Perhaps the story is apocryphal, but Joe Bixler talks about a Michigan dairy farmer who, when the cooperative wouldn’t take his milk for the third time, opened the valve to his holding tank and killed himself.
Bixler, who is District 10 Michigan State University Extension director, said milk and dairy prices have trended downward since about 2014 — and that’s causing stress on the farm.
“On the retail end, you’ve seen prices as low as 75 cents a gallon at Aldi’s and $1.09 at Kroger,” Bixler said. “It costs on average $1.75 to produce it on the farm.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out someone is losing money, and it’s the farmer.”
I drink two large glasses of milk every day. That’s all the help I can offer.
Suicide data by occupation groups are not this discrete. It does not isolate farmers, much less type of farm.
If they looked into converting their herds to A2A2 status, they would get a premium price for their milk. And if they bought some stock it would fund their conversion.
To me it is personal. I live in the middle of the California Central Valley and, given a choice, my family and I would rather trust generations old dairy families than a corporate juggernaut. In spite of the fact milk prices increased around 100% in the last 4-5 years or so. Perhaps agribusiness is already here?
As a now senior citizen I learned I was lactose intolerant, but lactose-free dairy products have allowed me to remain a cradle to grave milk drinker. I hope the East Coast and the midwest dairy consuming families feel the same way about generations old dairy families.