Via the Des Moines Register.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/s...ure-dairyland-crisis-agribusiness/2941496002/
Guess it's only a matter of time before people wonder why Wisconsinites wear cheeseheads.
Wisconsin lost almost 700 dairy farms in 2018, an unprecedented rate of nearly two a day. Most were small operations unable to survive farm milk prices that, adjusted for inflation, were among the lowest in a half-century.
As of Feb. 1, Wisconsin had 8,046 dairy herds, down 40 percent from 10 years earlier, according to state Department of Agriculture data.
Much of Wisconsin's $88 billion farm economy hangs in the balance. Hundreds of towns across the state depend on the money that dairy farmers spend at equipment dealerships, feed mills, hardware stores, cafes and scores of other businesses.
But in late 2014, farm milk prices started to plummet. The downturn, fueled by overproduction and failing export markets, has lasted more than four years and has wiped out dairy farms from Maine to California.
In 2012, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker announced an incentive program to produce, as a state, 30 billion pounds of milk a year by 2020 — a 15 percent increase. The state offered farmers grants for business planning, facility engineering and animal nutrition. The program, "Grow Wisconsin Dairy 30x20," required them to put up their own money as well.
Despite record production every year since 2002, Walker urged farmers to step it up even more. "The reality," he said, "is the growth is not fast enough for the opportunities that are here before us."
At the same time, foreign markets for American dairy products have shrunk in response to tariffs that President Donald Trump placed on foreign steel and aluminum. Cheese shipments to China have fallen almost 65 percent, according to industry figures, and exports to Mexico are down more than 10 percent.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/s...ure-dairyland-crisis-agribusiness/2941496002/
Guess it's only a matter of time before people wonder why Wisconsinites wear cheeseheads.