HARRISBURG, Pa. — Three months after ending contracts with seven Lebanon County farms due to the loss of a major retail customer, Harrisburg Dairies has signaled it will cease operations, telling its last five dairy farm patrons on Oct. 6 that their milk pickups would abruptly end, according to several dairy farmers who contacted Farmshine this week. Some spoke with company management, others were informed by their milk hauler.

Farmshine’s calls and emails to company management for confirmation went unanswered.

The abrupt stop has left 11 or 12 family dairy farms, along with milk haulers, waiting on payment for milk already shipped. Of them, six of the 11 farms reportedly switched to new buyers on or before Oct. 1, but all are still owed considerable sums for previously shipped milk.

One producer indicated that prior meetings with the Pennsylvania Milk Board (PMB) indicated the calculated risk in staying with Harrisburg Dairies given the prior late payment citations and continued lapses in their required weekly payments.

In mid-July, the PMB reported it was monitoring the weekly payments relative to the dealer security bond. At that time, farmers were reporting that Harrisburg Dairies was two to three weeks in arrears. By the first week of October, several reported their required weekly payments were six to eight weeks behind.

Harrisburg Dairies has remained under a weekly pay order since 2023. This order was established by the Pennsylvania Milk Board (PMB) to protect producers after repeated late-payment citations.

Despite the calculated risk, the relationship is a tough one to break for dairy farms that have shipped to the iconic 92-year-old independent local milk bottler for decades. Not only is there a bit of a price difference, it’s also a dream, of sorts, to be shipping to a local brand.

For its part, the PMB gave a limited response to immediate questions.

Board Chair Rob Barley said the PMB would activate the company’s security instruments, a milk dealer bond and letter of credit, to recover as much as possible for unpaid producers, once the details of the situation are confirmed.

While Pennsylvania law requires licensed milk dealers to remain 100% bonded based on monthly producer pay obligations, the rapid deterioration of Harrisburg Dairies’ accounts appears to have outpaced those bonding limits.

“The PMB will work as fast as it can, once details are confirmed. We will do everything possible that the law will allow to help farmers receive the maximum amount of funds available for what is owed to them, in addition to what is available through the security bond,” said Barley.

Some producers had hoped a week ago that Harrisburg Dairies would get caught up, but instead, it appears they have suddenly closed the doors, given the fact that they have stopped picking up milk from their remaining five farms, which is a situation that requires notice under any other circumstances.

Farmers also say deductions from their milk checks, money withheld for hauling and promotion assessments, were not being forwarded as intended, further complicating the situation.

Some view the situation as a wake-up call for Pennsylvania’s milk security system. However, a little research on other systems around the country makes it clear that the Commonwealth’s dairy farmers already have more security than their peers in most other states that do not have security bonding through a state milk board like in Pennsylvania.

“We’re proud of our state’s Milk Board. I guess now we’ll see what’s really there,” said one producer. At this juncture, dairy farmers interviewed for this report wished to remain anonymous; some were concerned, others resigned, and in general all were sad to see what now appears to be an end of an era for a nearly century-old milk bottling icon.