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Short fall on milk but going down and the farmers are going to dump milk. Sounds crazy to me; I see no milk shortagae at the store. maybe too many dairy farmers is my thinking.Maybe people stopped drinking after it got too expensive. now it is down again at the stroes.
Short fall on milk but going down and the farmers are going to dump milk. Sounds crazy to me; I see no milk shortagae at the store. maybe too many dairy farmers is my thinking.Maybe people stopped drinking after it got too expensive. now it is down again at the stroes.
You probably skipped ahead and missed this part, but they are importing milk from other countries to make up for the 5 Billion gallon shortfall we have in this country.
Bydand from Western Michigan states they-----" haven't paid over $2.50 a gallon for milk in almost a year. Lately it is just under $2 a gallon "
Here in central Minnesota, the leading dairy county in the state, milk was $2.72 a gallon today at a big supermarket.
$2.72 a gallon converts to about $32.64 per cwt ( dairy farmers are currently getting about $10.00 a cwt and get charged for the hauling of their tested, refrigerated milk from their farm to the processor )
here is an article from the paper back where I grew up on the issue ....... looks like it's hitting people all over ....... the comments section on this page actually has some decent alternate perspective
A dramatic decline in milk prices has left local dairy farmers struggling to make ends meet and forced at least one farmer out of business temporarily.
The May milk price for local dairy farmers is expected to come in around $11.50 for every 100 pounds (hundredweight) of milk, according to Jim Grace of Cornell Cooperative Exten-sion Steuben.
That’s down sharply from $19 per hundredweight paid to farmers nine months ago.
Farmers currently receive some federal aid through the Milk Income Loss Contract, now amounting to $1.40 per hundredweight, increasing dairy incomes to $12.90 per hundredweight, Grace said.
“But the cost of production is $17 per hundredweight,” Grace said. “They’re not even breaking even.”
The tumble was dramatic, after a year of profits for most local farmers.
According to a report by the Associated Press, U.S. milk exports soared last year and demand grew in countries like China while supplies dropped from Europe and Australia. U.S dairy exports jumped to $3.82 billion, or 11 percent all milk production in 2008 according to the U.S. Dairy Export Council. Wholesale prices jumped and dairies responded to the demand by increasing production, the AP reported.
Dairyman and county Legislator Robert Nichols, R-Tuscarora said the crisis began in November when China was rocked with a dairy scandal involving infant formulas laced with the chemical, melamine. China stopped importing U.S. milk, forcing a global glut and driving prices down, Nichols said.
“China dairy products consumption dropped 45 percent,” Nichols said. “Now when one-quarter of the world’s population stopped buying milk, that’s going to have an effect.”
You probably skipped ahead and missed this part, but they are importing milk from other countries to make up for the 5 Billion gallon shortfall we have in this country.
Then bascailly waht you are facing is the same as many industries.not being abole to compete on porice. Just as the other countries are facing competeing with subsidised american foods. Its a on going battle that is like to mean only the largest and most efficent will survive.
Then bascailly waht you are facing is the same as many industries.not being abole to compete on porice. Just as the other countries are facing competeing with subsidised american foods. Its a on going battle that is like to mean only the largest and most efficent will survive.
Its vastly different because we are told by the government what we are going to get for the milk. There is no market setting the price for us. As I showed in a previous post, the way the price of milk is figured is so hap-hazzard that it makes no sense whatsoever.
I do dismiss the claim of profits a few months ago, because people fail to realize that the high cost of fuel meant congress instituted a higher mandate for ethanol in gasoline. That meant corn prices shot through the roof and dairy cows are dependent upon grain. Our grain prices went up 200% so the gov was forced to raise milk prices for us to make a living. We we were getting by...but barely and the high cost of diesel fuel did not help either.
For every other farmer, if the price of fuel goes up, they tack on more money to the veggies they are selling, who passes it on to the consumer or the resteraunt, who further passes the price along. It is the same for the corn grower in the mid-west, they simply get a higher price for their corn. Us though, we are told months in advance what our milk prices will be. So when the cost of fuel goes up...our milk prices are not adjusted. We lose money for the next few months until the gov gets on board and ups the price. Its ridiculous. No wonder in Maine alone we went from having 500 dairy farms in 1999 to less then 330 in 2009...a loss of 170 dairy farms in a decade.
They predict 1 in 4 dairy farms will go under in the next year or two. Since the US has 60,000 dairy farms that is 15,000 farms lost. John Deere today just laid off 500 workers because of a lack of orders...can you imagine what 15,000 less dairy farms in this country would do.
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