Wisconsin dairy farmers welcome new trade agreement but expect long-term decline to continue

The number of licensed dairy farms in Wisconsin dropped to a new, all-time low of 8,372 as of September 2018, according to the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. The new NAFTA – now known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or MCA – agreed to this month should help, but dairy-farm organizations expect the downward trend to continue. Wisconsin dairy farmers' profit margins are being squeezed by several factors, said Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative's Director of Government Relations John Holevoet. There's too much milk and dairy being offered on commodities markets, which has been driving prices lower. Operating costs, on the other hand, are rising, which is making it more expensive to operate a dairy farm profitably.