Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

America’s Dairy Farmers Dump 43 Million Gallons of Excess Milk (WSJ Oct. 12, 2016 10:59 a.m. ET)
WSJ ^ | 10/12/16 | K Gee

Posted on 10/12/2016 12:33:01 PM PDT by Early2Rise

Farmers in the U.S. are pouring out tens of millions of gallons of excess milk, amid a massive glut that has slashed prices and has filled warehouses with cheese.

More than 43 million gallons’ worth of milk were dumped in fields, manure lagoons or animal feed, or have been lost on truck routes or discarded at plants in the first eight months of 2016, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That is enough milk to fill 66 Olympic swimming pools, and the most wasted in at least 16 years of data requested by The Wall Street Journal. .......... American farmers are in the process of harvesting record-large corn and soybean crops, and meatpackers are now producing the most ever meat and poultry. As a result, food prices in the U.S. have plummeted and farm incomes this year are headed for their third consecutive drop. ................

On Tuesday, the USDA pledged to buy about $20 million of cheddar cheese to help struggling dairy farmers, the second time it has intervened in the market in less than three months.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: agriculture; agrisubsidies; centralplanning; dairy; marketintervention; milk; pricefixing; usda
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061 next last
To: HiTech RedNeck

Some shedds have a collection pit under them where the manure is then pumped into a storage tank. So, the grates gave way and the animals fell in and broke legs, etc. No way in hell can you get them out.

I am AGAINST these big corporate farms. I have also seen them go to their rearing farms where they raise the hiefers and while cleaning out the yards they dig up dead heifers. Never had a clue becuase aome of them dont clean these yards up in the winter since the manure will freeze as soon as it hits the ground.

I worked for an implement dealer for a years and used to go on service calls to these places and saw it first hand.

BTW..they can howl all they want because a year ago-and still to this day, they were getting BIG MONEY for their bull calves. The beef industry were crying for feeders since they got rid of a lot of their herds from the drought a couple years ago. Many of the small dairy farmers were breeding their cows to throw beef calves for a season. They made money.


41 posted on 10/12/2016 1:42:51 PM PDT by crz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: HotKat

My dad used to say that.


42 posted on 10/12/2016 1:46:26 PM PDT by chasio649 (Donald Trump is not the president we need, he is the president SJWs deserve)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: jjotto

Indeed. So many complain that prices are unstable without intervention, then blame artificial shortages and surpluses on the free market. Remind you all of another price that’s currently much lower than it should be?

Notice how in the agweb article they quote a “part-time USDA economist”


43 posted on 10/12/2016 2:00:06 PM PDT by Early2Rise
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Early2Rise
That is enough milk to fill 66 Olympic swimming pools

Are those the algae-filled Brazilian swimming pools or the regular type?

44 posted on 10/12/2016 2:03:53 PM PDT by OrangeHoof ("If you cain't run yo own house, you cain't run da White House. Cain't do it." - Michelle Obama)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Early2Rise

Why not make cheese instead of dumping it?


45 posted on 10/12/2016 2:07:00 PM PDT by jonrick46 (The Left has a mental disorder: A totalitarian mindset..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Early2Rise
Obviously many farmers, big and small, real farmers and professionals quick to cash in on a good thing have benefited from these programs. They would loudly protest the end of these benefits, but everyone else would reap both lower taxes and lower food bills. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSdZXYk3zKI The 11 min segment (of a half hour program available free on youtube) describes the special-interest driven waste in America and Europe, where they've had a mountain of butter and who knows what else these days.
46 posted on 10/12/2016 2:17:11 PM PDT by Early2Rise
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: jonrick46
Why not make cheese instead of dumping it? They do, but there's a limit
47 posted on 10/12/2016 2:28:30 PM PDT by Early2Rise
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: Buckeye McFrog

Well said.


48 posted on 10/12/2016 2:42:17 PM PDT by Bigg Red (Go away, Satan! -- Fr.Jacques Hamel (R.I.P., martyr))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: jjotto

Anyone seen lower prices in the grocery store? I haven’t.


49 posted on 10/12/2016 3:09:56 PM PDT by bgill (From the CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: jonrick46

How about supplementing those sparse Moo school lunches allowing kids to get two milks instead of one and maybe a couple ounces of cheese? Of course, can’t have ice cream because that’d be too much fun.

Make it into powdered milk and it’ll last for years.

Send it to Venezuela or Haiti or Ethiopia, etc.

Lower the grocery store prices and customers will buy more.

Boost the supplies sent to the military.

There’s a hundred ways to use it without dumping it.


50 posted on 10/12/2016 3:21:10 PM PDT by bgill (From the CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: jonrick46

How about supplementing those sparse Moo school lunches allowing kids to get two milks instead of one and maybe a couple ounces of cheese? Of course, can’t have ice cream because that’d be too much fun.

Make it into powdered milk and it’ll last for years.

Send it to Venezuela or Haiti or Ethiopia, etc.

Lower the grocery store prices and customers will buy more.

Boost the supplies sent to the military.

There’s a hundred ways to use it without dumping it.


51 posted on 10/12/2016 3:21:11 PM PDT by bgill (From the CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: Early2Rise

No, there isn’t a limit.


52 posted on 10/12/2016 3:22:04 PM PDT by bgill (From the CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: jjotto
Wood said he’s currently selling milk for less than it costs him to produce it — around $20 per hundred pounds...

Profit is the entrepreneurs' reward for figuring out how to make something for less than customers are willing to pay for it.

If they can't do that, it's a sign they should bail out of the business. I'm nostalgic about the family farm, but I'm not willing to subsidise them.

53 posted on 10/12/2016 5:44:29 PM PDT by BfloGuy ( Even the opponents of Socialism are dominated by socialist ideas.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: bgill

Converting to cheese adds another layer of costs, these farmers are already refusing to sell basic milk because of low market demand. In a free market they’d take any price above zero to defray overhead, but with “other people’s money” dumping is the easiest option.


54 posted on 10/12/2016 7:30:28 PM PDT by Early2Rise
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: bgill
"There’s a hundred ways to use it without dumping it."

Obama's World Thanksgiving.


55 posted on 10/12/2016 7:31:08 PM PDT by clearcarbon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Early2Rise

You may be too young to know this but when I was a kid, the government bought up milk and made butter and cheese for the low income crowd. Also, peanut butter and honey. If there was an excess, which there usually was, anyone could come by the office and get some. That was the best cheese ever.

The schools got tons of peanut butter so we had some sort of peanut butter on our lunch trays every day (no one died of peanut allergies). The lunch ladies would make big pb cookies, put pb and honey in a little Dixie cups for apple slices. Honey in Dixie cups for their heavenly yeast rolls. Or just a blob of pb on the tray.

If it was done then, it can be done again.

Farmers get government subsidies for everything under the sun.


56 posted on 10/12/2016 7:48:04 PM PDT by bgill (From the CDC site, "We don't know how people are infected with Ebola")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: bgill

It won’t be easy getting the EBT crowd off of lobster and steak. They’re not going to like the pb&j sandwiches.


57 posted on 10/12/2016 7:49:53 PM PDT by ladyjane
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: Early2Rise

43 million gallons? Someone has to be crying.


58 posted on 10/12/2016 8:02:28 PM PDT by Rebelbase (Bill and Hillary for ADX Supermax!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bgill
Farmers get government subsidies for everything under the sun.

Indeed. I hope more people watch that Milton Friedman video (it's from a 3 part 80s series called Tyranny of the Status Quo) where he discusses agriculture subsidies.

When the price of anything falls low enough (in a free market), people find new uses for it and the market expands. Yaron Brook points this out during his great lecture at The Citadel, also on youtube. If you don't have 2 hours to spend just start at 1:19:25 for a few minutes and you might be convinced to watch the whole video.
59 posted on 10/12/2016 8:20:01 PM PDT by Early2Rise
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: Early2Rise

Placemarker


60 posted on 10/12/2016 8:32:37 PM PDT by kalee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson