Many businesses have been challenged throughout the pandemic, Wisconsin’s dairy industry is no exception experiencing some big gains and losses along the way.
“Dairy contributes $45.6 billion every year to the state’s economy,” said Patrick Goeghegan, Vice President of Industry with the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin.
So, chances are when you have a glass of milk, it comes from Wisconsin, which has helped the dairy industry to remain robust during the pandemic.
UW Agricultural & Applied Economics Department reported Wisconsin’s milk sales increased throughout the pandemic.
In 2019 milk sales generated $5 billion in revenue; in 2020 $5.8 billion, and in 2021 $6 billion.
The Dairy Farmers of America attributes part of the dairy industry’s strong performance during the height of the pandemic to people being tethered to their homes.
“What we saw at the beginning of the COVID was a really strong economy for the dairy industry, there was strong demand, especially on the retail side as people began to work from home. So we saw very strong gains in cheese in fluid milk, they were very strong as well. So that is, that has been really a positive thing that that demand for dairy has continued through COVID,” said Goeghegan.
“We actually sold more milk than we ever have before,” said UW Dairy expert Mark Stephenson.
He also said the number of dairy farms has declined but they’re being absorbed into larger farms and that has kept the industry profitable.
“Our milk sales were up even though farm numbers were down. And as a result, the total revenue in first milk sales was up a little bit of this last year as well,” said Stephenson.
“$104.8 billion that’s generated by agriculture. The dairy industry is about half of that,” said Randy Romanski, Secretary-designee of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP).
While the dairy industry is thriving for dairy farmers the past few years have been challenging.
“Since the pandemic hit business has been rough,” said Joe Statz.
Longtime dairy farmer, Joe Statz of Statz Brothers Farm said soaring costs to maintain his dairy farm have made money matters worse.
“You got to pay $5 for gas and more for that for fuel and, and when you got to buy fertilizer that has tripled in price, and your seed has doubled in price,” said Statz.
He also said because of labor shortages some dairy farmers are being asked to dump milk again.
“They cannot find help to bottle on weekends and holidays and so they just shut them down and sometimes we have to dump milk on weekends and stuff, because nobody wants it,” said Statz.
Plants are being shut down and milk has to travel further leaving dairy aisles empty at times.
“Our milk, instead of going two hours away, has to maybe go four or five hours away. These poor drivers, you know, make it two loads a day, they can only get one,” said Statz.
Despite all the challenges, Statz said he’s proud to be dairy strong in America’s dairyland.
“I think Wisconsin is one of the nicest states around to be farming in. I’m glad Statz Brothers Farm is here,” said Statz.
Source: wkow.com
