Are Factory
Dairy Farms Good Business?
Get the
Rest of the Story
(Highlights
of January 6 workshop in Sioux Falls)
William Weida,
Ph.D., Charlie Johnson, Bob
Mack, Bill Du Bois, Ph.D.
The only
way large feedlot dairies are economically feasible is if they
can transfer
costs and risks on to taxpayers. If
they had to assume
these risks
and expenses themselves, they would not be profitable.
Ten 250 head
dairies make more sense than one 2,500 head dairy.
Factory Style Feedlot Dairy farms
are not good business.
- Dairy
insiders say 50% to 80% of the large feedlot dairy farms will go
broke at least once. When
they fail, they take down many satellite businesses with them.
- For
the large feedlot dairies to be profitable, they often have to fail
twice. Then outsiders can buy them up for
pennies on the dollar.
- The
advantages of large dairies cut off at 300 or at least 1,000 head. From there on, the costs of managing
the manure dwarfs gains.
- Myths
aside, research shows many small and medium sized operations are
often more economically successful.
- The
dairy farmers being recruited had 50 cow dairies back in England
or the Netherlands. They
have no experience managing large dairies or managing people.
Driving Farmers Off the Land
- We
should be asking, what can we do to help small and medium sized farmers. Instead,
we are driving them out of business.
- Producers
are told by state officials that they should expand or go out of
business. Obviously,
farmers are listening. Since the state initiative to promote the
large dairies and suggest big is better, we are losing dairy cows
at twice the rate as before.
- In
that time, we have lost dairy cows at twice the rate as before and
are down from 102,000 cows to 79,000. More
than 600 farm families have been driven off the land by policies
endorsed by our state government .
- Lured
by promises of big feedlot farms by state officials, South Dakota
milk processors are now refusing to pick up milk from some successful
50 to 150 head dairy farms right in their own backyards.
- In
addition, even when farmers pool and deliver their own milk, the
dairies refuse to pay them the same price as large farms -- even
if it arrives in the same volume.
What Economic Development?
- WeÕre
told the factory dairy farms will buy grain locally. They will if you have the lowest
price. In reality, the
grain is already contracted so it wonÕt influence local market prices. If it did, it would raise the price
other farmers would have to pay.
- A
newly released Ohio study shows that over a thirty year period of
time, the local economic impact of the large dairies is only about
$6,000 a year. And that
study didn't subtract for declining property values, health care
costs and bilingual tutors for the children of immigrant workers. The same Ohio study also showed that before the factory
dairy farms came, 75% of local taxes paid by businesses went for
schools, 25% went for roads. For the feedlot dairies, 25% goes to
schools and 75% to roads.
Always the Low Price
- WeÕre
promised lower prices. ItÕs
the Wal-Mart theory of farming -- Always the Low Price. But the last thing the farmer wants
is always the low price. All
the farmer wants is a fair price.
- Any
savings are likely to be pocketed by the big agribusiness interests. Even if they actually were passed
on to consumers, do we really want to destroy family farming for
a few pennies off a gallon of milk?
Taxpayers and Neighbors Pick Up
the Bill
- Almost all studies
show the property values of neighbors decline dramatically.
- Liquid
manure lagoons leak. There are better options than this outmoded
technology.
- If
the risks to our water supplies are truly as harmless as they say,
then it shouldnÕt be prohibitively expensive for feedlots to have
adequate insurance to cover potential environmental accidents. Taxpayers should not have to assume
the risks.
Let the People Vote
- Issues of Quality of Life should be put to the will of the
voters. It is not just
a small group of people who oppose these CAFOS. Most of the opposition to large feedlots comes from other
farmers who donÕt want their rural farm neighborhoods ruined.
For
more information, contact
605-692-1024
or 372-4899
info@I-29ers.com
editor@ruraldemocracy.com |