Chris and Jouko,

This article outlines a very interesting financing technique used to expand a dairy in Ontario. Cheers, William Greenberg

RUTH KLAHSEN

whey

NOTHING GETS IN HER WHEY

BY CARMEN EVEREST WAHL

Photography by John Gundy



Meeting Ruth Klahsen is like coming face to face with a whirling dervish...in slow motion. You can sense the enormous energy and genius behind her dreams while still being aware of a deliberate caution that propels it all forward. A self-confessed ruminator who moves slowly but steadily, Ruth subscribes to the belief that if you want to make change, then lead by example. And by rethinking the way in which our food can be produced, Ruth has successfully led the charge in creating a more sustainable and healthy future for local dairy and pork farmers as well as for herself.

A graduate of the Stratford Chef School, Ruth worked at several Stratford-area restaurants before turning her formidable culinary talents to cheese making in 2004. Originally operating out of a shared facility in Millbank, this self-taught cheese maker launched the Monforte Dairy brand and began to build a unique repertoire of cheeses based on goat and sheep milk. Ruth was informed in 2008, however, that the rent for her dairy would double within a few months. She had two options – pay the rent or find new accommodations for Monforte.

Despite the fact that finding a new home for the dairy would lead to serious economic disruption for her business, there was no way around it. And since it had always been Ruth’s dream to have a permanent home for Monforte, a place that she could design and structure around the needs of her milk suppliers, cheese makers and cheese buyers, Ruth began the slow process of building a renaissance within her own cheese-making company.

Building a dairy is an expensive undertaking. Building a dairy based on a sustainable model of food production becomes a very expensive venture not for the faint of heart. Having already appeared on the CBC television program Dragon’s Den several years ago and been told that her margins were too high and that she needed to cut her costs (particularly the price she paid her milk suppliers), Ruth knew that she would have to come up with a new model to raise capital for the Monforte facility. An idea was twigged when she offered to support a friend’s dream to raise Chantecler chickens by providing him with the necessary $500 in start-up costs. In return, he would supply her with $500 worth of chicken at a later date. And then she wondered if other like-minded people could be encouraged to invest in Monforte in such a manner.

Similar to the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model that has become so popular for small fruit and vegetable growers, Ruth launched her own cheese version. The model relies on subscribers paying up front for food products they will receive at a later date. It provides the food producer with start-up capital and creates a secure buyer for the twenty-five odd milk suppliers and producers of complemen tary products like crackers and charcuterie that will soon be offered through Monforte. As Ruth candidly states, her CSA program – coined Renaissance 2010 – was “an opportunity to affect directly the politics of food in Ontario.” This was a way to lead by example and to open up new opportunities for micro-producers in this province.

For nine hundred Renaissance 2010 supporters, the opportunity was too good to pass up. Three subscription plans, or investment opportunities, were offered for a limited time. The Wedge of Cheese was the lowest-priced option whereby a subscriber invested $200 in Monforte to receive $250 worth of cheese vouchers valid for five years. For those who just can’t get enough cheese, the Wheel of Cheese at $1,000 provides vouchers for $1,500 worth of cheese over five years, or two $150 baskets of cheese delivered each year for five years.

The vouchers can be redeemed at farmers’ markets where Monforte cheese is sold, or directly at the dairy. According to Ruth, “the people spoke” and their purchasing power allowed Monforte to raise nearly $400,000 in capital. In a happy twist of fate, this money leveraged a further $190,000 from the Ontario government through its Rural Economic Development Plan. In pure Ruth Klahsen fashion, all CSA subscribers were invited to a food- and music- drenched Hootenanny in April to celebrate the success of the Renaissance dream.

All of the money raised through Renaissance 2010 has been put into infrastructure for the new Stratford facility that now houses Monforte Dairy. When Ruth took possession in July 2009, four walls already framed the building but Ruth was free to design and build the interior. Government regulations have guided many of the structural features, such as the wood-free walls that can be easily hosed down for cleaning. Other decisions reflect the visionary in Ruth, and include the mounting of cameras in the production rooms to allow everyone a peek into the cheese-making process without having to get suited up and hosed down. (You can even log in to the real-time video from the comfort of your own home.)

Ruth’s vision encompasses a greater interconnected food system. As a cheese maker, Ruth believes in protecting the heritage of food and in creating cheeses of unsurpassed flavour, while at the same time ensuring that all of the people and animals in the system are treated fairly.

Farmers are paid fair prices for the milk that comes from well treated animals. The liquid whey that sometimes becomes a waste product in the cheese-making business is sent to local farmer David Martin for use as a water substitute for his pigs: it provides an excellent digestible source of protein and minerals. The pork from these animals is being bought by restaurateurs in Toronto and Stratford and marketed as whey-fed pork. (Ruth hopes, in fact, to begin producing charcuterie from the whey-fed pork and to potentially offer it through another CSA program.) Finally, the wheat from David Martin’s farm is being transformed into buttery crackers, which are a perfect accompaniment to any Monforte cheese.

The new dairy, which began production in May, is still producing cheese made from sheep and goat milk, but this year Ruth is venturing farther afield into water buffalo, mare and cow milks (the latter is due to changes in the milk quota system, which used to make cows milk unattainable to new cheese makers). Some new products to look for at the dairy will be Buff-alatto water buffalo ice cream – and sheep milk ice cream, both produced in conjunction with Mapleton Organic Dairy, as well as kefir from Belgian mare milk. To close the loop on a tightly linked food system, Ruth is keen to ensure that her products are properly labelled, even aspiring to list the farms from which she sources her milk.

Monforte is no ordinary dairy, and Ruth is no ordinary cheese maker. She has proved that business need not operate in isolation from its customer base; indeed, she has encouraged everyone to become an agent of change by investing in the Monforte paradigm.

“I just want this business model to be one that others copy,” Ruth says, because, while one woman can’t change an entire system, maybe one woman’s Renaissance vision can kick start a Revolution in the way we produce and acquire our food.

Monforte Dairy
49 Griffith Rd., Stratford
1-877-437-5553 • www.monfortedairy.com