MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin has lost nearly half of its dairy farms over the past 10 years, according to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Every year, farmers and dairy industry leaders meet at the World Dairy Expo in Madison.
On the last day of the expo Friday, leaders held a candid discussion about the future and the economy for dairy farmers.
“That’s what we see in the younger generation is they don’t want to be married to cows and have some time off,” said Dave Daniels, a part owner at Mighty Grand Dairy in Union Grove. “That does lead to some challenges. We are losing some farms for consolidation, and some that have no other heirs to come back to the farm.”
Daniels has been farming for nearly 50 years. His farm has had to turn to other sources of income over the years in order to stay afloat.
“We’ve done beef on dairy, which has helped us out in the last couple years with the prices of beef where they were at,” Daniels said. “My wife worked off the farm in insurance for a while.”
Farmers have long expressed worries over industry regulations and supply versus demand for milk, and how that affects prices.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack addressed some of those concerns during Friday’s Global Dairy Summit.
“The answer isn’t necessarily just having more safety net,” Vilsack said. “It is basically saying we got to be smarter about how we can create profit from that farm.”
He spoke about the federal push to help dairy farms generate more income through innovative waste management. That includes transforming manure into renewable natural gas and fertilizers.
“You get better and stronger prices,” Vilsack said. “When you have that combination and then you create a local, regional food system that pays that farmer 50 cents of the food dollar or 75 cents of the food dollar, instead of 20 cents, then you’ve got a chance.”
Vilsack pointed to $11.04 million in new funding the USDA is providing to farms and producers under the Dairy Business Innovation Initiatives grant program.
Daniels said he’s hopeful.
“We still have to maintain what we watch for on the expense side of things, but it’s looking good on the export side of that market,” he said. “So, we hope that it can continue in the future that way.”