Milk prices crash

Milk prices have dropped dramatically in recent days
Milk prices have dropped dramatically in recent days
Milk prices around the country have dropped dramatically in recent days with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reporting that beverage-class milk will drop to $10.72 per hundredweight - almost half the price it was a year ago.

This is good for consumers looking to save money on dairy during a rough economic period, but it's dire news for dairy farmers across the country.

Alfred Wanner, president of the Lancaster County Farm Bureau in Lancaster, Pennsylvania says the drastic price drop will send shockwaves throughout the dairy industry.

"There will be farms going out of business completely," he told the Lancaster New Era. "Several Amish farms in the eastern part of the county are selling their cows. A large herd in the southern end is selling 1,400 cows this week."

Earlier this month the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) sent a letter to the USDA asking it to take action in the current situation for millions of dairy farmers in the U.S.

In the letter, NMPF president Jerry Kozak says slowdowns in the U.S. and abroad are causing a large dairy inventory and prices are dropping below support levels.ADNFCR-2034-ID-18997499-ADNFCR