US dairy policies drive small farms to ‘get big or get out’ as monopolies get rich

Exclusive: misguided policies have hurt small-scale farms while enriching agribusinesses and corporate lobbyists, analysis shows

Two decades of misguided US dairy policies centered around boosting milk production and export markets have hurt family-scale farms and the environment while enriching agribusinesses and corporate lobbyists, new research has found.

The average American dairy turned a profit only twice in the past two decades despite milk production rising by almost 40%, according to analysis by Food and Water Watch (FWW) shared exclusively with the Guardian.