends to carry the Cook’s brand, but production will take place at its plant in Bedford instead of in Yarmouth. Agropur says it doesn’t know what the extent of the Cook’s product volume with be.
It says it intends to keep the cooler operating at the Yarmouth plant to store product coming into the region.
Meanwhile, two local dairy farmers who supplied milk to Cook’s said they were disappointed to hear the news – particularly the impact on the Cook’s Dairy workers – but they said the closure will not affect their own operations.
Rick Churchill, owner of Churchill Brothers Farm, said last week’s announcement caught him off guard and he acknowledged that the news is particularly hard on the people who worked at the dairy.
“It’s a real shame,” he said shortly after hearing the news last Wednesday morning. “I know some of the workers down there really good.”
The dairy’s closure will not change things for his farm, he said, adding that the farm’s milk will still be picked up but now will be taken to Halifax County to be processed.
Said Jim Trefry of Yarmouth County’s Cliffside Farm, “The local farmers have been paying a provincial trucking rate for years, so even though our milk only went (a few kilometres, to Cook’s), we were paying a provincial rate, so they’ll pick up our milk and it’ll head off to Bedford.”
Like Churchill, he said what bothers him most about Cook’s Dairy’s closure is the loss of jobs for Cook’s workers, notably longtime employees.
“You work somewhere for (many) years, you begin to think you’ll be retiring from it,” he said.
Given that Cook’s Dairy was part of the community for so long, the dairy’s closure marks the end of an era, Churchill said.
“It sure is, a long era,” he said. “It’s just another bad thing for our community.”
Source: Daily Business Buzz