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Dairy Farmers Going Udders Up
Economy slams cow tenders
By Kevin Spak
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Posted Jan 12, 09 4:48 PM CST
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(Newser)
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Dairy farmers are struggling to survive in the face of huge drops in the price they get for milk, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Though grocery store prices have stayed relatively constant, farmers are now getting just $10 for each hundred pounds of milk they sell, down from $20 in June. It costs the farmers $19.20 to produce that amount.
“Not a single farm in California is going to be able to pay its bills this month with their milk,” said one dairy farmer, predicting that 5-10% of farms would close. Many farmers want the government to pay more for the surplus milk it buys to help farmers weather hard times. After all, reasons one farm representative, “You can’t just turn the cows off.”