MILKING THE SYSTEM - Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America - page 129

hormones in milk. In 1994, he founded Family Farm Defenders (FFD), a Wisconsin-based advocacy or-
ganization whose leadership is primarily dairy farmers. He says they are fighting for sustainable agricul-
ture—a term Kinsman defines broadly as encompassing animal welfare, workers' rights, consumer safety,
and environmental stewardship.
Two decades ago there were only two factory farms in Wisconsin, and now there are more than 150. In
2010 FFD and several citizen organizations marked the opening day of the annual World Dairy Expo in
Madison with a protest against taxpayer-subsidized factory farm expansion in the state. According to their
September 28 press release, they also presented the First Annual Wisconsin “Land of 10,000 Lagoons”
Awards to winners in the following categories: most manure in one location, most cows held in confine-
ment, and most taxpayer subsidies. FFD stated that factory farming has “been fueled by lackadaisical reg-
ulation, millions in subsidies, no environmental liability requirement, flagrant farm labor abuse, as well as
blatant political corruption and corporate influence peddling.” 1
In 2006 the Wisconsin legislature passed legislation against local control of factory farm siting and
placed decision making in the hands of an industry-dominated task force appointed by the governor. The
state's Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has an embarrassing record of always siding with factory
farms in the siting process.
“The relaxation and nonenforcement of laws designed to protect drinking water in Wisconsin is ap-
palling. The fact that no meaningful DNR monitoring and enforcement exists speaks for itself,” commen-
ted Jennifer Nelson of Sustain Rural Wisconsin Network at the award-giving ceremony.
Dairies have been transformed into milk-production factories over the last twenty years. They sell their
milk to a company, usually a giant cooperative, that collects the fluid milk at the farm. The corporation-like
co-op sells milk to a processor to be pasteurized, bottled, and distributed. Food manufacturers convert fluid
milk into cheese, ice cream, and industrial dairy ingredients for other processed-food companies. Large re-
tail stores sell the finished products and, in many cases, dictate to processors and manufacturers the whole-
sale price of the product.
And very little of the money paid by consumers for milk ends up in the hands of farmers. The growing
spread between what consumers pay and what farmers receive is captured by the dairy processors and re-
tailers that dominate the industry. The Utah commissioner of agriculture and food noted in June 2009 that
consumers are not gaining from the declining milk prices that farmers receive, saying, “We are concerned
that retailers have not reduced the retail price of milk to reflect the huge reduction in the wholesale level.”
The massive changes in the dairy industry are in large part a response to changes in the retail market.
Regional and local supermarket chains have disappeared in recent decades and national supercenters and
discounters have emerged as new grocery retailer powerhouses that exert power over the food suppliers
that are invisible to consumers. Rural sociologists Mary Hendrickson and William Heffernan, known for
their groundbreaking work on consolidation in agriculture, reflect on how the dairy industry has been “re-
structured” to serve large retail grocery stores: “For decades, most dairy farmers seemed immune to the
consequences of restructuring because through their local and regional cooperatives, they were also a dom-
inant processor of milk for their local or regional markets. National markets did not exist. Even most of the
investor-owned firms operated at a community level. . . . Vertical integration, which formally connects the
dairy processing stage to the retail stage, is probably the major driver of the restructuring at this time.” 2
They go on to say that the dairy industry changed in response to large retailers' power and influence
in the marketplace, which meant that they can dictate terms to food manufacturers and processors “who
then force changes back through the system to the farm level.” 3 The food processors and manufacturers
have embraced consolidation in retailing because it cuts down on the transaction costs of dealing with large
numbers of customers.