Skip to main content
Skip to main content

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

This is the cover image for the 'Profits, Costs, and the Changing Structure of Dairy Farming' report.

Profits, Costs, and the Changing Structure of Dairy Farming

  • by James M. MacDonald, Erik O'Donoghue, William D. McBride, Richard Nehring, Carmen Sandretto and Roberto Mosheim
  • 9/4/2007
  • ERR-47

Overview

U.S. dairy production is consolidating into fewer but larger farms. This report uses data from several USDA surveys to detail that consolidation and to analyze the financial drivers of consolidation. Specifically, larger farms realize lower production costs. Although small dairy farms realize higher revenue per hundredweight of milk sold, the cost advantages of larger size allow large farms to be profitable, on average, even while most small farms are unable to earn enough to replace their capital. Further survey evidence, as well as the financial data, suggest that consolidation is likely to continue.

Download