It's happening more and more often. Small family dairies are being forced out of business. When we decided to sell our dairy (it took a year!) it was a hard decision. Economically, well, it sucked. Prices were on the decline and our health went with it. Stress does terrible things to a person.
It was announced just last week that another milk processor, Dean Foods, would be dropping farms. (http://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming/dairy/dairies-entering-termination-territory/article_32ecf24d-cd8c-5921-89db-105d651d2a68.html) This impacts several states. Walmart used to process their milk through the Dean Foods milk plants and have decided to do it themselves. In our market in Wisconsin the price is about the same as other processors' milk, but in other places, Walmart is practically giving it away. This is very bad for farmers. This is just another example, however, of what is going on in the industry as a whole.
We used to ship milk to Grassland and they dropped farms in 2017, according to them because of hauling charges and not enough markets for the milk, but they also built several mega farms of their own cutting out the little farms all over at least Wisconsin. I haven't heard about the other states where they operate. We waited for the letter saying they were dropping us before we could sell out. Thankfully it didn't come, but we knew we were on borrowed time. News outlets even investigated the situation. the governor's office got involved. Nothing ever got resolved. They weren't the only ones to opt for this cutting of the smaller farms for mega farms though.
On a Facebook farm group of which I am a member there were several pleas for prayers as people got the rug pulled out from under them. And now even more as the overly stressed and now financially destitute farmers struggle with what to do next. Depression has set in (farmers are one of the most under-served populations for treatment of depression in the country) and they are committing suicide at an alarming rate as a result. This has to stop!
The processing plants keep saying farmers are overproducing milk in this country and that is why the price is so low. That may be true to a certain extent, but why are they then starting up their own mega farms to produce more than they were getting from the very farms they dropped? Why is the price not reflected (other than Walmart) in what the consumer pays? The farmers sure aren't getting any of it.
As mentioned in a previous article, prices are low for farmers across the board. Wheat prices are way down but have you seen a drop in the price of flour or baked good? No.Corn prices likewise. Pork and beef are low at the sale barn, yet meat is still very high at the store. The average family farm cannot survive on what is coming in. One of these days when the small family farms are out of business and the corporate mega farms are all that is left, no one will be able to afford to eat. The rest of the food will all be shipped in from other countries, and everyone will wonder what happened. We small family farmers will know.
By the way, the kid that bought our farm six months ago is already going out of business. He says he just can't make it on what he gets. He's Amish. A lot of the very high expenses we had, like the insane electric bill, he just doesn't have. (He does have electric for the water, water heater and milk tank and compressor, but nothing else.) His equipment is run by horses and therefore no diesel bill or mechanical expenses. They utilize home remedies before calling a veterinarian. They don't drive vehicles so no gasoline expenses. And still he can't do it. Think about that.
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I saw a protester's sign that read, "Why are you torturing animals? Buy meat at the store where no animals are tortured or killed?" Really lady? I know that is a digression, but still....
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