In this photo taken Sept. 14, 2012, cows at the the Atsma-Cameron Dairy in take a break from feeding in Hanford, Calif. Across California, the nation’s largest dairy state, dozens of dairy operators have filed for bankruptcy or sold their herds because of high feed costs and milk prices that are lower than in other states. (AP Photo/Gosia Wozniacka)
Across California, the nation’s largest dairy state, dozens of dairy operators large and small have filed for bankruptcy in recent months and many teeter on the edge of insolvency. Others have sold their herds or sent them to slaughter and given up on the business.
Experts say California dairymen face a double whammy: exorbitant feed costs and lower milk prices. The Midwest drought has led to corn and soybean costs increasing by more than 50 percent this summer, stressing dairymen from Wisconsin and Minnesota to Missouri. But in California, milk prices have also lagged behind those in the rest of the nation, exacerbating the crisis.
And while milk revenues in California have soared to over $7.5 billion in 2011, making milk the top agricultural commodity, higher revenues mean little, famers say, because it costs so much more to produce the milk.
“I don’t think there’s a milk producer in the state who is profitable right now,” said Michael Marsh, CEO of Western United Dairymen.
