America’s Dairy Farmers Are Hurting. A Giant Merger Could Make Things Worse.

By David Yaffe-Bellany, New York Times

John Lamport limped across the barn that once housed dozens of his cows, gesturing toward the vacant stalls lining the perimeter.

During his career as a dairy farmer, Mr. Lamport had named every cow on his farm, memorizing the markings on their hides. He can still remember which cow stood in which stall.

“Her name was Elf,” he said, pointing to one stall, empty save for a paper coffee cup lying on its side.

A ninth-generation farmer, Mr. Lamport, 47, shut down his dairy business in September, auctioning off a herd of nearly 150 cows in his barnyard in Hobart, a small town in the northern Catskills. His struggle is a familiar one for America’s dairy farmers, who have been battered over the past decade by a nationwide drop in milk consumption, the rise of dairy-free and plant-based alternatives and the trade war with China.

But Mr. Lamport says there is another factor pushing down milk prices and harming farmers: the business practices of Dairy Farmers of America, a farmer-owned cooperative.

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