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A24    TECHNOLOGY
                Thursday 6 February 2020
            In fight to survive, U.S. dairy farmers look for any tech edge



            By IVAN MORENO                                                                                                      Rosendale.  In  November,
            PICKETT,  Wis.  (AP)  —  At                                                                                         milk prices in Wisconsin rose
            Rosendale  Dairy,  each  of                                                                                         to $22.40. Nationwide, they
            the  9,000  cows  has  a  mi-                                                                                       reached $21, finally above
            crochip  implanted  in  an                                                                                          the $18 price point that Ste-
            ear that workers can scan                                                                                           phenson cited as a general
            with  smartphones  for  up-                                                                                         benchmark  for  producers
            to-the-minute  information                                                                                          turning a profit.
            on how the animal is doing                                                                                          With  dairy  prices  outside
            — everything from their nu-                                                                                         farmers' control, they have
            trition to their health history                                                                                     to  focus  on  controlling
            to  their  productivity.  Feed                                                                                      costs.  That's  where  tech-
            is  calibrated  to  deliver  a                                                                                      nology  comes  in.  A  rotary
            precise diet and machines                                                                                           milking  parlor  can  handle
            handle  the  milking.  In  the                                                                                      10 cows a minute and can
            fields,  drones  gather  data                                                                                       sense  when  an  udder  is
            that  helps  bump  up  yields                                                                                       empty so cows aren't over-
            for the row crops grown to                                                                                          milked,  which  can  harm
            feed the animals.                                                                                                   their  health.  But  a  robotic
                                                                                                                                milking  system  can  run
                                                                                                                                more than $200,000.
                                                                                                                                "It  can  be  very  difficult  for
                                                                                                                                a smaller farm to afford this
                                         In this Dec. 4, 2019, photo cows are milked on a large carousel at the Rosendale Dairy in Pickett,
                                         Wis.                                                                                   technology  because  you
                                                                                                               Associated Press  need,  you  know,  a  larger
                                                                                                                                operation  to  spread  those
                                         Technology has played an  ent drinks like flavored wa-    analysis at the University of  expenses  across,"  said  Liz
                                         important role in agriculture  ter. Two big milk processors,  Wisconsin.               Binversie,  an  agriculture
                                         for years but it's become a  Dean  Foods  and  Borden  Prices  fell  to  $17.30  by  the  educator  in  Brown  County
                                         life  and  death  matter  at  Dairy  Co.,  filed  for  bank-  following  year,  and  for  for the University of Wiscon-
                                         dairy  farms  these  days,  as  ruptcy  protection  in  the  producers, it's been mostly  sin  extension  office.  She
                                         low milk prices have ratch-  past three months, undone  misery  ever  since.  Nation-  said she knows of one farm
                                         eted  up  pressure  on  farm-  by  declining  demand  and  wide,  the  number  of  dairy  that  went  out  of  business
                                         ers  to  seek  every  possible  also pressured by big com-  farms dropped from 40,199  because  it  couldn't  find
                                         efficiency  to  avoid  joining  petitors like Walmart, which  in  2017  to  37,468  in  2018.  enough workers and could
                                         the  thousands  of  opera-   opened  its  own  milk  pro-  In  Wisconsin,  a  state  that  not afford a robotic milking
                                         tions that have failed.      cessing plant in 2018.       takes  pride  in  its  image  system.
                                         "If  I  use  100  bags  of  seed  And  then  there  are  milk  as  "America's  Dairyland,"  Wisconsin  leads  the  na-
                                         on a field and I change the  prices.                      the  toll  has  been  particu-  tion  in  farm  bankruptcies
                                         way I distribute the seed, I                                                           with  45  Chapter  12  filings
                                         can  yield  more  without  a                                                           from  July  2018  through
                                         single extra dollar of input,"                                                         June  2019,  according  to
                                         said Matt Wichman, Rosen-                                                              the American Farm Bureau
                                         dale's  director  of  agrono-                                                          Federation. Minnesota was
                                         my. Such tools "are becom-                                                             not far behind with 31 dur-
                                         ing so economically viable                                                             ing that time.
                                         that  anybody  that's  of  a                                                           Because  of  debt,  the  cost
                                         decent  scale  is  adopting                                                            of  producing  milk  varies
                                         these," Wichman said.                                                                  among  farms.  While  some
                                         Technology    can    mean                                                              farmers can break even at
                                         survival,  but  it  involves  a                                                        a price of $18 per hundred
                                         perilous  gamble:  Will  the                                                           pounds,  others  need  $21
                                         machines produce savings                                                               because of their debt load.
                                         fast  enough  to  cover  the                                                           Sometimes the way to sur-
                                         debt they incur?                                                                       vive  is  to  join  forces  with
                                         "The  last  five  years  have   In this Dec. 4, 2019, photo herd specialist Chema Ortiz looks at   neighbors.
                                         really  been  treacherous,"   stats of a cow on his phone app at Rosendale Dairy in Pickett,   Hallett  shares  some  ad-
                                         said Randy Hallett, who has   Wis.                                    Associated Press  vanced  machinery  with
                                         85 cows in Casco, Wiscon-                                                              a  neighboring  farmer,  like
                                         sin,  and  has  spent  $33,000                                                         a  combine  and  planting
                                         on new milking equipment.  After  hitting  a  historic  high  lar  severe.  Though  Califor-  equipment. And, fortunate-
                                         He would invest more if his  in  2014  of  more  than  $26  nia  produces  more  milk,  ly,  some  technology  isn't
                                         operation could afford it. "I  per  100  pounds  on  the  Wisconsin  has  more  dairy  expensive.  Hallett's  cows
                                         broke even, mostly."         strength of massive buying  farms than any other state.  carry the same microchips
                                         The dairy industry is caught  from China, the bottom fell  And  more  than  1,600  of  as  Rosendale  uses,  so  he
                                         in  a  vise  between  con-   out.  When  China  stopped  those  have  gone  under  in  can know from the comfort
                                         sumer  trends  and  compe-   its  milk-buying  spree,  there  the past three years.    of his office the milk weight
                                         tition.  Americans  are  buy-  was  already  oversupply  But  there  are  reasons  to  for each cow and whether
                                         ing  less  milk  as  changing  from  both  American  and  believe  the  worst  might  a  particular  cow  had  less
                                         tastes  steer  them  to  milk  European  Union  produc-   be  over,  said  Jim  Ostrom,  milk  that  day.  The  chips
                                         substitutes from soy and al-  ers, said Mark Stephenson,  a  partner  at  Milk  Source,  cost  about  12  cents  per
                                         monds, or to entirely differ-  director  of  dairy  policy  the  company  that  owns  month per cow.q
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