The Real Price of Milk

By Shay Chandler

 
(NPR article farmer Will Rogers. https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2018/02/16/img_1142-108f7e7ba00dd6d0b14df9189bfccae8e7d92f59-s1000-c85.jpg)

As we are all aware of by now, climate change is pretty bad news and the consequences of our actions can be overwhelming. Luckily, these feelings often drive us to change our everyday lifestyles, leading some of us to make conscious efforts to change our habits for the sake of the environment. Whether it’s bringing a reusable tote to the grocery store or suffering the odd stare from the Starbucks barista when we present them with our own ceramic mug, most of us make small changes to lessen our carbon footprint.

And, if we were being completely honest, doing the right thing also makes us feel good.

I used to think one of those feel-good choices was purchasing almond milk over regular dairy milk. As a vegetarian and someone who grew up around agriculture, I’ve always been aware of the ethical and environmental concerns of the dairy industry and figured switching to the most popular plant based milk would do some good.

Almond milk seemed like a great choice at first. After all, CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) are evil, right?

With a little more research, an educated, mindful consumer may realize the not-so-breezy side to the seemingly innocent drops of Almond Breeze in their morning coffee.

To begin with, one full gallon of water is needed to grow a single almond (Park, Lurie). Taking that shocking ratio into account, it may come as an even greater shock that 80% of the worlds almond crop is grown in drought ridden California (Saner). A three-year drought in California once highlighted the problems with the almond industry, but as the milk-alternative craze continues, it seems like people need a reminder.

In 2014, new almond orchards required the drilling of new wells. Some of these wells cost farmers more than one million dollars because they had to dig deeper than 2000 feet to get to the water. That is the equivalent of shoving two Eiffel towers into the ground, one on top of another.

As the aquifers are pumped and drained of water, California is sinking due to subsidence (Philpott). In 2013, The San Joaquin Valley sank by an average of 11 inches (Sneed, Brandt, Solt).

While California is currently out of a dangerous drought period, there is a high chance that the states rainfall levels won’t return to those of the 20^th century anytime soon (Philpott). This will lead to a necessary dependence on pumping. A 2014 study involving environmental scientists from Cornell, University of Arizona, and the U.S Geologic Survey looked at the potential risk of long-term drought in the U.S Southwest through a series of inter-annual to multi-decadal time scales of paleoclimate records (from way back when in the geologic past) and global climate model simulations. The findings showed that arid areas such as California run a 70-90% risk of decade long droughts, a 20-50% risk of multi-decadal megadroughts, and non-negligible risk of an unprecedented 50-year long drought (Ault et al.). A drought of this magnitude would end almond production without a doubt, or else sacrifice the citizens of California to a dry demise.

While almond production sucks the West Coast dry, the surprisingly hefty weight of such a small thing rests elsewhere as well.

In New York, dairy farmers are losing more than just money due to the increase in almond milk demand.

Suicide rates have spiked amongst the states diary community as the prices of milk fall as a result of decreased demand. Dairy sales are down nationwide, but in New York, they typically represent half of the total annual farm sales, making this a hard blow to the local family farms that make New York the third largest producer of milk in the country (Kilgannon).

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, farmers have a higher suicide rate than any other occupation. Even without the added risk of emotional distress, farming is a very dangerous job. This makes it hard to quantify how many of the 81 deaths between 2006 and 2016 were a result of suicide because most of deaths were reported as farming or hunting accidents (Smith).

Some farmers looked to suicide in order to support their families with life insurance policies as it becomes increasingly harder and harder for dairy farmers to make a profit or sell their farms as a second-to-last resort (Kilgannon).

I used to think that purchasing almond milk was an easy way to make a small impact, but after finding this alarming news about the distraught New York dairy farmers, I’ve realized that there are many layers to ethical and mindful consumption.

There may never be an easy choice, just as there is never an easy solution to all the issues raised by climate change. But in the meantime, my thoughts are with the families that have been impacted and my actions are aimed towards researching ways to become a better consumer.

Sources: 

Ault, Toby R., et al. “Assessing the Risk of Persistent Drought Using Climate Model Simulations and Paleoclimate Data.” Journal of Climate, vol 27, 2014, https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00282.1

Kilgannon, Corey. “When the Death of a Family Farm Leads to Suicide.” The New York Times, 19 Mar. 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/nyregion/farmer-suicides-mark-tough-times-for-new-york-dairy-industry.html

Park, Alex and Lurie, Julia. “It Takes How Much Water to Grow an Almond?!” Mother Jones, 24 Feb. 2014, https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/02/wheres-californias-water-going/

Philpott, Tom. “Your Almond Habit is Sucking California Dry.” Mother Jones, 14 Jul. 2014, https://www.motherjones.com/food/2014/07/your-almond-habit-sucking-califoirnia-dry/

Saner, Emine. “Almond milk: quite good for you- very bad for the planet.” The Guardian, 21 Oct. 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2015/oct/21/almond-milk-quite-good-for-you-very-bad-for-the-planet.

Smith, Tova. “As Milke Prices Decline, Worries About Dairy Farmer Suicides Rise.” NPR, 17 Feb. 2018, https://www.npr.org/2018/02/27/586586267/as-milk-prices-decline-worries-about-dairy-farmer-suicides-rise

Sneed, Michelle, et al. “Land Subsidence along the Delta-Mendota Canal in Northern Part of the San Joaquin Valley, California 2003-10.” USGS, 21 Nov. 2013, https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2013/5142/.