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Sign the Petitions to Help Family Dairy Farms: the New Endangered Species

by Kim, June 15, 2009 at 9:03am

Whatever your views about milk products in the diet, U.S. dairy farmers are in crisis, a crisis of such magnitude that it stands to change the way milk is produced in this country. From the Ethicurean:

If things continue the way they’re going, reports Farm Aid’s Hilde Steffey, the U.S. risks losing upwards of 80% of its dairy farmers by year’s end, leaving us with just 12,000 dairy farms total. That’s 1 dairy for every 25,000 Americans.

If you're not big on milk, what about cheese or ice cream, or any of the other foods that are made with dairy? The U.S. is increasingly importing milk protein concentrates from overseas, especially from countries like China and India, which have lax safety standards compared to domestic regulations. These cheaper milk derivatives are crashing the price for dairy farmers at home, causing what the Huffington Post calls the next Great Depression for dairy farmers. Civil Eats details the history of big business taking over farming sectors, from hogs to chickens: in agriculture bigger tends to equal shrinking profits for rural communities as the family farmer becomes an endangered species.

The good news is that this is exactly the sort of thing the USDA is supposed to take care of. So whether it's because you think that fresher, healthier dairy products should be available--and affordable--in the US market, or because you care about rural economies, sign these two petitions to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, asking him to adjust dairy prices to give a fairer price to milk farmers.