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Startling number of Minnesota dairy farmers exiting the business

The director of Minnesota Milk says an unprecedented number of farmers in his state have exited the dairy business the past two years.

Lucas Sjostrum tells Brownfield it’s been a tough stretch.

“According to my numbers (which) I ran myself, so this isn’t necessarily a public number you should take to the bank, but October 1 (2018) to October 1 (2019) we lost 13.1 percent of dairies in Minnesota.”

He says that followed a 10 percent decline the year before, which WAS the highest in decades.

“Three or four percent is where we’ve been at, so to hit 13, our hope is that’s a lot of individual dairy farmers making really good decisions for their future. And maybe some of those will be back dairying in the near future, but they’re reading the tea leaves and looking at the forecast and saying now is the time to get out. And I do think part of that is due to forage, in addition to just the markets and finances in general.”

Sjostrum, who spoke to Brownfield at the recent AgriGrowth Ag and Food Summit in Minneapolis, says there are reasons for optimism with improved milk prices and a dairy safety net that seems to be helping.

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