There’s a crisis in the dairy industry  – shrinking family farms, growing corporate consolidation, and low milk prices. And while the new “fair trade dairy” label depicts rolling green hills and picturesque red barns – that imagery is nothing more than a feel good marketing tactic. 

In this episode, we hear how  Jim Goodman – one of the hundreds of dairy farmers impacted by the dairy crisis – struggled to keep his family farm afloat and compete with the big dairy companies. Jim talks about how generations of failed farm policy motivated his current work with the National Family Farm Coalition’s Disparity to Parity project, an effort dedicated to mandating fair pricing and building “a racially just, economically empowered, and climate resilient food system.”

Topics covered include:

• Corporate consolidation in the dairy industry and the explosion of mega dairies that are squeezing small dairy farmers out of business.
• The “get big or get out” approach to U.S. farm policy and how it shaped the current state of the dairy industry in the U.S.
• Organic dairy was originally a solution to match farmers with markets that would pay fairly for milk--what’s changed since the 1990s. 
• Family Farm Defenders’ idea of domestic fair trade encompassing “worker rights, food sovereignty, and global justice.”
• Behind the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)’s big promises for dairy farmers.
• National Family Farm Coalition’s Disparity to Parity project and their vision for fair pricing and “a racially just, economically empowered, and climate resilient food system.”
• The long history of global opposition to free trade deals and the commodification of food.
• How the new “fair trade dairy” label is just another marketing scheme.  

Resources

National Family Farm Coalition: https://nffc.net/

Disparity to Parity: https://disparitytoparity.org/

Family Farm Defenders: https://familyfarmers.org/

Bringing Fair Trade Home to the U.S., written by John Peck: ​​https://familyfarmers.org/?page_id=653