Justin Malone: Creating a market for organic milk products

In this episode of the Progressive Dairy Podcast, host Jenn Coyne visits with Justin Malone of Minnesota. Malone is an organic dairy producer who helped spearhead the acquisition of Hastings Creamery as a way to create a market for organic dairy products while sustaining family businesses for future generations. Not only has Malone played an integral role in developing this market, he and a small of group of dairy farmers also ventured into America’s Dairyland with the purchase of Comstock Creamery. The episode delves into these business decisions and what Malone has learned in creating a market for his organic milk. 

Here is a breakdown of the episode:

• Tell me about your family’s farm and your history with organic dairy production. [~1:22]
• How was Smoky Hills Farmers Cooperative formed? [~4:21]
• When was the Hastings Creamery proposition pursued and why? [~5:22]
• Walk me through that purchase of the creamery and preparing the location with a new storefront and organic processing. [~10:56]
• What does the creamery look like today? [~13:43]
• What has been the feedback from the community? [~15:56]
• Since 2021 when the creamery was purchased, how has the business expanded? [~18:24]
• How do you do it all as a dairy farmer and general manager of the creamery? [~20:29]
• What has this business venture taught you or showed you as an organic dairy producer in today’s industry? [~22:27]
• What’s next for Justin Malone? [~28:05]
• Rapid-fire questions [~31:14]