WGBA -Dairy Farmers Losing Money
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Dairy farmers in Northeast Wisconsin are feeling the pain at the pump...the milk pump that is.
Mark Petersen, a third generation farmer from Grand Chute, tells NBC 26 that prices for his milk have plummeted on the market, and he's really feeling the pinch. Petersen says he's only getting around ten dollars per hundred pounds of milk produced right now. He was getting 20 dollars per hundred pounds not too long ago. And his operational costs exceed his revenue. Not good, of course.
The problem, some feel, is there is too much milk production taking place right now. State Senator Alan Lasee (R) believes something needs to be done to restrain milk production. If not, he worries some dairy farmers could go out of business. Just how to put caps on milk production is another story that has no easy answer, as farmers tend to be an independent lot. And it's not like the oil business, where production can just be cut in a hurry. Milk, in other words, has a shelf life, and you can't just sit on it.
Petersen, who has 55 cows, says he's losing money. But he'll be ok for now because he's saved for a rainy day, and the rainy day has arrived.
Meanwhile consumers have seen milk prices at the store come down, but it's not proportionate to what farmers are losing.
