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Dairyland in Distress

"The story of dairying in Wisconsin is the story of how our very landscape and way of life were created. Wisconsin as we know it today is the result of bringing humans and cows together. By making cows the center of our farm life and learning how to care for them, our forebears launched a revolution that changed much more than the way farmers earned their living — it changed us."Edward Janus, "Creating Dairyland"

Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The small family dairy farm has been the backbone of America’s dairyland. Approximately 95% of Wisconsin dairy farms are family owned. Collectively, they help generate more than $45 billion a year. But low milk prices, labor challenges and new foreign competition among other factors have forced thousands of those family farms out of business — sending shockwaves throughout rural communities that rely on the industry to sustain the local economy.

Wisconsin has lost about half of its dairy farms since 2000. More than 800 shut down in 2019, the most in state history. In early 2020, “milk prices were on the rebound and both farmers and ag industry analysts were optimistic,” Wisconsin State Farmer reported. And then came the coronavirus.

Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The crisis is also taking a mental toll on farmers. Almost 10% of farmers from across the state who responded to the most recent Dairy Producer Survey said they felt the need to access mental health services in the past year.

And more Wisconsin farmers are calling crisis lines because, as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, “nobody wants to be the one that finally calls it quits on a multigenerational farm and the perceived failure that comes with it.”

From 2000 to 2017, the U.S. lost 75% of dairy farms with fewer than 50 cows and 60% of those between 50 and 99 cows.

In 2019, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and 10 other Gannett-owned properties in Wisconsin launched a year-long multimedia series, Dairyland in Distress, that closely followed four farms and the impacts of tariffs, supply-and-demand economics, changing consumer trends in the beverage industry, threats to immigrant workforce and international pressures. That project was funded in part by the Pulitzer Center.

Milwaukee PBS joined the project in the fall of 2019 to help bring the Dairyland in Distress series to life in a documentary format. The collaboration was bolstered by PBS “Frontline” and its Local Journalism Initiative, which offered financial and editorial support.

The goal now was to continue following small dairy farms in Clark County, Wis., where there are nearly twice as many cows as people, to better understand the challenges and how the next generation could survive and succeed.

In the first months of our investigation, we spoke with farmers, bankers, local business owners, elected officials, dairy science students and economists. Our documentary was taking shape.

And then Covid-19 disrupted everything.

The pandemic limited the ability of our film crew to travel and spend time in Clark County. Not only that, it changed the focus of our story. A more immediate question loomed: How was the coronavirus affecting this small dairy community and would it ever fully recover?

We were able to conduct a series of interviews for “Pandemic in the Heartland,” a look at how small business owners and dairy farmers coped with a coronavirus shutdown, on the heels of years of depressed dairy and agriculture prices. Additionally, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Rick Barrett complimented the short documentary with a written story.

Watch “Pandemic in the Heartland” below:

Although the travel restrictions prevented most of our crew from traveling to Clark County, we were still able to talk to people there about the role dairy plays in their community thanks to another important partnership, this time with the Local Voices Network.

Local Voices Network brings people together for guided conversations to help surface perspectives that may go unnoticed, particularly by the media. It is an invitation for people to come together, to speak and be heard, and a hopeful antidote to the growing polarization throughout the nation.

Wisconsin leads the U.S. in cheese production and makes more than most nations.

Riley Hebert, news director for Central Wisconsin Broadcasting in Neillsville, Wis., led three virtual conversations with Clark County residents, many of whom were young professionals, about small-town values, how the health of the dairy industry is tied to the local economy and what the future has in store for the next generation of farmers.

“The last couple of years in the dairy industry, I don't think there's been a farmer elder that hasn't thought, ‘Oh, maybe I should do something else,’ because it's just been really hard financially. It's a lot of hard work, mother nature throws a ton of curve balls at you, but then I watch my kids come on to the barn every night and play in the hay mill and build hay forts and play with the calves and take projects to the fair. I can't imagine really raising them any other way and actually being able to instill a work ethic and values in them.” — Eliza Ruzic, Local Voices Network conversation participant

Watch the Local Voices Network conversations below:

As 2020 came to a close, our situation didn’t change much. We were still limited in our ability to get to Clarke County safely. But we did want to add at least one more chapter to the story.

The future of dairy farming is being passed from one generation to another in places like Clark County. How will the next generation of dairy farmers survive and succeed? We were able to spend limited time with three families, all of which had young people who are considering taking over the family business.

Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

We also interviewed Jack Uldrich, a global futurist who predicts that the farm will become much more automated in the years to come.

“I think if you actually look at the future of the farm, I think there are going to be robots. They're going to be man-less tractors. They're going to be satellites looking down on your individual farm fields, identifying which crops are growing, which ones aren't and you are going to be able to apply the exact amount of water, the exact amount of pesticide, herbicide, whatever you need on it,” Uldrich said.

Watch “America’s Dairyland: The Next Generation” below:

How many small dairy farms will still be around in future? The latest Dairy Producer Survey offers some insight but no easy answers: 83% of the farmers who responded said they saw themselves still milking cows in five years. The highest numbers of those contemplating exiting the industry in the next five years were those with small herds.

Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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Scottie Lee Meyers
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Mark Hoffman, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel