Farm Bankruptcies Hit 8-Year High

[Farmer-Rick]

18. I sure hope the hobby farmer is making a dent

Not just very small hobby farms but real organic smaller farms like Eliot Coleman and others.

But I really feel sorry for the farmers who got huge loans to build weird half sized chicken barns then can barely make the loan payments or any profits. Tyson makes this elaborate pitch, making farmers think they will be rich. It's just sad.

Something most people don't notice or talk about is the
dairy subsidies that were gradually phased out starting in the late 1990s. The federal phase out also included states phasing out price supports and grants to dairy farmers. This is why the small dairy farmers are dropping out. The subsidies were put into place by FDR to stabilize prices and support small farmers. The filthy rich ensured the small dairy farm subsidies got wiped out when "free" trade agreements made the subsidies illegal in order to allow competition from corporations and foreign suppliers.

Yes, some people are not drinking or drinking less milk. But overall quantities of purchased milk has not dropped just the percentage of Americans who drink milk has dropped. This small decrease can also be attributed to declining quality of milk. Grocery store milk is bland and boring. Not like the rich sweet milk fresh from the dairy.