Last week World Dairy Diary (which is fast becoming the go-to place for breaking news on the dairy industry) posted a great video about dairy farming put out by people who know the real story about dairying. This week they have a post about the billboards which are being placed here to tell the truth about our business.
And it is the truth. Despite the absurd price situation they are facing right now, farmers across the state and the nation are doing anything thing they can to stay on the land and keep their animals. Some simply can't, but quitting is a tremendous, life-altering heartbreak. I thank the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition for the campaign and WWD for keeping me informed about it. See both the billboards and the video at the NYAAC site.
BTW, Senator Charles Schumer, accompanied by Kirsten Gillibrand and a number of other senators, followed through on a promise made to farmers at a local meeting, which Liz and I attended a short time ago. If you read my post about that meeting you will see a little John Deere back pack, which accompanied the cutest farm boy you could imagine. His mom, with whom my kids did dairy judging and dairy quiz bowl over the years, asked the senator to find a way to provide foreclosure protection for farmers akin to that being offered to homeowners.
Schumer said he would look into it.
Apparently he did so and I thank him for it. Farms are falling like dominoes around here and believe me, Northview is far from immune to what is happening. It costs roughly $16 to make 100 pounds of milk (around 11 gallons). We are getting paid around $9. I don't care how many cows you own, that is a losing proposition. We love our cows and our land. We want to keep doing what we do. I hope we can.
***(Liz talked to a kid in Texas yesterday about dairy farming down there. He told her there isn't a cow left for miles around, due partly to the price situation and partly to drought. Empty buildings and pastures everywhere. Beef farmers aren't in a much better situation there either. This is a crisis. Growing food is not something you just walk out and do. There is a tremendous amount of knowledge involved in care of the land and the creatures. America's farmers are aging fast. If they can't make a living and pay their mortgages and raise their families they are going to quit. The Soviet Union is still importing huge quantities of food because they killed their farmers and put people who didn't know how on the land. Zimbabwe is suffering a crisis of staggering proportions because they killed or displaced their farmers and put people who didn't know how in their place. I hope this nation learns from their experience. Before it is too late....which may be sooner than expected.)
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9 comments:
Hang in there, one day they will discover that milk, butter and cheese come from animals and hard work - not the Safeway or Kroger display cabinets. I am so glad I read you and am reminded.
Growing up in rural Appalachia, farms were the norm. Now when I go to visit, it's empty fields and empty homesteads. Very scary and very sad.
Very sobering post... As a mom that purchases anywhere from 3-4 gallons of milk a week, thanks... I know what it is like to ride out the low prices, and I hope you can do so and that things turn around faster than predicted...
Nicely put. It seems that people will be milking their own domestic animals and cooking up some interesting meat forms before they realize they really had it good before things started to fall apart.
It does at times feel we are all fighting a losing battle. Your thoughts are well said.
Things can turn around for the farmers as quickly as they turned in a bad direction. This is what I tell myself at night when I can't sleep.
Don't get the Bossman started on this one. He's sure we'll be required to pass some sort of government "test" to even stay here in the not to distant future and be replaced by the "educated".
Good post. It is indeed a scary time. We are one of the few (7) dairy farms in the county and I resent the attitude we get from most folks that we are doing a job that any "idiot" could do, plus "why would you work so hard for so little $$?". I get very vocal but usually only in my own house. I should get on the corner of the dairy aisle & preach; not that it would do any good.
Who will make our milk in the future; only milk factories? Our state, many others, only see "big as better". I don't agree and feel the small dairyman should be treasured for his efforts.
EArl, thank you. We are hanging on with all we have
Dani, it is sad indeed
WW, thank you for being a customer and for your kind words
Steve, my late mother-in-law always said the same thing and I think she had it right. Thanks
Sara, you have to play a game inside your head, I can do this, I can do this...I do it all the time.
Linda, it is scary just how right he may be. What else can you call the audits they want to do on every farm? I call 'em nuts
Linda2, so true. We count down the farms that used to line this road and keep this town bustling. Probably 80% of the ones the boss remembers from his youth are gone and more are going.
Well stated, 3C, and your comments about governments taking over farming make me wonder. Is that, perhaps, the purpose of all this? Is it a deliberate attempt to socialize our economy?
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