Due to overstock, videos of Minnesota farmers dumping hundreds of gallons of milk have appeared online.
A milk producer is now investigating what may be done to find a solution.
“Ultimately, dairy nutrition is very much needed in this part of the country and around the world,” Justin Malone said.
Malone is a third-generation dairy farmer and one of the Hastings Creamery’s proprietors. This enterprise includes 45 dairy farms from Minnesota and Wisconsin.
However, many farmers have recently struggled to find a market for their goods.
“It’s the same situation for a lot of people, in that we just don’t have enough processing to handle the amount of milk that the dairy industry is producing right now,” Malone said.
It has resulted in milk-dumping incidents, such as at Thompson Dairy near Lewiston, Minnesota.
According to the owners, older processing factories have been unable to keep up with what farmers are producing.
However, many farmers have recently struggled to find a market for their goods.
“It’s the same situation for a lot of people, in that we just don’t have enough processing to handle the amount of milk that the dairy industry is producing right now,” Malone said.
It has resulted in milk-dumping incidents, such as at Thompson Dairy near Lewiston, Minnesota.
According to the owners, older processing factories have been unable to keep up with what farmers are producing.
For almost a century, the Hastings Creamery factory has been bottling milk. The Metropolitan Council recently notified the creamery that it was in violation of its industrial wastewater licence as it struggled to keep up with farmers.
Malone feels the problem has been handled at a critical juncture.
Due to excess, farmers are dumping thousands of litres of milk.
“It’s back to business as usual.” We are working on short-term solutions with the Met Council. We’re keeping with the long-term approach, but it’ll take at least a year and a half to completely execute,” he added.
This might imply constructing a wastewater treatment facility on-site. Malone believes that brighter days are coming for farmers.
“We’re updating equipment and trying different things to make it more efficient,” he said. “In the end, help more dairy farmers.” That is our intention.”
Every day, the Hastings Creamery processes 150,000 pounds of milk.
To attempt to balance out the oversupply concerns, several Minnesota dairy producers claimed they downsized by selling cows.
The economic effect of the dairy business in the United States is roughly $794 billion.
According to the latest Economic Impact Report from the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), the US dairy industry has grown significantly over the last two years, adding nearly 60,000 new jobs, increasing average wages by 11%, and increasing its total impact on the US economy by $41 billion.
