Posted on 06/03/2009 9:33:16 AM PDT by george76
While consumers are loving the low price of milk and ice cream, Utah dairy farmers are scared.
"the perfect storm": They are being paid less for raw milk, while feed and transportation costs are unusually high. And the lines of credit that help them weather rough patches are uncertain at best as financial institutions wrestle their own economy-related demons.
"I've never seen anything close to this," Kohler said. "People who had had generations of farming are losing their farms … eating equity that took years to build."
the number of dairy farmers is shrinking. Utah now has fewer than 250. Those who remain are able with about half the number of cows to sate a growing population. And she wonders if Americans recognize how much they benefit from "their safe food supply."
In the past, dairy farmers weathered low prices because feed prices were low, too. Not this time. Rising gas prices have put grain and diesel fuel "out of sight. We have to truck feed in and product out, so we pay both ways," .
Increasing regulation related to clean air and water have added costs. The cost of keeping the animals healthy has risen. And affordable help isn't easy to come by either.
It costs about $18 to produce 100 pounds of milk and farmers get only $11 for it right now, so they lose money... "it's not like I can just cut back. The cow has to be milked and fed and everything has to keep going.
(Excerpt) Read more at deseretnews.com ...
I only wish we could get raw milk.
It tastes so good.
If there were no farm subsidies or ethanol requirement, think how much lower prices would be to both dairy farmers and consumers of all food products.
Then grain farmers would be out of business. Besides, ethanol and cattle feed don’t rob from the same kitty.
Perhaps the Federal Government could purchase the extra milk and have it processed into cheese. To pay for this program, welfare recipients would have a "small" amount taken out of their welfare checks, but would receive coupons for "Government Cheese". I can't believe no one has thought of this before...
I never would have imagined we would be paying about $7.00-$8.00 a gallon for milk.
The dairy farmers are getting the short end of the stick for sure.
Remember the famous farmers who get help from the feds ?
What do Ken Lay, Ted Turner, Sam Donaldson and David Rockefeller all have in common?
Years of pocketing lots of money — your money. Amazing as it sounds, your tax dollars have been going to rich guys like these in the form of farm subsidies.
Surely equilibrium would be reached in the grain markets.
I know, boy do I miss it.
Every place I have lived I have bben able to get it, but not in NC.
If ethanol subsidies were eliminated, acreage devoted to corn for ethanol would be used to grow feed corn.
The market would adjust in short order.
A gallon of milk at Kroger in the Houston area has been $1.99 - $2.49 for at least the last three months.
I think that the gov. did make a lot of cheese many years ago. There were no food stamps but people could go to Catholic Welfare and be given big blocks of cheese.
Glad you made me remember that. The idea is good.
Milk in Salt Lake City is around $2 a gallon. I can get a gallon of fat free for about $1.75, and that’s not a sale price.
We are relatively at the mercy of a couple of grocery chains here; and perhaps it does cost more to get milk here ...
but I am not believing it should cost what it does cost.
At this rate all our food will cost too much to eat well.
WOW! There was previously a cheaper milk that came in from dairy in New Mexico . That was supposedly produced and bottled under less restrictive state requirements.
It is no longer available for some time now.
Personally I think the farmers and nation would be better off if the farmers would just slaughter the extra cows than to follow the brilliance of Jimmy Carter...
Do we really need milk.
and contains lactaise, which prevents lactose-intolerance
It’s too wet in most places to get a good crop of corn this year too. That will make the cost of milk and dairy skyrocket. Especially if 10% of the gasoline has corn in it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.