The Executive Director of Minnesota Milk says economic stress is not the only reason dairy farmers are exiting the business.
Lucas Sjostrom tells Brownfield both Minnesota and Wisconsin lost 7.4% of their dairy farms in 2023. “You actually see a lot of exits in 2014, 2018, a year like 2020, and last year, so those are some of our better dairy years, so it may be a symptom of people planning their exits rather than getting surprised and needing to exit.”
Sjostrom says there are concerns about the increase in farmers leaving the dairy business, but many are evaluating the economic viability of their business in the future.
