USDA: Nine percent of dairies closed in 2019

February 24, 2020 12:29 PM

According to the USDA, nearly nine percent of the nation’s dairy farms closed in 2019.

The USDA’s most recent milk production report states there were just over 34,000 licensed dairy farms at the end of 2019. That number is down more than 3,200 compared to 2018.

Wisconsin was hit hardest, losing 780 total farms, more than anywhere else.

Seventeen states lost at least 10 percent of their licensed herds.

Even with the decline in dairy farms, mile production increased nearly a half percent.

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