It’s a ‘get big or get out’ economy for dairy farmers in America. It is a trend that gives pause as to what our landscapes are becoming, what is happening to the integrity of our dairy supply, and what will become of the sustainable family farm, which has been around since our country was founded.
Due to low prices, farmers have been forced to abandon their dairy farms in droves over the last 20 years as the prevailing economics of the industry have become unsustainable for all but the largest farms. Nationwide, the number of dairy farms has declined by 60 percent, even as total milk production has increased by a third, according to the USDA.
Recent data shows that every day that goes by we lose almost two dairy farms in Wisconsin, and one a week in California, according to Hoard’s Dairyman, a dairy trade publication.
Between 2000 and 2006, the number of farms with less than 200 cows declined by at least 24 percent, and as much as 36 percent. In the same time frame, the number of farms with at least 2,000 cows more than doubled. The largest U.S. dairy farms have over 15,000 cows.
Those that got bigger did so gradually, often by buying up the neighbor’s farms, or through family consolidation. A few were founded by rich investors, particularly large organic dairy farms.
The consolidation created industrial-sized feeding and milking operations that have proven to be unsustainable for the environment, potentially detrimental to human health, and anathema to animal rights advocates.
The industrial farms are part of large cooperatives that have little incentive to pay farmers more than the minimum price set by the government. Some cooperatives will pay even less under certain conditions. The milk produced by this marriage is necessarily the cheapest container on the shelf. Supporters of this system argue that struggling families rely on this low price.
Smaller farms tend to be represented by smaller cooperatives that process and market products directly to the consumer, with a small price premium charged to account for the more labor intensive and sustainable farming practices. These opportunities are still too few and far between for farmers, but they are important.
Westby Cooperative Creamery, founded in 1903, charges an extra 10 percent for products that are guaranteed not to contain recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone, also known as rBGH, which has been linked to lower quality milk.
Hudson Valley Fresh founder Sam Simon founded a small cooperative in Dutchess County, New York, after realizing the plight of farmers. It now has nine farms that follow strict and measurable quality standards, and the brand gets about 80 cents more per half gallon because consumers understand what they are getting. This allows the farmers to be paid a bit more than the cost of production.
Some small farms have found profitable sources of extra income to supplement low milk prices. These include entrepreneurial activities like artisanal cheese production, agritourism, or the breeding and sale of high quality calves.
