RURAL ROUTES/Margot Ford McMillen

Dairies are Squeezed to the Limits

Pop Quiz: You’ve just inherited $5 million. You do the following: a) invest it in the stock market; b) put it into Bitcoins and move to the Bahamas; c) buy a dairy farm with 100 cows, get up at 5 a.m. to milk every day — EVERY day! — and take home less money than it costs to produce the milk you sell.

Five million is about what it would take to start up a dairy farm, according to longtime Missouri dairy man Alfred Brandt, which is why in his county, Osage County, there are only five of them, compared to the census of about 40 in the 1970s. The biggest drop, which cut the number of dairies by half, came in the years between 2000 and 2005. Besides a decline in fluid milk consumption due to competition — almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk — dairy men were plagued by droughts that push feed costs higher. And those droughts just keep on coming. Last April was the driest April EVER here in Missouri, for as long as records have been kept.

Nationally, 2018 is the fourth year in a row when dairy incomes have fallen below the price of production. This is true of dairy everywhere. Farmers have sold any old machinery they can get by without and turned in all their spare pieces of metal equipment for cash. One friend in Wisconsin told me the farms are cleaner, junk-wise, than they’ve ever been.

Part of the problem is the way dairy prices are set. Each class of fluid milk, coming from the cow to the tank truck that hauls it to processor, has a different price. Milk destined for ice cream is priced differently than milk destined for cheddar cheese and different still from milk destined for school lunches. The variances are set according to USDA programs, state programs and supply. These days, over-supply is usually blamed for the low prices, but pricing is so complicated that supply is only a small part of the situation.

You might have heard that dairy exports are up, driven by demand in Africa, Latin America, Asia. Indeed, the USA Dairy Export Council recently went on a hiring spree, adding “on the ground” professionals to drive the percentage of exporting dairy from 15% of production to 20%. That was the plan before the Trump tariff deals and right now all bets are off on how it will shake out. And, even if it works, that doesn’t translate to higher prices for dairy farmers. Instead, the big winners in the export/import game are the large-scale processors — Nestle, Kraft, Sargento, Land O’ Lakes and the like. For them, the winning formula includes cheap inputs. That swells their bottom lines but it squeezes the dairy farmer even more. The cheap inputs come from the largest milk producers with facilities partially financed by us, the taxpayers.

Congress is working on a new farm bill, but, so far, there aren’t any provisions that would really help independent family farms. Just a lot more subsidies for the industrial guys. The new model promoted by at least one Minnesota ag professor recommends that dairying families get out as soon as possible to preserve equity rather than continuing to borrow to stay in business. This would, obviously, mean turning their backs on generations of tradition, community and independence.

Telling a legislative panel that “the good times are not coming back,” this prof described a path to success that involves groups with thousands of cows, putting them into $30 million automated dairies. Never mind that this model would destroy land, air and livelihoods, it would produce cheap milk for the exporters. And, again for the exporters, it would make it easier to control supply, which is now being blamed for the fall in dairy prices.

Putting this cynical solution aside, there are things we can do as consumers to help preserve dairying in our states. First and foremost, as always, is to keep on buying from sources we know. Some communities are served by raw-milk dairies, which have their own set of hoops to jump through. Raw milk dairies usually are restricted to sell by appointment, direct from farm to consumers, and they won’t be at the farmers’ markets, but farmers at farmer markets usually know how to get in touch with them. So, to find one, you might ask around at the farmers’ market nearest you.

Putting raw milk aside, look for dairies that have their own processing system. These folks pasteurize on-site at their farms, and to survive they become quite innovative. One near us offers bottled milk in all varieties — whole, skim, 2% — plus bottles of cream, chocolate milk and, occasionally, other flavors as well. You can find their products at health-food stores and some groceries. And, as always, shop for other dairy products by considering the location of the processors and their independence. After trying a lot of ice creams, cheeses and other specialties, you will find varieties from your locality that pass your palate test.

Margot Ford McMillen farms near Fulton, Mo., and co-hosts “Farm and Fiddle” on sustainable ag issues on KOPN 89.5 FM in Columbia, Mo. Her latest book is The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History. Email: margotmcmillen@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, June 1, 2018

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