Posted on 04/13/2010 12:28:27 AM PDT by nickcarraway
The number of California dairies has plummeted by more than 500 in the past decade as farmers move to states promising lower costs and simpler regulations.
Some are willing to leave California because high land costs often mean they can't grow their own grain. Others complain California has more agricultural regulations than many states.
States courting California dairies include Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, Texas and Wyoming.
Mike Meissen recruits businesses to Iowa. He says each dairy cow he lures brings about $15,000 per year to the local economy.
Jay Van Rein of the California Department of Food and Agriculture notes the state remains the biggest milk producer and says some herds have just merged as the industry consolidates.
California’s moronic regulation is economic poison and it is continuing to spread.
So sad at what’s become of our Golden State.
Misery, loss, and death due to “do-gooders.”
Sadly, it all started because people brought it to California from other states.
Well, the “growing their own grain” reason isn’t it.
The regulations concerning dust, air quality, water quality, etc are killing them. A single discharge during a winter flood event can cost them on the order of $50K.
Then there’s the cost of transporting feed into California. As long as the central valley had water, they had rough feed and perhaps during the late summer, they had to import high-test alfalfa from other states (NV, ID, OR specifically).
Now, with the water issues really coming to a head, they’re having to pull in more and more feed from out of state, and the cost of trucking it all in will likely kill them.
The first state where the big Dutch dairies will go is Idaho, especially around Gooding and Twin Falls. I don’t think Nevada will get many of them, simply because there is no existing Dutch dairy population there. The #1 thing the big Dutchmen are looking for is a community with their church. No church, no dairies nearby, believe it or not.
After that, it is possible to see some of them go into Oregon, but OR is getting pretty anti-ag as well. I’d bet on the Dakotas before we see a big migration into Oregon.
As a Hollander, that doesn't surprise me in the least.
So well said.
A few more years of this and this once magnificent state will be an economic wasteland. We’re on the verge of third-world status right now.
MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
What about the old fashioned approach of opening churches wherever they go?
Could happen that way - But there are strong Dutch communities in prime cattle country (Bozeman/Belgrade/Manhattan, MT, | Graingeville, (among others), ID). Unlimited water, lots of local farmers (grain, feed), BLM or Injun land to lease cheaper than snot.
Why re-invent the wheel? Besides, it's nice to be in a community that knows how to spell your name...
But, but... don’t cow farts contribute to global warming?
Places like North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, can all use a little help warming things in the winter, anyway.
I have. “Third world” covers a wide gamut of situations. “Third world” doesn’t always mean starvation in the streets, not by a long shot.
Idiots! California’s stupidity has been Idaho’s gain. Lots of big milking barns in southern Idaho.
Yep...some of the big barns in the Jerome area are in a perfect location...large acreage, high-quality alfalfa farms across the highway from the dairy. It used to amaze me how much dairy-quality alfalfa was shipped from the Eureka, Nevada area to Calif. central valley dairies.
Well, a bunch of that hay used to be our hay.
You ought visit some of the “diverse” communities in the LA or SF area, or some of the towns along the Mexican border.
I’ve seen third world, and I’ve seen places like Inglewood, CA, or south-central LA. I used to work in East Palo Alto, at the west end of the Dumbarton Bridge (US-84).
I’d take living in the third world. It’s often safer. And the communities on the border with Mexico - they’re actual third-world communities, with contaminated water sources and third world sewage disposal - often flowing northwards from their “sister” cities on the south side of the border.
Move further into Mexico, away from the border, (supposedly “deeper into the third world”) and things actually improve - often significantly.
And they are coming to Iowa for less regulation? Cali must be even more messed up than I thought.
Sadly, it all started because people brought it to California from other states.
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