MOO Milk got a lifeline in December, when 14 Whole Foods supermarkets in Massachusetts agreed to sell its milk. But it may not be enough to save it.

“The bankers don’t really have the sense of urgency about what we’re doing and that you have to feed these animals,” Mr. Bright said. “We’re going to bleed out on the emergency room floor.”

Mr. Bell is trying to stay optimistic. He can’t afford to give up yet  he and his wife are expecting their fourth child in May, and they are still paying back a $250,000 loan they took out to start the organic operation. Plus, there are few alternative job prospects in Washington County, which has an unemployment rate of 10.3 percent.

“The stage is set,” Mr. Bell said while driving a tractor on a frigid Sunday afternoon in January. “We’re a marketable brand. Our milk is good. We have a good, honest story. We have distribution and should be able to sell all of our milk in Maine, New Hampshire and Boston.”

Most of the farmers in MOO Milk got into the organic dairy business in 2005, when Hood approached them to help it meet the booming demand for all things organic. But when the economic downturn hit in 2008, consumers cut back on purchases of organic milk, which typically costs about $4 for a half-gallon, or double the cost of nonorganic milk.

Hood, which was processing the milk in Oneida, N.Y., ended the contracts. “The demand for organic milk had decreased, therefore our need for organic milk had softened,” said Lynne Bohan, a spokeswoman for Hood. In addition, distance was a factor. “There are certainly efficiencies in procuring milk from farmers who are closer to our plant,” she said.