#Ag Tweet of the Week: Dairy Industry State of the Union

The struggling dairy industry. It’s old news by now but news that continues to make headlines as farmers across the country struggle with record low milk prices and increased operating costs. While the news has hit airwaves and newspapers in the past, it’s now showing up on twitter as dairy producers and ag professionals use their 140-characters or less to relay a more personal side to the story. 

So our #Ag Tweet of the Week is a sobering one and comes from @johnrwalter, Executive Editor, Agriculture Online, whose tweet brought the crisis a little closer to home. It was a tweet among the hundreds of those we peruse and it truly made me stop and think about the situation. But Walter’s wasn’t the only one I stumbled across. A tweet from @leahbeyer made the personal announcement that she was selling the herd: “Stopping the bleeding…cows will be gone in 30 days.”

We hear a lot of stories about struggling farmers here in Wisconsin. Ours is a state steeped in dairy history and the industry contributes $26.5 billion a year to the state’s economy according to the UW Department of Agriculture and Applied Economics. Here’s just a sampling of what’s been in the news lately:

• A dairy farm auction in Richland County made headlines for its record turnout and prices but also went down in the books as one of the state’s largest dairy auctions ever.
• Wisconsin Public Radio reports that calls to the “Sowing the Seeds of Help” program — a support hotline for at-risk farmers — rose dramatically. “In the past year, Wisconsin has seen a 20-percent increase in calls dealing with suicide, depression, and anxiety…”. 
• And the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture called for additional help for dairy producers, recommending the development of an emergency fund for farmers facing extraordinary debt.
  

No one knows when things will move toward an upswing but there has been some positive news lately. At a state level, August milk prices gained 60 cents compared to July. And nationally, a Brownfield report notes that dairy producers will see “more in the milk check” during the month of September. Likewise, there’s good news surfacing on twitter — not so much about market recovery but about the determination to make it through. @ProudtoDairy met with a producer who’s looking for new ways to keep his farm viable. And @gilmerdairy reminds us how important it is to enjoy what you do.   

We’d love to hear from some dairy producers. What’s happening in your region? What’s happening on your operation? And, as always, let us know if you have recommendations for the next #Ag Tweet of the Week.