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Started By
Message
U.S. dairy farmers dump milk as pandemic upends food markets
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:00 am
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:00 am
quote:
Dairy farmer Jason Leedle felt his stomach churn when he got the call on Tuesday evening.
“We need you to start dumping your milk,” said his contact from Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), the largest U.S. dairy cooperative.
Despite strong demand for basic foods like dairy products amid the coronavirus pandemic, the milk supply chain has seen a host of disruptions that are preventing dairy farmers from getting their products to market.
Mass closures of restaurants and schools have forced a sudden shift from those wholesale food-service markets to retail grocery stores, creating logistical and packaging nightmares for plants processing milk, butter and cheese. Trucking companies that haul dairy products are scrambling to get enough drivers as some who fear the virus have stopped working. And sales to major dairy export markets have dried up as the food-service sector largely shuts down globally.
The dairy industry’s woes signal broader problems in the global food supply chain, according to farmers, agricultural economists and food distributors. The dairy business got hit harder and earlier than other agricultural commodities because the products are highly perishable - milk can’t be frozen, like meat, or stuck in a silo, like grain.
quote:
Other food sectors, however, are also seeing disruptions worldwide as travel restrictions are limiting the workforce needed to plant, harvest and distribute fruits and vegetables, and a shortage of refrigerated containers and truck drivers have slowed the shipment of staples such as meat and grains in some places.
Leedle could likely sell his milk if he could get it to market. Dairy products in grocery stores have been in high demand as consumers stay home during the pandemic, though panic buying may be slowing. Earlier this week, a local market told Leedle’s wife she could buy only two dairy products total per shopping trip as retailers nationwide ration many high-demand products.
“It’s just gut-wrenching,” said Leedle, 36, as he stood inside his barn, with cows lowing softly as the animals were giving milk that would be funneled directly into a manure pit. “All I can see is that line going down the drain.”
Leedle has dumped 4,700 gallons of milk from his 480 cows each day since Tuesday. The 7,500-member DFA told Reuters it has asked some other farmers in the cooperative to do the same but did not say how many.
Dairy cooperatives oversee milk marketing for all of their members and handle shipping logistics. Leedle said he will be paid for the milk he and other farmers are dumping, but the payments for all cooperative members will take a hit from the lost revenues.
LINK
This is just wrong on so many levels. Dumping thousands of gallons of milk. shite needs to be fixed so a basic necessity like milk is not wasted like this. Give it for free but dumping it??? Udderly ridiculous
This post was edited on 4/3/20 at 9:08 am
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:02 am to Bamboozles
quote:
Udderly ridiculous
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:02 am to Bamboozles
quote:
Udderly ridiculous
Don’t have a cow man.
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:04 am to Bamboozles
They said it's hard to moooove from wholesale distribution to retail distribution.
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:04 am to Bamboozles
Waste happens daily. This is just concentrated at the supplier end.
Can’t give it away if there are no drivers to deliver. I’m sure the homeless can show up at their door step for a drink if they want.
Can’t give it away if there are no drivers to deliver. I’m sure the homeless can show up at their door step for a drink if they want.
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:06 am to Bamboozles
shite I'd take a gallon or two of raw milk. That's some good stuff. Wheres ole Baws farm at?
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:09 am to Bamboozles
Poor farmer sounds stressed. Could use a half and half.
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:09 am to Bamboozles
quote:That ain't no bull!
This is just wrong on so many levels. Dumping thousands of gallons of milk. shite needs to be fixed so a basic necessity like milk is not wasted like this. Give it for free but dumping it??? Udderly ridiculous
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:17 am to Bamboozles
Guess they are talking about mass quantities but I freeze milk all the time.
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:18 am to Bamboozles
Seems they needd to be putting cheese plants on overtime, use it in products with a long shelf life.
Hell put it into UHT and stockpile it.
Hell put it into UHT and stockpile it.
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:19 am to Bamboozles
quote:That's a bunch of bullshite right there.
Leedle has dumped 4,700 gallons of milk from his 480 cows each day since Tuesday.
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:20 am to fastedLSU
quote:
Guess they are talking about mass quantities but I freeze milk all the time.
Barbarian
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:22 am to Bamboozles
quote:
milk can’t be frozen
bull shite- or rather cow shite! I have a couple of gallons of 2% lowfat milk in the freezer right now. Its fine.
while I feel for these farmers, I don't see how their woes are any different than anyone else's. Many professions and workers are taking it in the arse right now. And it will probably get much worse for many more.
Buck up Jason, I'm sure you will get a helping hand from the government. Most farmers do even in the good times.
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:26 am to Bamboozles
quote:how are they going to give it for free without costing themselves more money?
Give it for free
Some of you lack critical thinking.
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:27 am to DynaMike
quote:
They said it's hard to moooove from wholesale distribution to retail distribution.
I've read that this is the reason for the lack of toilet paper. Because companies that make tp for commercial use can't just switch to residential (wrong size, wrong distribution chains, wrong quality). And manufacturers of residential tp are lean because profit margin is small. People will be using 40% more tp at home, and the industry can't make that much more.
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:28 am to Bamboozles
quote:
This is just wrong on so many levels. Dumping thousands of gallons of milk. shite needs to be fixed so a basic necessity like milk is not wasted like this. Give it for free but dumping it???
this is more a result of lower demand and oversupply. He has to dump the milk cause their is no market for it. But he also has to milk the cows everyday or they will quit producing. There is nothing he can do with raw milk, so he dumps it.
quote:
a basic necessity like milk is not wasted like this.
hes not dumping the finished, end product.
do you really think the cows just naturally produce market- ready homogenized milk that goes strait to the public?
This post was edited on 4/3/20 at 8:32 am
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:36 am to cave canem
quote:
Seems they needd to be putting cheese plants on overtime, use it in products with a long shelf life.
It doesn't necessarily work this way. There is a lot of cheese that goes to the food service industry that was rejected once the restaurants closed and most of the retail cheese makers I work with are maxed out on production. I work for a retail distributor and some of my suppliers that make cheese for the food service industry are begging me to take truckloads of cheese that need a home. The cheese market has tanked to levels I've never seen before. Dairy farmers were going out of business before this hit and I suspect this will just hasten their demise. It's sad.
Posted on 4/3/20 at 8:40 am to Bamboozles
quote:
Dairy farmer Jason Leedle felt his stomach churn
quote:
churn
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