Squeezed Out: Small Dairy Farmers in Crisis

11/16/21 • 39 min

2 Listeners

There’s a crisis in the dairy industry – shrinking family farms, growing corporate consolidation, and low milk prices. And while the new “fair trade dairy” label depicts rolling green hills and picturesque red barns – that imagery is nothing more than a feel good marketing tactic.

In this episode, we hear how Jim Goodman – one of the hundreds of dairy farmers impacted by the dairy crisis – struggled to keep his family farm afloat and compete with the big dairy companies. Jim talks about how generations of failed farm policy motivated his current work with the National Family Farm Coalition’s Disparity to Parity project, an effort dedicated to mandating fair pricing and building “a racially just, economically empowered, and climate resilient food system.”

Topics covered include:

Corporate consolidation in the dairy industry and the explosion of mega dairies that are squeezing small dairy farmers out of business.
The “get big or get out” approach to U.S. farm policy and how it shaped the current state of the dairy industry in the U.S.
Organic dairy was originally a solution to match farmers with markets that would pay fairly for milk--what’s changed since the 1990s.
Family Farm Defenders’ idea of domestic fair trade encompassing “worker rights, food sovereignty, and global justice.”
Behind the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)’s big promises for dairy farmers.
National Family Farm Coalition’s Disparity to Parity project and their vision for fair pricing and “a racially just, economically empowered, and climate resilient food system.”
The long history of global opposition to free trade deals and the commodification of food.
How the new “fair trade dairy” label is just another marketing scheme.

Resources

National Family Farm Coalition: https://nffc.net/

Disparity to Parity: https://disparitytoparity.org/

Family Farm Defenders: https://familyfarmers.org/

Bringing Fair Trade Home to the U.S., written by John Peck: https://familyfarmers.org/?page_id=653

Topics covered include:

Corporate consolidation in the dairy industry and the explosion of mega dairies that are squeezing small dairy farmers out of business.
The “get big or get out” approach to U.S. farm policy and how it shaped the current state of the dairy industry in the U.S.
Organic dairy was originally a solution to match farmers with markets that would pay fairly for milk--what’s changed since the 1990s.
Family Farm Defenders’ idea of domestic fair trade encompassing “worker rights, food sovereignty, and global justice.”
Behind the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)’s big promises for dairy farmers.
National Family Farm Coalition’s Disparity to Parity project and their vision for fair pricing and “a racially just, economically empowered, and climate resilient food system.”
The long history of global opposition to free trade deals and the commodification of food.
How the new “fair trade dairy” label is just another marketing scheme.

Resources

National Family Farm Coalition: https://nffc.net/

Disparity to Parity: https://disparitytoparity.org/

Family Farm Defenders: https://familyfarmers.org/

Bringing Fair Trade Home to the U.S., written by John Peck: https://familyfarmers.org/?page_id=653

Previous Episode

Milk with Dignity: Real Change Takes Time

The products you see at the grocery store with labels that promise to protect people and the planet don’t tell the full story. And oftentimes those labels are full of empty promises. But what if there was another way to ensure products are sourced from farms that put workers’ rights ahead of marketing?

The Vermont-based and worker-led organization Migrant Justice is doing just that. They call their Milk with Dignity program a “new day for human rights in dairy,” and in this episode we talk with organizer Marita Canedo.

Topics covered include:

How the struggle for human rights and against corporate exploitation spans the globe.
How Migrant Justice was formed and grew to focus on fundamental rights and protections, including freedom of movement, dignified work and safe housing, and freedom from discrimination.
Migrant Justice’s successful campaign for driver’s licenses for all people in Vermont, regardless of their immigration status.
What Worker-driven Social Responsibility means and what it looks like for workers to lead in developing standards for enforceable human rights protections on dairy farms.
How programs like Milk with Dignity tackle the root causes of exploitation in the food system by addressing the power dynamics.
How the Milk with Dignity program protected essential workers throughout the pandemic.
How Milk with Dignity compares to the “Fair Trade Dairy” discussed in Episode 2.
Migrant Justice’s current campaign calling on Hannafords to join the Milk with Dignity program.

Resources:

Learn more about Migrant Justice: https://migrantjustice.net/ and see their impact reporting here.

On November 8th after a 3 week “Dignity Tour” around Northeast states, Migrant Justice is hosting a big action at Hannaford headquarters to call on them to join the Milk with Dignity program. Join them to show them that farmworkers are not alone, and that there is a national movement for dignity and economic justice in the dairy supply chains. For more information, go to their website, or https://www.facebook.com/events/441419114257654.

Outside the Northeastern U.S., you can still take action: Call on Hannafords to join Milk with Dignity online: https://migrantjustice.net/Hannaford-action-toolkit.

Fair World Project’s report, Label Before Labor compares Milk with Dignity to Fair Trade USA’s “Fair Trade Dairy” label: fairworld.info/labelbeforelabor.

Next Episode

Get Big or Get Out: Dairy Farmers of America

Dairy is big business. And while the workers and small-scale dairy farmers are getting squeezed out, those at the top are reaping the benefits and getting even richer. Farmers originally organized cooperatives to build power and market share. But one of those cooperatives, Dairy Farmers of America, has gotten so big and powerful, there are questions about whose interests they are serving.

In this episode, we unpack the growing corporate consolidation in the dairy industry and rise of farmer cooperative Dairy Farmers of America. Claire Kelloway of Open Markets Institute breaks down what the push to“get big or get out” means for farmers, workers, and consumers--and some ways to challenge that growing corporate power.

Topics covered include:

Bad cafeteria food is a norm that’s hard to escape – and that’s because the system is rigged that way.
How the dairy industry is changing with more cows packed onto fewer farms, and driving a crisis of low prices and overproduction.
The role of farmer cooperatives in supporting farmers’ livelihoods - and how those structures can go wrong.
The rise of Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) – and why this powerful mega-cooperative has been sued by the very farmers who own it.
How Fair Trade USA’s “fair trade dairy” label is putting its seal of approval on some of the root causes of “Unfair Dairy.”
The era of the “Robber Barons” and what that has in common with today’s industrial food system.
Anti-trust law, and how it can be a powerful tool to support building a fair food system for farmers, workers, and all of us who eat.

Do you work on a farm participating in the “Fair Trade Dairy” program? We want to hear your perspective. Send a message to [email protected] or call (800) 631-9980.

Resources

Claire Kelloway’s reporting on cafeteria contractors and how that system is rigged in favor of big food companies: https://www.foodandpower.net/latest/2020/05/20/report-exposes-system-of-big-food-kickbacks-to-cafeteria-contractors-cutting-out-local-producers.

Article by Leah Douglas covering Dairy Farmers of America: https://thecounter.org/how-rural-america-got-milked/

Learn more about the potential of cooperatives as a tool for farmers to transform their livelihoods and build alternative economic structures from Andres Gonzales of Manduvira Cooperative in Season One of For a Better World: https://fairworldproject.org/podcast/season-1/episode-2/.

More of Claire Kelloway’s writing on Dairy Farmers of America: https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/09/14/milking-profits-the-dairy-monopolies-that-are-hurting-farmers/

Claire Kelloway and Open Markets Institute piece on how anti-monopoly and anti-trust rules can support worker organizing and a more democratic economy: https://lpeproject.org/blog/antimonopoly-is-about-democratizing-the-food-system-and-the-rest-of-the-economy/

Open Markets Institute report on “Redeeming the Democratic Promise of Agricultural Cooperatives” https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications/redeeming-the-democratic-promise-of-agricultural-cooperatives