Orlinda couple represents CEMC at statewide leadership conference

At this year’s Tennessee Young Leaders Conference, Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation was represented by a family with deep ties to the dairy industry, although they are presiding over a brand new start-up venture.

Steven and Shonda Gammon are proprietors of Gammon Family Dairy, Inc. Processing Plant, located in Orlinda in northeast Robertson county. After four years of research, the business was begun with 130 milking cows in mid-2009 and started bottling milk the day after Christmas.

“My great grandfather and his sister started our family’s dairy business in Hendersonville in the early 1940s,” Gammon says, adding that his grandfather and father moved the operation to Orlinda years later. After growing up “in the business” in one capacity or another, Gammon says he only got into it full-time when he got out of school in 1995.

Now, at age 32, Gammon is part of one of only 495 permitted dairy farms in Tennessee.

“There were more than 1,000 just five years ago,” he says.

Judging from the numbers, Gammon knows the risks of sustaining a new business in today’s economy.

“The dairy industry is hurting and has been for several years,” he says. “But the dairy farmer is very optimistic. We look at any gain in a positive way, rather than think it’s not enough or it won’t last.”

Futures (commodities bought or sold upon agreement of delivery in time to come) are a primary concern of Gammon and other dairy farmers.

“This past year has been the worst year ever and the five previous years were not a whole lot better because of the rising cost of fuel, land rent and feed,” Gammon says.

“For instance, the milk price we had last year got down close to $10 per hundredweight. In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, the milk price was $11-$12,” he says.

If the industry is to thrive like it did in past years, Gammon feels changes in federal legislation are necessary because dairy farms throughout the country are in peril.

“And some monopolies will have to be busted,” he says.

Shonda Gammon left a stable career as a bank loan administrator to help her husband “get this thing off the ground and growing,” which she believes was the right thing to do.

“The phone is ringing off the hook and people are walking in to buy milk. We even have grocery stores calling, wanting to stock our milk. People in the community have been very supportive,” she says.

With Steven being the fourth generation of Gammon men to be involved in the dairy industry, is there a chance his two-year-old son, Chase, will be the fifth?

“I would like for him to be,” Steven says. “I’m not going to force it on him, but I would like to present him with the opportunity. He already knows the process!”

Sponsored by Tennessee Young Farmers and Ranchers and the Tennessee Council of Cooperatives, the Young Leaders Conference was held Feb. 12-13 at the Music City Sheraton in Nashville.

Designed to bring young leaders together, the conference focused on “Communicating Leadership Cooperatively” and offered a variety of topics affecting rural Tennesseans.

The conference gave the Gammons an opportunity to attend workshops addressing areas of interest to young farmers and cooperative members.

“We feel honored to have been chosen to represent CEMC at this,” Gammon says.

For more information about Gammon Family Dairy, Inc. Processing Plant, check out their website at www.tnrealmilk.com.