This may offer a chance for American dairy farmers to help meet the need in other parts of the world. One of those farmers is third-generation dairy farmer Marty Costello, who has 130 cows out on his Long Grove property.
Milk prices have fallen nearly 40% over the past five years. Dairy farmers say this is because of a combination of rising power costs and sweeping tariffs that have put the industry into crisis mode.
With “Phase One” of that deal now in place, American dairy farmers can export more milk to Asia.
All of Marty’s milk goes to Prairie Farms, but with the conditions in Australia worsening and the potential for the fires to continue, some of his milk could be exported to Asia.
In 2019, America exported just over 99 million tons of milk.
The Department of Agriculture expects that number to jump by 2% in 2020.
