Wayne Cullen breeds show goats on his 24-hectare Cherry Glen farm in Boyds, Maryland, outside Washington D.C.For years he’s had a steady supply of goat milk from his herd. So much, he didn’t know what to do with it all.Then someone suggested he use the milk to make goat cheese.“Somebody mentioned to us that we could make bulk chevre pretty easily. And there was a strong market for it.And they said we could make about $1,000 a goat a year. And so that is what we decided to do," said Cullen.Thinking he could take advantage of strong demand for locally-produced food products, Cullen invested half a million dollars to build a cheese making plant.Eight years later he produces 68 kilograms of goat cheese a day in seven different varieties.Although award-winning Cherry Glen goat cheese is sold in more than 50 stores and restaurants around the Washington D.C. area, Cullen has yet to turn a profit.“There is a lot of competition. It is hard to educate the store, cheese buyers in the stores.It is hard to educate the public," he said.Agricultural experts say Cullen is not alone.According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there were 6.8 million farms in the U.S.in 1935.Today farmers are producing more than ever on about two million large mechanized farms.
