Desperate Dairy Farmers

From the SunGazette

These are suicidal times for America’s dairy farmers because the milk they produce is costing them more than they are being paid for it.

The National Family Farm Coalition hosted a media teleconference Thursday during which dairy farmers from across the country, including Pennsylvania, underscored the depressing, financial realities faced by family-run dairy farms.

Arden Tewksbury of Meshoppen, Wyoming County, said it costs Pennsylvania’s dairy farmers about $2 to produce a gallon of milk, but in 2009 they were paid only about $1.12 for that gallon and this year are getting a slightly higher but still scant $1.32.

Farmers are working longer hours – often seven days a week – to keep their farms and feed their families, he said, and many still are not making what they need to survive.

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