Maine Has Lost One-Third of Its Dairy Farms Since 2020 Due to Rising Costs and Other Challenges

Jun 13, 2024

By Carol Bousquet

The Task Force to Support Dairy Farms in Maine met for the first time Wednesday to come up with recommendations for how the state might help farms be more profitable.

The panel will consider ideas such as whether Maine should expand its milk processing operations, allowing farmers to bypass costly commercial plants.

The Maine Milk Commission says 99% of milk produced here goes to a commercial plant and then to stores throughout New England.

Director Julie Marie Bickford said there aren't enough consumers in Maine to expand processing here.

"If we're going to do something for a larger group of farms it's going to have to be, 'can we make sure milk produced in Maine can have a home,'" Bickford said.

Currently, the state said consumer trends are shifting toward cheese and yogurt and away from fluid milk.

A third of the state's Dairy Farms have shut down in four years, many citing high costs and low returns.

Farmers said state lawmakers must better understand the challenges facing the dairy industry, and its important place in the food system and Maine's economy.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.