Dive Brief:
-
South Dakota is launching a pilot project to connect jobless Puerto Ricans with the state’s struggling dairy industry, according to Food Manufacturing.
-
According to the National Agriculture Statistics Service, South Dakota only produced 209 million pounds of milk in 2016, far below California and Wisconsin’s milk production.
-
Experts from the South Dakota State University Extension have already hosted recruiting sessions in Puerto Rican dairy towns to discuss cost of living and farm routine, and hope to bring 20 workers to South Dakota by September.
Dive Insight:
A National Milk Producers Federation study found that 51% of American dairy labor is made up of immigrant workers.
Because Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, however, these laborers are not foreigners and don't require visas.
Smaller dairy farms have also struggled to keep up with automated milking and feeding operations that large-scale dairies employ, hurting the industry overall. This lack of updated machinery makes it difficult for dairies to find local laborers who are willing to work such a taxing job.
It will be interesting to see how the industry overall evolves in the coming years. If family-owned dairies die off, large-scale farm operations — including automated gates to move cows in and out of milking parlors, automated scanners to test milk, measure volume and milk fat ratios and more — there wouldn’t be a need to bring in outside labor.
However, if this pilot program is successful, it could be a viable strategy for other struggling dairy states and improve overall production. It could also improve the unemployment rate in Puerto Rico, which is currently 11%.