The number of dairies needed to produce adequate milk supplies continues to decline. The dairy industry is on track to have only half as many farms as it does today. The only question is which year during the 2030s it will happen.
Source: Hoard’s Dairyman, March 20, 2017.
The biggest statewide declines have occurred in North Dakota (-94.4 percent) and Arkansas (-93.1 percent). South Dakota, Wyoming, Mississippi, Alabama, and Nebraska have all lost at least 88 percent of their dairies.