Nathan Chittenden carries a new child calf at Dutch Hole Farm in Schodack Touchdown, New York. "The final 5 years have been extraordinarily tough f
Nathan Chittenden carries a new child calf at Dutch Hole Farm in Schodack Touchdown, New York. “The final 5 years have been extraordinarily tough for us dairy farmers,” he informed CNBC.
Emma Newburger / CNBC
SCHODACK, N.Y. — Nathan Chittenden rigorously slung a new child calf over his shoulders and marched her over to his dairy barn to affix a dozen different infants.
“Typically I really feel like a faculty principal making an attempt to recollect everybody’s names,” Chittenden, 41, stated of his dairy cows.
Chittenden’s herd is in good well being, however the dairy farm his household runs right here in Rensselaer County, about two hours north of New York Metropolis, is beneath immense stress.
Milk makers in america are disappearing as consolidation within the business and altering client tastes has made it harder for small farms to outlive. In November, U.S. dairy large Dean Foods filed for bankruptcy safety, blaming the truth that Individuals are ingesting much less conventional cow’s milk and switching to non-dairy options. The corporate is contemplating promoting itself to the milk cooperative Dairy Farmers of America.
In the meantime, falling milk costs and President Donald Trump‘s commerce wars have despatched scores of farmers out of enterprise. General, the U.S. has misplaced practically 20,000 licensed dairy farms, a roughly 30% decline, over the previous decade, in line with the U.S. Division of Agriculture. It is in…