WHY AMERICAN FARMERS DUMPING MILK?
After years of low prices and trade disputes, 2020 was finally supposed to be a better one for U.S. dairy farmers. But now it could be what drives many of them out of business for good. Many hope some government relief will keep them afloat as they dump countless gallons of milk they would have sold to restaurants and schools now shuttered by the coronavirus pandemic . The last several weeks have proven an unexpectedly challenging time for the entire agricultural sector, as the country’s food service supply chain struggles to adjust to life in an unforeseen and unprecedented situation. But dairy farmers have to figure out what to do with their extremely perishable product when about 50% of the industry’s demand from restaurants, school cafeterias, and other food service is cut off. Things were already not easy for dairy farmers going into 2020. The dairy industry was just coming off five years of low prices on milk brought on by stiff global competition. Dairy farmers have ...