Dive Brief:
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Since 1986, the number of small, family-owned dairy farms has been dropping at a rate between 5 to 9% yearly, according to Peter Vitaliano, chief economist for the National Milk Producers Federation. Vitaliano recently told NPR that is it’s far more lucrative to operate large-scale dairy farms with 500 cows or more.
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The remaining small dairy farms, which on average have fewer than 100 cows, are paid about 10% more than what they received per hundredweight of milk in 1977, a Vermont farmer told NPR. Large-scale dairy farmers are being paid the same thing, but their checks are for much higher milk volumes.
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The large-volume dairy producers can take advantage of their greater income to virtually automate their milking and feeding operations, using equipment beyond the budgets of their smaller colleagues.
Dive Insight:
Because most small dairies can’t afford the luxury of automation, they incur greater labor costs than large-scale competitors to facilitate milking, feeding and waste removal. These costs aren’t the only obstacles that shut down an increasing number of small dairy producers each year, however.
Weather patterns can also cause serious problems. A few years ago in New York’s Mohawk Valley,a couple of small towns and much of the surrounding farmland and dairy barns were impacted by flooding. Many farmers suffered herd losses when their cows were swept downstream and drowned.
Serious losses like these impact individual farmers, farms and communities because many prices are now based on global growth and consumption patterns, rather than local or even national ones.
The dairy industry overall has been hurting because of waning consumer demand. Shopper preference for dairy-free milk alternatives have swamped dairy farmers with a massive surplus, which has caused milk prices to drop and led to the dumping of millions of gallons of milk. The U.S. Department of Agriculture offered dairy farmers $11.2 million to help overcome these challenges, but the future of dairy — and dairy farmers — is still uncertain.