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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
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A headline for this was subscriber-only, but another search linked to the full text (not sure how long it will stay there). Reminds me of an excellent Friedman discussion from the 1980s that I watched a few years ago. Sad how nothing changes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSdZXYk3zKI

1 posted on 10/12/2016 12:33:01 PM PDT by Early2Rise
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To: Early2Rise

Add “government induced famine” to the growing list of ways in which this country resembles the USSR more with every passing day.


2 posted on 10/12/2016 12:34:10 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Early2Rise

Downsize Olympic swimming pools!


3 posted on 10/12/2016 12:36:07 PM PDT by USMCPOP (Father of LCpl. Karl Linn, KIA 1/26/2005 Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq)
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To: Early2Rise

Man, we could have had an awful lot of veal grown with that.


4 posted on 10/12/2016 12:36:10 PM PDT by major-pelham
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To: Early2Rise

Too many Americans are absolutely allergic to free markets. If we eliminated government intervention, these supply and demand problems would work themselves out, and the result would be cheaper and more abundant food.


5 posted on 10/12/2016 12:37:36 PM PDT by Gunpowder green
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To: Early2Rise

What about all those billboards about “ hungry “ people ???
My son, the doctor, said he’s never seen or heard a single report of someone in US being rushed to hospital because he/she was dying of starvation.


6 posted on 10/12/2016 12:38:38 PM PDT by nevermorelenore ( I miss Reagan !)
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To: Early2Rise

http://www.agweb.com/article/low-milk-prices-glutted-market-put-strain-on-dairy-farmers—naa-associated-press/

...An increase in milk production combined with sharply lower exports and declining sales of fresh milk have combined to depress milk prices paid to farmers from a 2014 high of about $28 per hundred pounds — about 9 gallons — to below $18 this spring.

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


7 posted on 10/12/2016 12:38:41 PM PDT by jjotto ("Ya could look it up!")
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To: Early2Rise

I was wondering about that smell in the back yard.


8 posted on 10/12/2016 12:40:46 PM PDT by \/\/ayne (I regret that I have but one subscription cancellation notice to give to my local newspaper.)
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To: jjotto
Wood said he’s currently selling milk for less than it costs him to produce it — around $20 per hundred pounds...

Then he will stop producing, as presumably he does not want to lose two dollars per hundred pounds. The supplies will diminish, prices will rise, and the problem will take care of itself.


9 posted on 10/12/2016 12:41:12 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Buckeye McFrog

The economy is doing so great that we are reverting to depression era policies.


10 posted on 10/12/2016 12:41:24 PM PDT by D Rider
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To: Early2Rise

“Dairy farmers spray milk at the European Parliament in Brussels”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/9706213/Dairy-farmers-spray-milk-at-the-European-Parliament-in-Brussels.html

...Farmers sprayed thousands of litres of fresh milk at the European Parliament in Brussels on Monday in protest at what they say are excessive milk quotas and prices below the cost of production...


11 posted on 10/12/2016 12:41:38 PM PDT by jjotto ("Ya could look it up!")
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To: Early2Rise

Morally, this is a shame.


12 posted on 10/12/2016 12:42:12 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: Early2Rise
I blame the Lactose Intolerant people for creating this mess!
13 posted on 10/12/2016 12:42:43 PM PDT by Cowboy Bob
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To: Early2Rise

SAVE


14 posted on 10/12/2016 12:43:24 PM PDT by varina davis (WHOEVER TELLS IT LIKE IT IS FOR 2016)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

I’m curious what subsidies do to the picture. If you don’t keep it up, you lose your subsidy for the next year?


15 posted on 10/12/2016 12:43:38 PM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
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To: Early2Rise

Is Obama out playing golf? I’m sure he’ll read it in the papers tomorrow!


16 posted on 10/12/2016 12:45:07 PM PDT by SIRTRIS
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To: major-pelham

Or cheeses, or alfredo, or pizza toppings.

What a waste.


17 posted on 10/12/2016 12:45:34 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Early2Rise
...and they are crying in Venezuela.
18 posted on 10/12/2016 12:46:53 PM PDT by SandRat ( (Duty - Honor - Country! What else needs said?))
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To: nevermorelenore

The very same docs are concerned about the obesity problems of the poor they see every day.


19 posted on 10/12/2016 12:47:06 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Buckeye McFrog
Then he will stop producing,

He doesn't produce milk. Cows do. And you just can't stop milking them without severe consequences. So shutting off the 'spigot' and cutting production isn't as easy as it sounds.

20 posted on 10/12/2016 12:47:59 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Don't question faith. Don't answer lies.)
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