Not enough milk and a change in business terms by Dairy Farmers of Ontario.
Organic Meadows Incorporated officials say those are the reasons they've filed for creditor protection.
CEO Don Rees says the move was necessary to protect the rights of the co-operative's farmer members.
Organic Meadows produces a variety of organic milk products, including cheese, yogurt and ice cream.
However, the co-operative says it's been unable to get enough organic milk for the past several months to meet the needs of their customers.
It costs more to produce organic milk because input costs, like organic grains, are higher than they are for conventional milk producers.
Rees says they plan to work with Dairy Farmers of Ontario to grow the provincial organic milk pool.
He argues that's the only way there will be long-term sustainability in the organic milk segment.
According to Organic Meadows, there is a strong demand for organic-focussed customers - customers the co-operative says the dairy sector is losing to soy or almond products because the sector can't meet the demand.
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CEO Don Rees says the co-operative hasn't been able to get the volume of organic milk they need to meet the demands of their customers.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ORGANIC-Rees-1.mp3"][/audio]
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Rees says the cost of producing organic milk is significantly higher than the cost of producing conventional milk.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ORGANIC-Rees-2.mp3"][/audio]
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Rees says the co-operative wants to work with Dairy Farmers of Ontario to grow the provincial organic milk pool to meet consumer demand.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ORGANIC-Rees-3.mp3"][/audio]
