There has been a significant uptick in dairy consumption at home, but that has been offset by the downturn in foodservice business. There are reports of milk being dumped and trucks being turned away at the dairy plants. From February 11th to April 1, National Milk Producers Federation Chief Economist Peter Vitaliano estimates U.S. dairy farmers lost $6 billion of gross total income. Vitaliano sees long-term implications for the dairy sector. “We’ve already seen over the last two years, the number of commercial dairy farms dropping at a faster rate than has been the case in the last decade-and-a-half, said Vitaliano. “Unfortunately, I expect that is going to continue and further consolidate production at the farm level.” Since there is a lag in what happens with the markets, dairy farmers won’t see the full impact in their milk check until May or June.
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