Sales have slowed down immensely for Arizona dairy farmers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Due to the low sales, the dairy farmers are having to dump over 100K gallons of milk down the drain on a daily basis.
On the Fox 10 News website, there is a video of milk being dumped at a waste treatment facility at Craig Caballero’s Dairy in Eloy, AZ. The dairy farmers say that this is far from normal.
Mark Johnson from Fox 10 posted a short clip of the milk being dumped on Twitter.
Video shows Eloy Dairy Farmer dumping good Milk due to low demand from the Covid-19 pandemic. #fox10phoenix pic.twitter.com/vD6cPvFtn7
— Mark Johnson (@MarkyJFox10) April 6, 2020
Due to the panic buying of groceries at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, grocery stores had to enforce limits on the essential items, including milk. Most stores are only allowing one or two max for purchases of essential items. Stores are concerned about shortages, however, the dairy industry officials insist this isn’t the case for milk.
Arizona Milk Producers are asking that if your local store is putting limits on purchasing milk, please notify them so they are able to reach out and fix the issue.
“Grocery stores should have lifted purchasing limits but if you see a store that still has signs up, please snap a picture and DM us so we can work to rectify the situation.”
Due to the COVID-19 concerns, schools are no longer in session and restaurants and hotels are minimally running, if they are running at all. Due to restaurants and schools being shut down there are no orders being placed for milk and in turn, has left fewer destinations for the milk to go.
According to an interview with Bill Kerr, Arizona Milk Producers Chairman, “A million pounds of milk right now is being dumped because we don’t have a home for it.”
In the Fox 10 News interview, Kerr explains that normally there are trucks full of milk that go overseas and to schools, however, due to the coronavirus pandemic, neither of these things is currently happening. Due to all of these current issues, there is an overabundance of milk. “We have so much milk that doesn’t have nowhere to go so we’re dumping it down the drain,” Kerr said.
Farmers are reaching out and hoping for support because of the current situation.
You can help by purchasing a couple of extra gallons of milk next time you are at the store or you can also purchase milk for people in need through Feeding America. Click here to do just that.
Watch the news interview with Bill Kerr and video of milk being dumped below.
See how to help protect yourself from COVID-19 by clicking here.