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Adjusting the size of dairy herds now could lead to shortages in the future.
Dairy farmers around the world are now watching their milk go down the drain before it even has a chance to be processed into dairy products - more than 3 million gallons each day. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there has been a severe decline in demand in milk, from schools, restaurants, and other food providers that have closed down to help prevent the spread of the disease. Since cows are the ones producing the milk, it is virtually impossible to stop production, or even slow it down, which has led to a huge amount of excess milk. This shift in consumer demand has been catastrophic for dairy groups since they were already struggling even before the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of servings of milk have been donated to food banks and homeless shelters to the point where even they have reached their limit with refrigeration space. To help use up the excess milk products, a worker from the Dairy Farmers of America suggests to "add an ounce of cheese to every burger, every taco, every sandwich."
Questions:
1. What are some solutions that you can think of to this problem of excess dairy products?
2. What are some things we can do as consumers to help this issue?
3. Should the government be doing anything to help alleviate this situation?
2. What are some things we can do as consumers to help this issue?
3. Should the government be doing anything to help alleviate this situation?
While this is a big issue for farmers and dairy companies, I don’t think the government should be trying to find a solution to this problem, at least right now, since there are more pressing issues. However, I do think the companies could work something out to alleviate the situation a bit. Their idea of adding one ounce of cheese to every burger, sandwich, etc. might help a little, but I don’t think it will make a huge difference because even though restaurants are still open for delivery, it seems like people are still not ordering from them and are instead making meals at home. Because more families are making home cooked meals and a lot of people are trying to find new recipes, I think these dairy companies should come up with a few new recipes that use milk, like milkshakes, homemade cheeseburgers, etc. that people can try and make at home and advertise those in a way that’s appealing to a lot of people. I don’t think this would solve the problem, but it would probably make some sort of impact.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you in that the government should turn its focus on more pressing issues such as finding a vaccine for COVID-19 or providing assistance to those who are currently jobless due to companies firing many of their employees. I do however think that some effort should be made no matter how small so that dairy farmers do not feel that they are being neglected during this pandemic as they have played a big role in the community in the past (providing milk for schools and restaurants).
DeleteAlthough it's tragic, I believe this problem will not end soon. Usually, when there's a major disruption in a supply chain, it takes a long time to get back to normal. Those effects are very prevalent now. Because the production of milk is struggling, the price of it will somehow be increased, which will ultimately affect the lower-income families. Restaurants are also being affected by this disruption because they will also have to pay bigger amounts of money for their dairy products. And although the government should be doing something to help this situation, I think it should prioritize other things.
ReplyDeleteI agree this certainly isn't great for dairy farmers, but the solution isn't to shift the issue farther down the supply chain. As much as dairy farmers are important to the economy, what is more important is preserving consumer choice, including that of food service providers who should be trusted to make good food how they want. And as Marisa stated, restaurants would still need to deal with selling their new dairy-laden products. I suppose we could see a return to the World War II style advertisements to buy war bonds to promote the war effort, instead this time it's buy dairy to support the fight against the pandemic. Images like https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/mkYAAOSwVL1WEVJ2/s-l400.jpg (I can't embed the image directly in the post). As much as I'd like the government to let the dairy farmers figure out their own business, some sort of government stimulus should be going to many workers, quite possibly including them. We'll see these stories more and more as the pandemic progresses as different businesses start running out of options.
ReplyDeleteSome of the spacing got messed up and I'm not quite sure why.
DeleteMILK... new weapon of Democracy! APUSH memes aside, the truth of the matter is there is no easy solution to this problem. If demand falls and supply can't, companies simply have to deal with the unfortunate fallout (COUGH COUGH AIRLINE INDUSTRY COUGH COUGH). Our family still buys milk and milk products as we normally do, but we can't do much else besides that. If it's any consolation, at least once lockdowns start waning, milk producers can rest easy knowing demand will naturally come back up, and fast, too.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there is a direct solution to this problem. Many other industries along with the dairy industry are experiencing similar circumstances as a result of the coronavirus and although there are measures that can be taken to lessen the impacts of the virus, I believe that many industries will have to hope for the best and hope that this epidemic ends as soon as possible so things can go back to normal.
ReplyDeleteMuch like the others, I don't think there is an easy or simple solution to the excess of milk in America. This sharply contrasts our issue of almost empty grocery store shelves and the issue is simply that these issues are not truly in our hands. In a world where unemployment is soaring, consumers cant just "buy more dairy" as nice as it sounds. Overall, I believe government's job right now is to protect the lives of its citizens through social distancing and maintaining quality of life. For now, the needs of the dairy industry must wait.
ReplyDeleteI believe it will be extremely difficult to help alleviate this issue because dairy is just not in high demand right now, and there is not a lot we can do about that. People are not buying perishable foods because they are only good for a short amount of time and people may also not have enough storage space in their refrigerators. Dairy products are not what people need to help them get through shelter in place and quarantine, and will not give them piece of mind that they have enough food that will last. Just because I believe that this problem in extremely difficult to solve does not mean it is any less pressing or saddening. It is very hard to see all this milk go to waste when there are people in our country who would so happy just to get a carton of milk just to get them through the day. I think the government could enact some sort of process to make sure that people who need milk or other dairy products are getting them before it is getting thrown away.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is just one example of how some industries will experience a dramatic drop in supply and demand due to the nature of the pandemic. Currently, our family still buys milk, and the quality of milk is still fine; however, we noticed that our fruits and vegetables have seen a significant drop in freshness that may correlate with the inconveniences posed by the coronavirus. We can try to give more cheese to fast food restaurants or even convert milk into preservable forms such as Cheetos, but in the end, such solutions would probably only offer temporary respite. In the end, the best solution to the economic crisis is probably to get rid of the source of the problem itself. In that sense, I believe that the best job the government (and we, for that matter) can do is to encourage everyone to continue social distancing and to fund scientific research.
ReplyDeleteI believe one of the stimulus packages addresses farmers and attempts to help them. But given our current unique economic situation, it will be a long time before farmers, small businesses, and many others recover from the effects of this pandemic. It's unfortunate that dairy farmers are being especially hit by this economic fall, but it's a side effect of this pandemic and it's something that we have to accept for the time being until it's safer for schools and restaurants to reopen so that they can start receiving dairy products again. Our situation right now is unprecedented because the fate of our economy is dependent on how we cope with a disease. By the government putting it's energy into minimizing the pandemic through a series of different ways and addressing multiple aspects of the economy rather than one, the ripple effect will be farmers and businesses recovering.
ReplyDeleteLast time I checked capitalism was supposed to get goods and services to the consumers who wanted them the most the most efficiently. Yet, now we have farmers dumping milk (and other food products), while there millions of newly unemployed individuals who may need food assistance. It is fascinating how quickly these things break down. While the government's priority should be stopping COVID-19, assisting those in the need of food should be an issue. Therefore, the government should use subsidies to buy up milk products and to distribute them to food banks.
ReplyDeleteA possible solution to this problem of excess dairy products could include temporarily lowering the prices of milk, cheese, and any other dairy products so that although the supply of milk is much higher, the lower price could draw more customers to constantly buy more, and use more of it. This higher supply of milk leaves room for the companies to be able to sell at a lower price (if individuals buy their products and make up for the cost of production). In terms of what we as customers can do, I don't see much possible as there is a limit to how much milk people can or willing to buy - after a while the milk will go bad and some may not even be able to afford to keep buying so much of it. Also, even if customers were to buy greater amounts of milk to support the dairy farms/farmers, there is a high chance that the milk will go bad, meaning they themselves will have to dump the milk, before the can even use it. In this situation, I don't think government involvement at any level, would make much of an impact. They could maybe support the farmers financially, as they are losing money in this pandemic; however, other than that, it would be difficult to help in this situation.
ReplyDeleteWe should lower the prices of all dairy products and donate what isn't bought to food banks. We shouldn't be dumping milk when so many people in America are jobless and hungry. We should also implement a universal basic income so nobody goes hungry.
ReplyDeleteThe price of dairy produces might be the cause of this as the more expensive something is the less likely people will buy it unless it has some special value. As for the excess dairy products people could try to send them to other countries as a way to keep up economy. Africa and other countries who aren't as wealthy might have trouble with getting food to their people in this pandemic. This could provide jobs to the airline industry and the shipping industry.
ReplyDeleteI think that as previously stated in the comments above, one way to help lessen the effects of this problem is to lower the price of the milk so that people are more inclined to buy dairy products. If possible, they should also continue to send the milk products to people or shelters in need or help by adding more refrigeration space where they can store the milk. Some things we as consumers can do to help is to buy more dairy products if possible, and try and incorporate dairy into our diets more or make different diet products that don't require consumption.
ReplyDeleteI had not realized how much the shortage of demand in milk from restaurants would affect the industry. I have not been paying attention to the prices of milk in stores, but I imagine they should decrease as the demand decreases, as we learned in economics. This is actually interesting, because I assume people usually only consume a regular rate of milk. Although all that milk spoiling and going to waste is a terrible thing, I think it would be interesting to see how much the rate of milk consumed by consumers can increase because of the drop in price. Shouldn’t there be enough milk production to supply calves, though? Milking cows in excess is unnecessary if it is just being discarded.
ReplyDeleteI think that the government should not be focusing on this issue as there are many other more severe issues that require attention such as focusing on finding a cure to coronavirus. As mentioned in the comments above, I do believe that lowering prices for milk will significantly help or at least alleviate the situation to an extent to where there is not a large supply of milk going to waste. I think that consumers will be more inclined to purchase milk if the prices were lower. In terms of what we can do is try to purchase more milk and incorporate it into our diets on a regular basis.
ReplyDelete