"We need at least $5 in order to stop the bleeding," Azevedo said. The alliance calculated that such an increase, if passed on to consumers, would lead to a retail price increase of about 22 cents a half gallon.
That amounts to an increase of about 20 percent. It said that to make organic dairy farms profitable, processors would have to increase the amount paid to farmers by $5 for every 100 pounds of milk. The letter cited the sharp rise in the cost of hay and grain fed to cattle, which is partly due to increasing demand for corn for ethanol. The alliance sent a letter to major milk processors like Organic Valley and Horizon this month, spelling out the economic difficulties facing organic dairy farmers. "And you're going to have more and more consumers that are going to be turned away." "If it doesn't happen, the milk's not going to be there," said Tony Azevedo, an organic dairy farmer in Stevinson, Calif., and the president of the Western Organic Dairy Producers Alliance, a farmer group. While the shortage may be frustrating for consumers, it reveals a bitter truth for organic dairy farmers, who say they simply need to be paid more for their milk. At the same time, total conventional milk sales decreased 2 percent. Reduced-fat organic milk sales rose by 15 percent. Sales of whole organic milk increased 17 percent from January through October, measured by volume, compared to the same period last year, according to the U.S.
Organic milk sales are growing, even though organic milk costs significantly more than conventional milk. Some chains have already started to raise prices. That means that a half gallon of organic milk that typically sells for $3.99 today may go as high as $4.39. "We are working with our suppliers to secure as much organic milk as we can."ĭairy industry executives predicted that the shortage along with plans by processors to increase the amount paid to farmers mean that retail prices will rise in the next several weeks by as much as 10 percent. "Supplies are sporadic," said Kimberly Jaeger, a Publix spokeswoman. Wegmans, a chain with 79 stores from Massachusetts to Virginia, said it has seen shortages of milk from Horizon, a major national brand.Īnd Publix, with about 1,050 stores in five Southeastern states, said shortages started showing up in November in both its store brand, Publix GreenWise Market organic milk, and national brands like Horizon and Organic Valley. Target said that it has had difficulty keeping organic milk on shelves nationwide. The shortages have been most noticeable on the East Coast but most areas of the country have seen short supplies in recent months. Siemon, chief executive of Cropp, the farmers co-op that produces Organic Valley milk and much of the milk sold as supermarket store brands. "It's a double whammy to have higher sales than you expect and less milk," said George L. Through it all, the demand for organic milk has been growing. At the same time, fewer farmers have been converting from conventional dairying to organic.
That means that farmers feed their cows less, resulting in lower milk production. The main reason for the shortage is that the cost of organic grain and hay to feed cows has gone up dramatically while the price that farmers received for their milk has not. The answer is that there is not enough to go around, and starting next month consumers can expect to see a sharp jump in price as well. There is a shortage of organic milk across the country, and it has gotten so bad in areas like the Southeast that Publix stores from Florida to Tennessee have put up signs in dairy cases anticipating the shopper's frustrated refrain: "Where's my organic milk?"
0 kommentar(er)
