Videos have surfaced online of Minnesota farmers dumping thousands of gallons of milk, due to oversupply issues.
Now, a milk producer is looking into what can be done to find a solution.
“Ultimately, the nutrition in dairy is very much needed in this part of the country and other parts of the world too,” Justin Malone said.
Malone is a third-generation dairy farmer and one of the owners of Hastings Creamery. Forty-five dairy farms from Minnesota and Wisconsin are part of this operation.
However, lately, many farmers have struggled to find a home for their product.
“It’s the same situation for a lot of folks, is that, in the across the dairy industry, is we just don’t have enough processing to handle the amount of milk that the dairy industry is producing right now,” Malone said.
It’s led to milk-dumping situations like at Thompson Dairy near Lewiston, Minnesota.
Owners said that older processing plants haven’t been able to keep up with what farmers are producing.
However, lately, many farmers have struggled to find a home for their product.
“It’s the same situation for a lot of folks, is that, in the across the dairy industry, is we just don’t have enough processing to handle the amount of milk that the dairy industry is producing right now,” Malone said.
It’s led to milk-dumping situations like at Thompson Dairy near Lewiston, Minnesota.
Owners said that older processing plants haven’t been able to keep up with what farmers are producing.
The Hastings Creamery plant has been bottling milk for more than a century. Recently, the Metropolitan Council warned the creamery that it was out of compliance with its industrial wastewater permit as it worked to keep up with farmers.
Malone said he believes the issue has been resolved, at a crucial time.
“We are back to business as usual. We are working with the Met Council on short-term solutions. We are kind of sticking to the long-term solution, but it will probably take a year and a half to fully implement that,” he said.
That could potentially mean building a wastewater treatment plant on site. Malone said he’s confident there are better days ahead for farmers.
“We are updating equipment in there and doing different things to try and make it more efficient,” he said. “Help more dairy farmers in the end. That’s our goal.”
The Hastings Creamery processes 150,000 pounds of milk each day.
Some Minnesota dairy farmers said they downsized by selling cows to try and balance out the over-supply issues.
