Just like its neighbors in Wisconsin, Minnesota has also lost a percentage of its dairy farms in the past three years.
On Jan. 1, 2017, Minnesota had 3,258 licensed dairy farms and that number has dropped down to 2,448 as of Jan. 1, 2020, a 25 percent decrease in total farms in operation.
The communications director for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture said that farms are going out of business at a higher rate than usual because of low prices.
According to the USDA, nearly 20,000 dairy farms nationwide have ceased operation over the past decade and the price of milk is down 23 percent over the last five years.