Milk Sales Hit the Skids, and the Dairy Industry Fights Back

Do you know about the milk crisis?  Yep. Since the 1970s, consumption of milk in the US has plunged by 30 percent, according to a story in today’s WSJ.  That’s a true bummer on top of the lowest prices in decades, which are creating a situation where the end result sells for less than it costs to produce.  But the dairy business is fighting back, with new ads that attack milk substitutes like almond milk and, for God’s sake, soy milk.  You can see these at the famous ‘GotMilk” website, where an interactive game explores the ‘science of imitation milk.’

Falling milk sales can be attributed to a few big factors: There are simply not as many children in the US as there once was, and these are the biggest milk consumers. Also, people’s fears about the calories and fat in milk as well as the popularity of bottled water are all eating away at sales.

At Kroger supermarkets, the CEO is worried because milk has always been the draw at the very back of the store, the product that gets people to walk the whole length of a giant supermarket to find it. “It’s an extremely important category for us,” said Alan Faust, who runs the chain’s dairy and frozen products division.

One way to juice up sales is to create supermilks, a muscle builder high protein version called “Rockin Refuel.” Shamrock Farms in Arizona is behind this new milk that’s being sold at GNC. Another is Muscle Milk, with added protein. That and to make fun of that silly thing called soy ‘milk.’