The best advice for dairy farmers in the United States? "Sell as fast as you can"

Many Kentucky dairy farmers who sold their milk to Dean Foods have not yet found anybody else to buy it – and like Coombs, they might soon have to sell their cows. This is only the last of more than 42,000 dairy farmers who have ceased operations since the year 2000, victims of an outdated business model, expensive farm loans and pressures. exercised by commercial agriculture

. , but only 40,219 remained at the end of 2017, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Cows produce more milk than ever, but they are grouped together in larger, more efficient farms. In 1987, half of the US dairy farms had 80 cows or less; in 2012, this figure had risen to 900 cows.

Smaller dairy farmers, an aging population, have been among the last US to resist the pressure of the agricultural industry from grow or die. can last. Hope grew up when President Donald Trump tweeted support for the dairy industry in early June at the G7 in Canada, but experts and farmers say Trump is focusing instead on trade and tariffs rather that an American industry is increasingly hostile to small businesses.

Joe Schroeder receives monthly calls from dozens of struggling farmers at Farm Aid, an organization founded by musician Willie Nelson to keep family farmers on their land. Small dairy farmers account for between one-third and one-half of these appeals, Schroeder said. Farmers, who often do the milking themselves or with family members and work 12 to 16 hours a day, tell him that electricity is cut off and that they do not have money to do their shopping. They are asking for advice on the declaration of Chapter 12 – Bankruptcy for Farmers.

"I do not see anything that would give them hope at this point," said Schroeder. "The best advice I can give these people, the dairy farmers, is to sell as quickly as possible."

The Milk Industry in Crisis

At Walmart, Kentucky buyers can buy a gallon of milk for just 78 cents, but that's a lot less than what the company has paid or even what the farmer had to produce. Stores often sell milk at a loss since it's a staple and customers can also pick up more profitable items.

On average, farmers spend $ 1.92 to produce a gallon of milk and earn $ 1.32 when they sell it to processors. This is the fourth consecutive year that farmers' milk prices have dropped below the cost of production.

"We could buy all the gallons of milk from the grocery store, bring them home in our tank, pour them into" Carilynn Coombs, Curtis' wife

Luc Sharrett / for NBC News

Low milk prices trigger a cycle in which farmers produce more milk to make sure they bring enough money to work, leading dairy products flooding the market and prices plummeting even further. However, even when the price of milk increases, the cycle does not stop: farmers continue to milk as much as possible before the price drops again. It's an endless trap of competition that makes dairy farmers fail.

Walmart's decision to build its own milk processing plant highlights another problem for farmers. In a trend that dates back to the 1970s but has intensified over the past decade, business farming is increasingly taking control of all stages of milk production, which may leave fewer small farmers to sell their milk. the Kentucky Dairy Development Council, a defense group. Companies opening milk processing plants would prefer to work with fewer large dairy farms than thousands of small ones, adds Cox.

"said Cox, letting farmers ask," What are you doing in this situation when you do not have a market for your milk? "

The question is particularly relevant for dairy farmers in the Southeast, where the industry is impregnated according to Dr. Mark Stephenson, dairy economist at the University of Wisconsin, Kentucky and the Southeast are facing a net deficit of 41 billion pounds of milk per year, which means that even though dairy farmers in these states are struggling, grocery stores are importing milk into Midwest refrigerated trucks.

Why Kentucky Dairy Farmers are part of the answer lies in the powerful dairy cooperatives, groups of farmers who work together to sell their milk.Dairy Farmers of America, the largest dairy cooperative in the country, is incited to maintain the dairy deficit in the Southeast because it gives the group members in the Midwest a market.

Fourteen Kentucky farmers have recently attempted to re John Wilson, Senior Vice President and Group Fluid Marketing Director, said the co-op recognized "Kentucky dairy farmers who have been displaced from the competition." "Membership decisions are made on a regional basis and evaluated based on a number of factors," added Wilson, "including area farms, milk. volumes, conditions of supply and demand and quality of milk.

How Does Canada Treat Differently

The struggles of American dairy farmers do not extend to their peers north of the border. The Government of Canada operates an supply management system that controls the country's milk, egg and poultry production. Canada uses the system to impose domestic production quotas and limit its imports and exports of dairy products, which keeps prices stable and guarantees farmers a stable income – although it has a greater impact on portfolios consumers.

John Kalmey, 66, a small dairy farmer in Shelbyville, Kentucky, who is on the verge of ending his family's 80th birthday in the dairy industry and who has already had enough of an income. money to repair buildings, buy new equipment and even take a vacation.

Smaller dairy farmers in the United States like Kalmey, who earn an average of just over $ 20,000 a year if they can afford to donate one, marvel at these luxuries.

"I think it's a shame we do not have the same [system] here," Kalmey said.

The disparity also caught the attention of Trump, who blamed the troubled US dairy industry at the feet of Canada at the G7 conference in Quebec City. Trump attacked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – calling him "dishonest and weak" – for the Canadian dairy tariff that keeps his farmers afloat. "Our rates are in response to its 270% off on dairy products!" Trump tweeted .

Kalmey and other dairy farmers, however, do not believe that ending dairy tariffs would be a solution. Farmers worry that Trump is more likely to provoke a trade war rather than open a new market for them – they fear losing the limited export market that the United States has left behind them. The United States currently has it, which could further lower the price of milk.

And trade is not the main source of industry difficulties: dairy exports have increased by 2% between 2016 and 2017, according to the USDA. For 2018, the USDA forecasts a 7% growth

The loss of historic farms causes economic turmoil

Gary Rock, 59, lives in Hodgenville, Kentucky, an area of ​​hills and rock fences, on a farm that was passed on by his family for 300 years. After Dean Foods has dropped his contract in the midst of Walmart's expansion, he expects it to be the last generation to milk a cow on this earth.

The last few years have not been easy. In 2012, Rock rebuilt his farm after being hit by a tornado that destroyed all the buildings except the one where he treats his cows. The following year, he lost his legs in a tractor accident, but he continued to cultivate. Then his only employee left after the announcement of Dean Foods, so Rock started milking the cows alone. Now, he must consider selling parts of his farm to stay afloat.

"That's not what the United States is talking about, I'll tell you right now," said Rock