Fifth-Generation Dairy Farm Named 2025 Dairy Farm of the Year
Bar-Way Farm Inc., a fifth-generation family-owned dairy farm, is celebrating over 100 years of agricultural heritage, environmental stewardship, and forward-thinking innovation. The farm, which is located in Deerfield along the fertile Connecticut River Valley, has been named the 2025 Massachusetts Dairy Farm of the Year by University of Massachusetts Extension through the New England Green Pastures Program.
The award recognizes a dairy farm that demonstrates overall excellence in dairying through its quality milk production; outstanding pasture, crop and herd management; and sustainable environmental practices, among other criteria. The winner is selected by a committee of industry professionals and former award recipients. Bar-Way Farm will be recognized alongside winners from five other New England States at a reception on Sept. 12 at The Big E in Springfield, Mass.
Established in 1919 by Stephen Melnik, the farm began as a modest operation on Mill Village Road with a few cows and fields of tobacco, onions, and other produce. Each generation of the Melnik family has since left its mark, building upon the values of hard work, sustainability, and community.
At just 16 years old, Stephen’s son, Walter, took the reins of the farm and expanded its footprint from 40 acres to over 400 acres, growing the herd from 20 to 250 milking cows.
In 1987, Walter’s sons, Stephen and Bill, furthered the family’s commitment to farmland preservation by acquiring an additional 400 acres and becoming one of the first participants in Massachusetts’ Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) program. To date, the farm has preserved over 600 acres across eight APR projects.
Five years later, the fourth generation joined the farm when Stephen’s son, Peter, returned with a passion for sustainability and environmental leadership. Under Peter’s direction, Bar-Way Farm adopted cover cropping, partnering with local vegetable growers for crop rotation. In 2016, the farm launched a groundbreaking partnership with Vanguard Renewables to build a 1-megawatt anaerobic digester. This innovative system processes manure and food waste into renewable energy. In 2023, Bar-Way teamed up with Bear Path Compost to deliver nutrient-rich compost — from cows and local horses — to home gardens and flowerbeds throughout the valley.
The legacy continued during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, Peter’s brother, Mark, and his son, Henry, both returned to the farm. Together, they’re guiding Bar-Way Farm into a new era of precision agriculture and smart farming technology. In the fall of 2025, the farm will unveil a state-of-the-art double-12 parallel milking parlor featuring activity monitors, real-time milk tracking, automatic sort gates, and robotic feed pushers. In the fields, GPS-driven tractors and precision application tools are optimizing crop and nutrient management.
Today, the farm is comprised of 450 Holstein dairy cows, 225 replacement heifers, and 900 acres of forage crops to feed them. These cows produce over 10 million pounds of milk annually to the Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) co-op, which sells milk locally through brands including Garelick Farms, Guida’s Dairy, and Friendly’s Ice Cream. Bar-Way Farm hosts hundreds of visitors from across the world touring the digester, school groups studying environmental sustainability, and collaborates with University of Massachusetts on research projects.
Though much has changed in the past century, Bar-Way Farm’s core mission remains unchanged: caring for the cows and the land that sustains them.
