http://www.marketwatch.com/story/am...-43-million-gallons-of-excess-milk-2016-10-13
Our government can bail out criminal banks but can't manage to buy and transport this excess milk and get it processed for school lunches. Don't get me started.
Farmers in the U.S. are pouring out tens of millions of gallons of excess milk, amid a massive glut that has slashed prices and has filled warehouses with cheese.
More than 43 million gallons’ worth of milk were dumped in fields, manure lagoons or animal feed, or have been lost on truck routes or discarded at plants in the first eight months of 2016, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That is enough milk to fill 66 Olympic swimming pools, and the most wasted in at least 16 years of data requested by The Wall Street Journal.
Desperate producers are working to find new uses for the excess, like getting more milk into school lunches, and in revamped tacos and Egg McMuffins. But many can’t even afford to transport raw milk to market at current prices, which have plunged 36% on average since prices hit records in 2014.
[....]
Dairy and meat producers in the U.S. and abroad expanded their operations two years ago in response to a shortage, setting the stage for the current global glut.
Our government can bail out criminal banks but can't manage to buy and transport this excess milk and get it processed for school lunches. Don't get me started.