But even one of the largest dairy farms in Lancaster County hasn’t been immune from the pain caused by the recent slump in milk prices.
“Last year was pretty much of a challenge for us,” says Rob Barley, who owns Star Rock Farms with his brother Tom and cousin Abe.
While milk prices recently have rebounded somewhat, Barley says they remain at a level where profitability is out of reach for many of the small dairy farms that dot Lancaster County.
“The trouble with the last four years was that it wasn’t like it was a total crash, but it was near the bottom,” he said. “So it’s been prolonged, which is worse.”
Like other dairy farmers, Barley is focused on the price producers are paid, which is now around $17 for every 100 gallons of milk.
But unlike other dairy farmers, Barley has a direct hand in setting those prices since he is chairman of the Milk Marketing Board, the state agency that regulates the dairy industry.
While Barley says he’d love to just raise prices to help farmers, the reality is more complex, as existing regulations and changing market factors determine how much dairy farmers get for their milk.
“We don’t have a whole lot of control,” he says. “We’re a price taker, not a price maker.”
School lunches, ‘fake milk’
Barley says that while the Milk Marketing Board does actually set prices, it is severely restrained by regulations as well as market realities.
“There has to be the balance between raising the price high enough to make a return to the farmer, but not so high that all the grocery chains buy milk out of state for cheaper,” he says.
Pennsylvania’s proximity to millions of potential milk drinkers in major East Coast cities has traditionally helped the industry.
One of the recent problems is that some of the youngest potential customers aren’t drinking as much milk while others are opting for what Barley calls “fake milk.”
A 2010 change in federal dietary guidelines pulled whole milk out of schools, leaving students with only the option of skim milk or 1% fat milk, a shift which still rankles Barley.
“Kids need the fat,” Barley says. “Sugar is a different thing — they get too much sugar — but they need the fat.”
As some milk drinkers have been lost, Barley said others are opting for what he calls “fake milk” made from soy, almonds, oats or walnuts.
“I don’t have a problem with somebody drinking almond milk or almond juice or whatever you want to call it, but what I have a problem with saying is that it’s the same as milk, or it’s a substitute,” he says. “It’s not. It’s not even close.”
While much of the recent news has been bad for dairy farmers, Barley still sees reasons to be optimistic.
There’s a federal push now to allow whole milk back into schools, and Barley thinks the Food and Drug Administration may force nut milks to be relabeled.
Plus, he says demand for whole milk is strengthening as consumers embrace traditional milk anew, which will help local farmers.
“I think there will be a time period here where we can come back to profitability in the next year or two,” he says.
Nevertheless, Barley says as they plan for the future, dairy farmers will need to consider new markets and new products, such as Fairlife, a brand of ultrafiltered milk introduced in 2014 that has less lactose.
“I think the important thing for dairy is that we focus on ‘Let’s keep the milk in your refrigerator, but let’s add a couple other milks,’ ” he says.
Small farmers in Lancaster County also could benefit if they can properly convey to consumers that they produce milk on a traditionally small scale that has been abandoned by most producers, he said.
“I think the opportunity is there to make those connections to the consumer because the consumer’s idea is still 50 cows that go out to pasture everyday,” says Barley.
Local dairy farmers also could consider going organic or using milk for cheese or butter production instead of continuing to produce just the liquid milk that has been the staple of Pennsylvania’s dairy farms.
“I think there is opportunity for smaller farmers, but they still have to change,” he said .
Overall, Barley says willingness to change is the lesson he hopes dairy farmers have been absorbing during these years of low milk prices.
“Unfortunately, there’s very little in any business anymore where if you just do it like you always did it’s still going to happen,” he says. “You have to make changes. You have to make adjustments. You have to meet a market that maybe wasn’t there 10 years ago.”