The “Get Big or Get Out” Crisis: Why We Must Support Family Farms
Wisconsin's identity is deeply rooted in its agricultural heritage, a landscape defined by rolling fields and the enduring spirit of family farms. Yet, beneath this iconic image, a quiet crisis is unfolding—one that threatens to transform our rural communities and redefine what farming means in our state. The stark reality, as eloquently put by Sarah Lloyd, President of the Columbia County Farmers Union, is that farmers are facing a "get big or get out" ultimatum.
In her powerful remarks at a recent CoCo Dems meeting, Sarah Lloyd detailed the alarming trends that are pushing small and mid-sized dairy farms out of business, leading to a "massive loss" across Wisconsin.
The Disappearing Family Farm
The numbers are sobering:
In 2007, Wisconsin had 5,600 dairy farms with 50-99 cows—the quintessential family farm size. Today, that number has plummeted to just 1,800.
Despite this dramatic loss of farms, the total number of cows and overall milk production in the state has increased. This means fewer, larger operations are dominating the market.
This consolidation isn't unique to dairy; it's a pattern seen across egg, chicken, and hog production, where corporate giants exert immense pressure on individual producers.
The Root Cause: Prices Are Too Low
"The reason that we're seeing this," Lloyd explained, "is that the prices are too damn low. Farmers are not getting paid a price that covers their cost of production."
Farmers like the Nelson family, who doubled their herd to 250 cows, then grew to over 450 just "running for our lives on the treadmill to just try to eke out enough to pay the bank," illustrate the desperate struggle. When a farm is bringing in $200,000 a month but writing checks for $220,000, the system is fundamentally broken. This economic pressure forces families to expand beyond sustainable levels or make the heartbreaking decision to sell off their herds.
Rebuilding a Sustainable Agricultural Future
So, what can we do to reverse this trend and protect the future of farming in Columbia County and beyond? Sarah Lloyd offered several crucial solutions:
Enforce Antitrust and Anti-Monopoly Laws: We already have laws that could break up the powerful agricultural companies crushing family farms. We need strong federal action and state-level advocacy, pushing our Attorney General to prioritize antitrust efforts.
Cut Out the Middlemen: Supporting direct markets like farmers' markets, CSAs, and online platforms helps money go directly into farmers' pockets. For larger operations, we need to strengthen local processing industries for meat and other products to create more equitable aggregated markets.
Consumer Power & Collective Action: As consumers, our dollars have power. But individual choices aren't enough. We must demand that policymakers create a farm bill that ensures farmers receive a fair price for their production, without forcing them into unsustainable expansion.
Protect Our Communities from CAFOs: The push for consolidation often leads to massive Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). As Randy Krause highlighted in the newsletter, these operations pose significant risks to groundwater quality and community well-being. We must fight for local control and robust environmental protections against the dangers of 6,000 cows' worth of manure in one place.
Listen and Unite: It's easy to moralize when facing controversial land uses. Instead, we must listen to farmers grappling with economic pressure and unite our communities to demand policies that support people, not just profits.
The Stakes Are High
If we want strong rural communities, we must rebuild an agricultural economy that supports people, protects our environment, and allows family farms to thrive. The choice is clear: do we continue down a path of corporate consolidation, or do we fight for a future where more farms, not fewer, dot our Wisconsin landscape?
Let's stand together to demand better for our farmers, our water, and our way of life.