UNITY – Dozens of Maine’s milk producers are leaving the depressed state of conventional dairying behind.

They’re opting to go organic.

Maine’s organic dairy farmers could reach 50 by the end of this month, a figure that represents 12 percent of all dairy farming. That is the highest organic milk percentage in the nation.

In the past six years, the number of organic milk operations in Maine has risen from one to 50.

Conventional dairy farmers in Maine are dropping out of the milk business at a rate of two per month, state Agriculture Commissioner Robert Spear said last week. With milk prices slumping to $11 per hundredweight when it costs $16 to produce that same amount, dairy farming appears to be a losing battle.

However, organic dairy producers are getting $20 per hundredweight, guaranteed not to fluctuate, and they pay no trucking, an expense that draws conventional farmers’ $11 payment down even further.

“Can you imagine getting up every morning and working from sunrise to sunset, knowing you are losing money?” asked organic milk producer Jim Richmond of Pittsfield.

Richmond switched from conventional to organic in 1997. “I wanted security,” he said Saturday. “When my check [from an organic cooperative] comes this month, I know exactly how much I will get.”

Conventional farmers get a fluctuating price which is based on a complicated formula that takes into consideration how far the farm is from Wisconsin, the price of cheese, and the quality of the product. “Ask any dairy farmer if he can understand his check, how he gets paid,” Richmond said. “He can’t.”

Undermined by this fluctuating, roller-coaster method of pricing, conventional farmers are bailing out.

“We’re proud,” said Russell Libby, executive director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.

“It’s a good market for farmers, and a sign of the growing consumer interest in eating organically produced foods. We look forward to seeing the number grow in the future,” Libby said.

Libby said the organic milk market in Europe has been growing dramatically for more than a decade, while in the United States, organic milk production is a few years behind. Still, he said, the industry is growing rapidly.

“Six years ago, Maine had one dairy farm producing organic milk. This month the number will reach 50, a significant portion of the state’s 420 dairy farms,” he said.

Organic dairy farmers meet strict production standards under both MOFGA standards and U.S. Department of Agriculture organic regulations. Milk cows need to have access to pasture during the growing season. All materials fed to the cows are grown on fields managed organically for at least three years. Farmers are not allowed to give cows antibiotics or growth hormones.

“It’s a wholly different way of approaching dairy farming,” said Stephanie Calder, who farms in Skowhegan with her husband, Richard. The Calders switched to organic farming in 1996 after a family tradition of more than 40 years of conventional milking. “It’s not just a transition from what you feed the cows, how you manage your herd, bedding and cleanliness, but a mental transition too.”

Paul West is the most recent cross-over, receiving his organic certification Thursday. “Economics were certainly a major factor,” said West of his conversion, but he added that organic farming allows him to “be a good steward of the land, which is more in line with my personal values.”

The milk from Maine’s organic dairy farmers primarily goes to two national marketers, CROPP Cooperative and Horizon Organic Dairy. Members of the CROPP Cooperative produce fluid milk under the Organic Valley label.

They also wholesale milk to Stonyfield Farm for yogurt. Horizon Organic Dairy produces fluid milk under the Organic Cow label. Several smaller farms bottle their milk at their sites and sell directly to consumers and local retailers.

“Organic farming harkens back to the way farming should be done,” West said. “It’s a little slower style, but you get a real value for your effort.”