Midstate dairy farmers struggle to find greener pastures

Along stretches of farmland on South Lincoln Avenue in Lebanon, you will notice yard signs with bright orange letters that read, "Save Our Local Dairy Farms." Alisha Risser owns one of those farms.Seventeen years ago, Risser and her husband started a contract with Swiss Premium, a brand of the national distributor Dean Foods. In those days, Risser said business was good.But lately, the dairy industry across the country has been struggling with declining consumption of liquid milk and many farmers are having a tough time turning a profit.Three decades ago, Americans drank 247 pounds of milk on average in one year, but by 2016, consumption dropped to 154 pounds per capita, according to the USDA. The decline is attributed to a series of factors including the prevalence of more milk substitutes, medical debates over milk's health value, and ethical debates about production.With fewer people drinking milk, competition among producers has grown increasingly harsh. When Dean Foods announced in March that it was ending contracts with more than 100 dairy farms nationwide, that included the Rissers farm in Lebanon and 41 others in Pennsylvania.They received termination notices saying their contract with Dean would end by June. The company says the decrease in sales left them no option.Risser said the decision came as a surprise and left farmers very little time to react."If you lose your milk market, there is just not options out there," Risser said.The Rissers considered selling their farm and their 80 cows. But, by the beginning of April, Harrisburg Dairies offered a life-line, announcing that it would pick up nine of the farms, including the Rissers."We're nervous about the direction the dairy industry is going to go," Risser said. "But this immediate crisis -- to have that burden lifted off of our shoulders is tremendous."