Shortage of Organic Milk in Southeast U.S.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/business/rising-production-costs-cause-organic-milk-shortage.html?_r=1&hp

By WILLIAM NEUMAN

Published: December 29, 2011 

There is a shortage of organic milk across the country, and it has become 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?”

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• Times Topic: Milk

 

Evan Sung for The New York Times

Even though organic milk costs more than conventional milk, its sales are growing.

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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.
The main reason for the shortage is that the cost of organic grain and hay to feed cows has gone up sharply while the price that farmers receive for their milk has not. That means that farmers feed their cows less, resulting in lower milk production. At the same time, fewer farmers have been converting from conventional dairying to organic.
Through it all, the demand for organic milk has been growing.
“It’s a double whammy to have higher sales than you expect and less milk,” said George L. Siemon, chief executive of Cropp, the farmers co-op that produces Organic Valley milk and much of the milk sold as supermarket store brands. “We’re sweating bullets over it.”
The shortages have been most noticeable on the East Coast but most areas of the country have had short supplies at some point in recent months. Target says that it has had difficulty keeping organic milk on shelves nationwide. Wegmans, a chain with 79 stores from Massachusetts to Virginia, said it has had shortages of milk from Horizon, a major national brand. end quote.

Organic Milk is very important to those who can afford it. If you can afford to pay for organic milk it can help kids from contracting asthma and various allergies and will keep kids healthier in general. In fact, I can basically guarantee that buying organic milk for your kids is going to lessen your medical bills for most children and allow them to grow up healthier. It might also be said that the money you save on medical bills will likely offset what you pay for your kids to drink organic milk. For most kids this last statement is absolutely true.