milk, machines, monsanto, the middleman, and manipulation

A 1996 study from the University of Chicago's School of Public Health reported the following:

Levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) are substantially elevated and more bioactive in the milk of cows hyperstimulated with the biosynthetic bovine growth hormones rBGH, and are further increased by pasteurization. IGF-1 is absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, as evidenced by marked growth-promoting effects even in short-term tests in mature rats, and absorption is likely to be still higher in infants. Converging lines of evidence incriminate IGF-1 in rBGH milk as a potential risk factor for both breast and gastrointestinal cancers.

The FDA, under the influence of Monsanto's Michael Taylor and against the recommendations of agency scientists, approved Monsanto's rBGH in 1993. rBGH is a hormone injected into a cow to make it give more milk in spite of the limitations of the cow's natural physiology. It increases the cow's susceptibility to mastitis (an udder infection), thus increasing the need for antibiotics. This strategy destroys the quality of her milk and shortens the cow's life.

Recently, animal rights activists won a court battle with the egg industry concerning the living conditions of egg-laying hens. The August 2010 recall of over 500 million eggs due to salmonella contamination underscores the abuse of food-producing animals by the farming "industry" and the danger inherent in industrial farming practices.

Industrial-style consolidation and centralization of milk processors and dairy cooperatives gives milk buyers considerable power over dairy farmers. In many parts of the country, dairy farmers have no choice in who they sell their milk to or for what price - they have no bargaining power. A few powerful so-called cooperatives control huge amounts of the country's milk supply this way.

In 2009 the dairy farmer made 97 cents for a 3 dollar gallon of milk and less than a dollar for every 5 dollar pound of cheddar cheese. The middleman got the rest.

How is the cost of milk determined? According to Food & Water Watch:

The price of cheddar cheese blocks traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) serves as the basis for the government’s formulas for determining the price of milk, no matter what milk is used for or where it is sold. The few dairy industry traders at the CME can effectively exert control over the price paid to farmers by selling or buying cheese. The cheese commodity
futures trade occurs for half an hour a week, is estimated to involve 40 or fewer traders working for half a dozen firms, and covers 80 percent of the cheese marketed in the United States. The very small number of traders representing huge dairy companies can actually influence the price of cheese at the CME — and thus the price paid to farmers for their milk — by holding or selling cheese at strategic moments. The Government Accountability Office
(GAO) determined that cheese prices at the CME were prone to manipulation. In 2008, the DFA [Dairy Farmers of America] and two of its former executives were fined $12 million for attempting to manipulate the price of fluid milk through cheddar cheese purchases at the CME.

Vernon Hershberger, a free adult man and an honest farmer, wants to sell unadulterated milk and other wholesome food to his customers. He wants to avoid being manipulated by milk industry con-men and by mealy-mouthed middlemen, shills of "modern" farming methods; he wants to avoid Monsanto-style perversions of natural animal husbandry. And, as a small-businessman, he's providing a commodity that is in demand. He's doing nothing wrong.