News America's largest milk producer files for bankruptcy

[Emma JC]

This is great news for cows! and for the health of Americans! and I am so sorry if it affects people's livelihoods, pensions etc and hope that they are able to find new income sources in non-animal-hurtin' ways.

Emma JC

America's largest milk producer files for bankruptcy

Dean Foods, America's largest milk producer, is filing for bankruptcy. The 94-year-old company has struggled in recent years because Americans are drinking less cows milk.

www.cnn.com

 

[Three Chickpeas]

Love it! Saw that this morning and gave a big w00t!

 

[Lou]

Hmm. I think, maybe our biggest plant milk maker, and the biggest purchaser of organic non GMO soybeans is part of Dean's foods. I wonder what this means for soybeans. and plant milk.

That Dean's food is going bankrupt might not even be good news for cows. We will have to see how it plays out.

 

[QualityGains]

This warms my heart.

 

[Three Chickpeas]

Hmm. I think, maybe our biggest plant milk maker, and the biggest purchaser of organic non GMO soybeans is part of Dean's foods. I wonder what this means for soybeans. and plant milk.

That Dean's food is going bankrupt might not even be good news for cows. We will have to see how it plays out.

Part of bankruptcy proceedings is the requirement to sell off assets. If the plant-milk sector of the company is making money, someone is going to buy it and keep it running. It will be fine.

 

[Lou]

Part of bankruptcy proceedings is the requirement to sell off assets. If the plant-milk sector of the company is making money, someone is going to buy it and keep it running. It will be fine.

Ooops. I need to write a retraction. White Wave which includes Silk WAS a subsidiary of Dean but it got "spun off" . It is now a subsidiary of Danone.

 

[Lou]

And from the NY Times. Some of the best parts.

A Milk Giant Goes Broke as Americans Reject Old Staples (Published 2019)

Dean Foods filed for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday. It’s not the first food giant to be caught off guard by a shift in tastes.

www.nytimes.com

Like Kraft Heinz, Dean Foods has watched from the sidelines as smaller rivals dominated the growing market for trendy alternatives, like almond milk and plant-based dairy products. In fact, in 2012, the company started spinning off its units that made such alternatives — a move that in retrospect looks like a strategic error.​

Those brands, Silk and Horizon Organic, are now owned by Danone, the French food company.​

​

And across the country, milk consumption is steadily declining. Americans drank 37 percent less milk in 2017 than they did in 1970, according to the Agriculture Department.​

This year, the Dairy Farmers of America reported that its milk sales had dropped to $13.6 billion in 2018, from $14.7 billion in 2017. One reason for the decline is a decrease in cereal consumption: More and more Americans are switching to power bars and other breakfast options that can be consumed on the go.​

​

And in recent years, milk alternatives made from almonds, soy, cashews and coconuts have exploded in popularity. Many people consider them more nutritious than cow’s milk, or buy them because they have a milk allergy or lactose intolerance. Others choose them for environmental reasons, or because they want a vegan diet.​

​

In 2016, Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee chain, started offering almond milk to lighten its espresso drinks, responding to consumer demand. And last year, sales of nut and plant milks grew by 9 percent, according to the Plant Based Foods Association, a trade group.​

​

 

[Forest Nymph]

Right, just from a logical perspective factor Wal Mart into this. I'm overjoyed oat milk drives out dairy, but because I know what I know, I don't think this is simple. Wal Mart drives a lotta small business out.

Please compare actual statistics. Thanks.

 

[Lou]

Right, just from a logical perspective factor Wal Mart into this. I'm overjoyed oat milk drives out dairy, but because I know what I know, I don't think this is simple. Wal Mart drives a lotta small business out.

Please compare actual statistics. Thanks.

Nothing small about Dean. It was a multi-billion dollar business.

 

[Forest Nymph]

Nothing small about Dean. It was a multi-billion dollar business.

Ok but there's nothing small about Wal Mart. I would be as optimistic as you without education. Wal Mart has leveled entire towns. I am from such towns. I am simply warning you on the surface to not be naive. It would be wonderful if life were that easy. Meanwhile, Wal Mart.

I say this not to be mean or shitty but a reality check. I would absolutely welcome the real downfall of dairy. If it's true, hurrah!!!

 

[Lou]

Ok but there's nothing small about Wal Mart. I would be as optimistic as you without education. Wal Mart has leveled entire towns. I am from such towns. I am simply warning you on the surface to not be naive. It would be wonderful if life were that easy. Meanwhile, Wal Mart.

I say this not to be mean or shitty but a reality check. I would absolutely welcome the real downfall of dairy. If it's true, hurrah!!!

I don't know why you have to be so nasty.
The NYT article did bring up Walmart. It turns out that Walmart had been a big customer of Dean but now they have their own plants and brand.
Not sure how big a factor that was but there were lots of other contributing factors. I think the number one factor was that people drink less milk.

 

[Forest Nymph]

I don't know why you have to be so nasty.
The NYT article did bring up Walmart. It turns out that Walmart had been a big customer of Dean but now they have their own plants and brand.
Not sure how big a factor that was but there were lots of other contributing factors. I think the number one factor was that people drink less milk.

Im not being nasty, I talked to someone else about this, this morning. It could be a delusion like "oh look at the oat milk" but it's actually Wal Marts buying out big dairy.

That's not nasty, it's science, it's what I went to school for, to be in touch with reality.

Wal Mart is HORRIBLE. I grew up in West Virginia. Wal Mart killed everything in the South.

I thought you were a man of Science, who appreciates Fact and Forestry, right now it looks like you support illusion.

I'm genuinely surprised because I thought you were more rational.

Anyway, we will see the RESEARCH on whether this is less dairy (which I absolutely agree! let's hope!) Or Wal Mart.

 

[Lou]

My newsfeed thought since I read both the CNN article and the NYT article I might find this one interesting.
I never heard of this website, but after a quick look I decided to add it to my favorites (as soon as I remember how).

At Long Last, Milk Is Canceled

The author has (IMHO) a pretty good take on the story. Here are some of my favorite lines.

Not that I’m cheering workers losing their jobs—Dean Foods shuttered a number of factories over the last few years, and bankruptcy filings tend to predict more layoffs—but I do feel compelled to point out that milk sucks. I’m sure for some people it’s perfectly fine, but for those of us for whom mere drops of milk turn our intestines into knife-stabbing knots, the decline of cow’s milk and rise of far less painful coffee lighteners is an absolute joy.​

​

In general, milk is bad—it tastes bad, it smells bad, and it goes bad easily. There’s a reason white nationalists made milk their mascot (purity, I guess, but also because it sucks, and so do they).​

​

Down with milk! But let’s find any jettisoned Dean Foods workers some jobs.​

​

 

[Lou]

More milk news. the charts are pretty interesting.

5 charts that show how milk sales changed and made it tough for Dean Foods to avert bankruptcy

Dean Foods, the nation's largest milk maker, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Tuesday.

www.cnbc.com

 

[Emma JC]

More milk news. the charts are pretty interesting.

5 charts that show how milk sales changed and made it tough for Dean Foods to avert bankruptcy

Dean Foods, the nation's largest milk maker, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Tuesday.

www.cnbc.com

I'm thinking they shouldn't have spun off WhiteWave/Silk....

Emma JC

 

[Forest Nymph]

An article in the Seattle Times says that people are eating dairy, not drinking it. While people on average consumed 24 gallons of milk in the US in the mid-90s and only 17 gallons now in 2019.... consumption of butter and cheese is UP not down, since 1996.

This is why I warn people to not take news headlines at face value. Part of getting a science degree is to learn how the media spins everything from meat consumption to climate change. It's also harder to teach someone correct information if they read false information first - especially if they'd rather believe the false information.

No. 1 milk company declares bankruptcy amid drop in demand

Got milk? Increasingly, Americans don't, and that led the nation's biggest milk producer to file for bankruptcy Tuesday. Dean Foods blamed a decadeslong drop in milk consumption that has seen people turn to alternatives like soda, juice and almond milk....

www.seattletimes.com

 

[Forest Nymph]

To back up my last post, here's a statistical chart of cheese consumption per capita in the US growing from 32 pounds in 2000 to 40 pounds in 2018.

Also remember it takes more milk to make cheese than it does to drink it.

It's highly likely Wal Mart's notorious evil had more to do with this dairy company's downfall than dairy consumption.

Obviously.

Per capita consumption of cheese in the U.S.2022 | Statista

In 2022, the average consumer in the United States ate about 41.8 pounds of cheese.

www.statista.com

 

[shyvas]

An article in the Seattle Times says that people are eating dairy, not drinking it. While people on average consumed 24 gallons of milk in the US in the mid-90s and only 17 gallons now in 2019.... consumption of butter and cheese is UP not down, since 1996.

This is why I warn people to not take news headlines at face value. Part of getting a science degree is to learn how the media spins everything from meat consumption to climate change. It's also harder to teach someone correct information if they read false information first - especially if they'd rather believe the false information.

No. 1 milk company declares bankruptcy amid drop in demand

Got milk? Increasingly, Americans don't, and that led the nation's biggest milk producer to file for bankruptcy Tuesday. Dean Foods blamed a decadeslong drop in milk consumption that has seen people turn to alternatives like soda, juice and almond milk....

www.seattletimes.com

That does seem exact. I was amazed by the amount of cheese that people eat in cooked dishes and the amount of butter used for cooking. Don't forgot the huge amounts of dairy ice cream that people consume daily.

 

[Emma JC]

You are correct @Forest Nymph to point out the amount of cheese, butter and ice cream that people are eating and although I agree with your premise of taking headlines with a pinch of salt I think it is helpful to know about them and wouldn't it make sense that if dairy in general was doing well that they (Deans) would have considered pivoting away from milk towards cheese and butter? they do have ice cream and that hasn't seemed to have saved their company.

Cheese is probably one of the toughest item for people to give up initially, for me eating pasta was just an excuse to pour on the parmesan, and now I don't even miss it as I just use nutritional yeast and don't even bother making the fake parm with cashews and spices that I did originally. Dr Barnard (be still my heart) has a book that addresses this called The Cheese Trap. Well worth reading.

Emma JC

 

[Forest Nymph]

You are correct @Forest Nymph to point out the amount of cheese, butter and ice cream that people are eating and although I agree with your premise of taking headlines with a pinch of salt I think it is helpful to know about them and wouldn't it make sense that if dairy in general was doing well that they (Deans) would have considered pivoting away from milk towards cheese and butter? they do have ice cream and that hasn't seemed to have saved their company.

Cheese is probably one of the toughest item for people to give up initially, for me eating pasta was just an excuse to pour on the parmesan, and now I don't even miss it as I just use nutritional yeast and don't even bother making the fake parm with cashews and spices that I did originally. Dr Barnard (be still my heart) has a book that addresses this called The Cheese Trap. Well worth reading.

Emma JC

I'm not trying to be mean about this, but it's not helpful for anyone to falsely believe we've "won" with soy milk when people are eating so much cheese and butter. In fact I don't think it's that big of a deal that people are eating butter and cheese. I have done so much research on this topic that I know that people are doing a lot more harm to the environment and animals with meat. I think focusing on milk is pointless, though we should certainly encourage people always to go vegan as the moral baseline, I think making dairy of special interest is really scientifically illiterate and unhelpful to both climate change and animal cruelty.

Cheese is the most difficult thing for people to give up, and it's far more helpful to get more people to stop eating animals than to harp on occasional cheese eaters.

This doesn't mean I'm happy about these stats, like I'm taking some pleasure in cheese and butter leveling out demands for dairy milk ....I just think we need to be firmly rooted in reality. It's great that more people are drinking oat milk but the dairy industry is alive and well. This means one of two things (or two things congruently): Wal-Mart bought out their production with their own unethical dairy farms, because Wal-Mart constantly drives out other business, they monopolize everyone. And/Or "Big Dairy" is breaking up into smaller farms. Which is great. It would be greater to close all of these farms,but to break up the biggest, nastiest,meanest factory farms to create smaller (hopefully kinder) farms is definitely good news for human beings and hopefully for animals.