With new cows in the barn and a director in place, Wolfe’s Neck Farm is nearing the launch of its start-up training program.

Rebecca Brown is getting her feet wet, so to speak, at Wolfe’s Neck Farm in Freeport as she awaits the arrival of the first four trainees in the farm’s first organic dairy program.

Brown, newly hired to direct the new program, left her position at a farm in Martha’s Vineyard a month ago. Wolfe’s Neck Farm is working with a $1.7 million grant from Stonyfield Farm Inc., to start up the program, intended to strengthen the organic dairy industry in the state and in New England.

Brown, 36, has accustomed herself to her new surroundings, where she works and lives, and Wolfe’s Neck Farm has purchased the first five bred heifers that will supply the organic milk to Stonyfield. In order for milk to be certified organic, Brown said, the cows’ food must be grown without synthetic fertilizers, the grains fed to them must be organic, and they must not be treated with antibiotics – only natural veterinary products.

Wolfe’s Neck Farm, a nonprofit, is a working organic farm and much more to Freeport and surrounding communities. It is available for children in various ways, including barnyard visits and summer day camps, and offers farm-to-table events and organically grown vegetables and meats. Within sight of the farm, the Recompence Campground offers shoreline camping. The farm had previously raised cattle for beef, but that herd has been moved out.

Now, farm officials must settle on the trainees who, it is hoped, will be able to operate their own organic farms, on leased land, following 18 months of training at Wolfe’s Neck Farm.

“Along the way, they will have a broad range of support from experts who specialize in each aspect of the program,” said Brown, whose knowledge of grass-based dairy helped her land the job. “That’s from training to business planning to security financing and locating land, as well as ongoing support for their first couple of years of production.”

Brown said that Wolfe’s Neck Farm has much to do with the $1.7 million grant. In addition to Brown’s salary, the organic dairy program must provide pay for the trainees, the purchase of up to 60 cows, a new barn and housing for the trainees.

“We’re going to be continuing to secure funding,” Brown said.

Brown comes to Freeport with a reputation. She won the Outstanding Forage Producer of the Year Award from the Virginia Forage and Grasslands Council for her work as grass and livestock manager at Mount Vernon Farm in Virginia. Growing up on a farm on Martha’s Vineyard, Brown has been involved in farming her entire life, including stops in New Zealand, Virginia, Wisconsin and Hawaii. Most recently, she managed a 35-cow dairy and was the sole proprietor of Island Grazing, a land-management company in Martha’s Vineyard.

She attended Union College in New York, graduating cum laude with a degree in environmental studies and natural resource management.

Now, Brown looks forward to meeting the four trainees, no later than June 1. Wolfe’s Neck Farm will phase in its organic dairy program, hiring more trainees in a year so there will be a six-month overlap.

“We recruited nationwide,” she said. “There was a good response. They’ll get about $10 an hour for 40-50 hours. Upon completing the training, they can go off and start any kind of dairy farm they want, anywhere they want.

Brown said that it’s high time for the kind of program Wolfe’s Neck Farm is starting.

“Grocery stores are running out of organic milk,” she said. “They can’t keep it in the stores.”

Julie Marie Bickford of Topsham, executive director of the Maine Dairy Industry Association, confirmed that Maine has a short supply of organic milk.

“Maine has a high percentage of organic dairy farming,” Bickford said, “but more consumer demand” than the farms can meet.

Brown envisions a typical day on the farm that begins at 6. The trainees will feed and milk the cows, clean the milking parlor and do random chores. Brown will be right out there with them.

“It’s an intensive program,” she said. “In the winter time we’ll be doing more classroom time. We’ll teach biological farming, which stresses the importance of healthy soil.”

Wolfe’s Neck Farm organic dairy program “graduates” won’t get a degree, but they will earn a certificate showing they completed the course.

“We’re anticipating that they would lease land with some of the money they earned here,” Brown said. “We hope to provide them with cows to get started, and the use of a portable milking parlor.”

Dave Herring, executive director at Wolfe’s Neck Farm, said the program will pick up steam as the year progresses.

“There’s going to be more activity each month,” Herring said. “It kind of depends on how quickly we can find the right four people. We began outreach about a month ago, and we wanted to make sure they all had the right information.”

The opportunity is there for the trainees who complete the program, Herring said.

“There are about 50-60 organic dairy farmers in Maine,” he said. “I’m confident a number of them are looking to retire. What we have is a very fertile opportunity, if you will, for new farmers. Demand for organic dairy farmers is increasing every year.”

Herring is happy with the first hire.

“Becky has a really impressive track record of helping run successful enterprises,” he said. “She knows grass-fed dairy farming, and education. She’s farmed all over the world and was brought up on the farm.”

A cow peers out as Rebecca Brown, the newly hired director for the Wolfe’s Neck Farm organic dairy program, pets her dog outside the barn. Brown will be spending much of her time in and around the barn. Staff photo by Larry Grard