When the Death of a Family Farm Leads to Suicide

The consumer can pay a lot more for dairy products and the producers need to control production. A cartel perhaps. The government could buy the excess and send it to Syria or Yemen or Pakistan or Africa. Ultimately production has to go down.

I commend to your attention the story of a successful family-owned dairy farm. Perhaps there are lessons that can be applied to others. I'm thankful to all independent farmers. I know it wouldn't be possible for me to withstand the rigors they endure every day and night. It's not a job. It's a calling. https://twosparrowsfarm.com

The times are certainly changing, and people have different needs and awarenesses now than we did 50 years ago, though Frances Moore Lappé did write Diet for a Small Planet way back then. The death of the small family farm is a momentous thing. It's not going to be the same world when it becomes economically impossible to engage in this kind of business. The landscape will change, people will change, food will change- and a very precious part of our human heritage will be lost and become history. Isn't it strange that people understand that locally grown, small farm products are better, and at the same time these things are becoming harder to produce? We won't know what we had until it's gone.

My daughter and I recently turned vegan because of the health and carbon footprint benefits. My wife uses coconut milk instead of cow's milk in her coffee and cooking for the same reason. I don't think we are an anomaly; I think we are the future. Dairy farmers are our generation's horse-drawn carriage manufacturers.

I'm not vegan or vegetarian. What I am is someone who can't unsee the YouTube videos showing how dairy cows and calves are treated. I'm sorry these farmers are in such a difficult situation. But, almond milk tastes OK, and no defenseless creatures are tortured to create it.

There was an article, several ago, in this newspaper on the epidemic in France of suicides by French farmers. Falling milk prices were one factor. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/20/world/europe/france-farm-suicide.html

This is what happens when a state government has a poor business climate.

Most of us do not get to choose where and how we work. We look for opportunities and jump on them as they arise. This is how free-market capitalism works. The fact that people are so attached to farming is a nice thing but unrealistic in today's economy. The Department of Agriculture should be out there counseling these folks on alternative ways to make a living. In the end the dairy industry ought to go away. We don't need all that milk and all those cows are farting up a blue cloud and ruining water supplies. I have the same sympathy for these folks that I have for people who worked in manufacturing or coal mining....capitalism requires market discipline and they are just cannon fodder. Ironically most of these folks probably voted for Trump. They shouldn't hold their breath waiting for the big man to offer them a life-line.

I saw Steven Pinker in a discussion on YouTube with Sam Harris. Pinker, promoting his new book. He said most people are happy and we should appreciate the great strides humans have made. A quote; "You discover that our lives have become longer, healthier, safer and more prosperous - not just in the West, but worldwide." Ask all your friends and relatives if they are happy. Don't miss this farmer who wanted to commit suicide, the folks who are injecting opioids every day, and those in debt up to their necks and filing for bankruptcy because of medical bills and our lousy medical insurance in this country. Don't forget the growing poverty and misery in this country and of course what Mr. Trump is doing scaring the hell out of all of us. The wealth moving up and I could go on. Mr. Morgan, the farmer described should get a copy of Mr. Pinker,s book.

"In the 19800s farmers in the West had to cope with record indebtedness, drought, foreclosures, and bankruptcies. During that decade more than 900 farms in Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin committed suicide. None were Hutterites." From Hutterites of Montana by Laura Wilson.

The individual cannot compete against the corporate farm model where bigger is always better

RUN MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS. Every day I'm furious that the front page of the Times and other media blast us with the latest disruptive tweets from DRT which are artfully designed to simply shock, as well as pander to his base followers--so counter-productive. Instead we need to be riled up about situations like what's described in this article about the dire situation of dairy farmers. So few of us in urban areas have any idea what's happening. It's time the media feature articles/segments vital to the public understanding what's "really" happening in lives of working Americans and our economy. Farming is one of the toughest professions. All I grow are tomatoes and peppers in a back yard, coping on a teeny scale when it's too wet, too dry, too hot, too cold. My full respect goes to anyone whose livelihood supports our food supply. Jersey was traditionally filled with small truck farms in the south and west. As a child, I was friends with a family whose mother--no father--supported 4 children on income from such a farm.

I grew up on a small dairy that would completely uneconomical in this day and age. The problem is the vast amount of milk is produced by mega dairies - up to 30,000 cows. The small guys just cannot complete. Even the large ones are struggling. I read an article in the local news just this week that a 30,000 cow dairy near here is being put out of business because it can't pay its loans to RaboBank. At $15, the price doesn't cover costs. The small family farm in most industries is almost a thing of the past. The salient item in this article is that the number of cows has increased, while the number of small, truly family run operations is declining - and unless they can find a niche market like organic, they will continue to decline. Many things have been tired - buying out cows, price supports, etc., yet the inexorable trend continues. Obviously we have an over production problem in the dairy industry - but this is not anything new. It's sad, and I feel very sorry for the families impacted. The loss of small dairies has a real impact on rural communities and population. When I was growing up there were probably 20 small family run dairies in the area. I think there is one left, and the focus in on selling non-pasturized milk and producing cheese.

So much I could say, growing up on a dairy in the '70s, remember on the local evening news ,farmers shot the calves because the price was too low to take to market, threw them into a ditch. My brother,too young to remember that, chose to pursue this occupation for the many reasons already stated. My heart worries for him everyday.

What a shame there are so many comments here from people saying, "well, that's just the way the market is". It's not. All across the agricultural sector, distributors have near monopoly buying power and they're using it to drive down prices to unsustainable levels. Organic conversion is one answer, but not for everybody. It takes several years and quite a lot of money before you can get the necessary certification to sell crops as organic. The certificates won't come in time to help some of these farmers. As for the switch to soy and almond - two manifestly environmentally disastrous crops when planted on a big scale. There's no evidence from this article that any of these small dairy farmers were treating their cows badly or were guilty of factory farming.

I am more than sympathetic to anyone that is facing a burden ( financial or otherwise ), that they think the only way out is the insurance policy on their lives. However, this is how the ''free'' market is supposed to work. That might seem like a callous statement, but it is also reality. It was only a few years ago ( 2014 ) where milk prices were much higher ( along with low feed prices ), that is was considered the ''boom years''. Due to that, many more people got into the game and/or expanded. Here we are today with a glut and the price of milk lower than it costs to produce it, so many of the ''little guys'' are feeling the brunt and will be the first to fold. ( unless joining a coop or the like ) Again, my sympathies, but we cannot subsidized every sector and every market so that everyone makes money, while the taxpayer pays.

This is the human side to invisible hand of the market: the people who can't make it while providing necessary items like food for a hungry population. I'm not sure what part the deliberate underpayment of many working Americans has to do with this but it has to figure into the equation somewhere. People who aren't making enough to buy organic milk or healthy food buy cheap highly processed food. The ads on and in our media do not help. Neither do the supermarkets when they carry only one brand of milk and no others. I don't drink milk because my digestive system doesn't tolerate it as well as it once did. I do eat cheese and will, on occasion drink a glass of milk or make myself hot chocolate from scratch. But I'm old enough to remember when milk was delivered to us in bottles, milk that wasn't homogenized and tasted absolutely wonderful. But given how expensive that has become and the fact that my salary, when I'm working, hasn't kept pace with the cost of living, I do not purchase organic milk. It seems to this reader that this country is supporting and handing out welfare to the wrong population. Small independent farmers have a place in the economy. The large farms, while economical, are not always producing the best, tastiest, and most healthful products. I do hope that there is always a place for small farmers. They come to the our farmers' markets, introduce us to new foods,and remind us that produce doesn't have to look perfect to taste wonderful.

The rate of suicide in rural areas is a subject that needs more study. It has been pointed out that rural areas, which tend to have more guns per capita than urban areas, also have higher suicide rates. While some attribute this to the prevalence of guns, this article suggests that other factors may be more important. I think it is significant that the three states with the lowest population density (Alaska, Wyoming, and Montana) also have the highest suicide rates. Maybe it's guns, but I think the economic difficulties and social isolation of rural areas is the bigger factor.

I do feel for these people. But I also believe that the dairy industry is an intrinsically inhumane and unhealthy industry. The world would be better off with it gone, and I am glad to see it going that direction. Again, I feel for these people. They should get out if they are able.

Thank you Corey Kilgannon and the NYT for awakening us with this powerful and moving story about the impact of economic forces on hardworking families, that--sadly--we seldom, if ever, think about.

The economic law of supply and demand is a relentless taskmaster. If the aggregate amount of a commodity produced by multiple suppliers is more than the demand for it, then there has to be a shakeout among those suppliers until financial equilibrium is restored. There is no way around this and it is the same for all of us no matter what we produce. In the case of milk, government price supports for dairy products might help, but they can only go so far. Some of these people are just going to have to leave farming or switch to producing some other agricultural product on their land. I wish them luck and that they not despair.

New York State needs to take a hard look at the tax policies which affect smaller agricultural operations. The Ag District law which reduces property taxes, was a good start but more needs to be done to allow small farms to stay competitive. Another option which would help would be to legalize the growing of marijuana for recreational use.

I am a city dweller, with no farm experience, but I think I have seen some successful dairy farms. They sell their milk at farmers' markets at retail prices (about $5.00 a half gallon). I spoke to one who told me he found he was actually losing money on milk sold to distributors and now takes any extra milk and uses it as fertilizer. This city slicker doesn't even know if he was telling me a story. But I do know the dairy farmers I have met at various farmers markets seem pretty content with their lot.

Let me comment first on the economic aspect. Using "kitchen table" economics, the best action each individual farmer can take is to produce more milk. The reality is this only further depresses the price of milk. A better solution is for each farmer to produce less and for some farmers to stop producing all together. More likely than not, only a collective authority can coerce that. This is a poignant example where a government authority can seem like it is coercive to each individual, but is actually doing a collective good. On the human aspect, I can only imagine the despair a farmer must have experienced for him to kill each of his own cows, presumably seeing it as a mercy-kill, before killing himself. People are hurting. Suicide prevention and counseling can only go so far if the underlying problem is economic distress.

Farm products are commodities, and being so operations must produce high volumes and endure razor sharp margins. Dairy is especially tough, the price supports and programs are complex and even so, small operations simply cannot pull much to the bottom line. I grew up on a dairy farm and loved the life. My family still lives on the original farm as it has for seven generations. Being connected to land is a powerful bond. City life is much more of a disposable existence. Nothing has legacy on the individual level. But connectedness does not mean profits. Farms are businesses. No matter how loved money losing businesses eventually close.

Wegmans, based in upstate New York (Rochester, maybe?) touts its connection to and support for New York farmers, and is expanding like crazy. They are not cheap and their prices are climbing like crazy. I'd like to know what role they play in the dairy farmers' plight.

Somewhere in the dairy industry, there is a broken link regarding how money is distributed from bottom to top. As one example, I know that I pay a lot of money for cheese and yogurt.Milk at the supermarket is selling for $ 1.63/litre compared to gas at $ 1.33/litre. There is a very successful company up here in Canada (Saputo) who is buying up dairy industry companies around the world and has made the family billionaires. Our domestic cheeses sell for as much as the imported cheeses. So who is making all the money, while farmers are going out of business?

I didn't see milk products or milk protein solids on our tariff list to China...That would have helped dairy farmers out by raising milk prices, yes?

We understand that the U.S. team renegotiating the NAFTA with Canada and Mexico wants to rid us of our marketing boards (chicken, eggs, dairy, etc.), all of which provide farmers with a quota, thereby guaranteeing them a predictable and consistent income. Free market advocates argue that it keeps our prices artificially high, unresponsive to market changes. Our team is trying to protect these boards nonetheless, from the Trump team's demands. I'd ask readers of this article, which type of agriculture sector would you prefer: free market, or marketing boards offering stability for all parties?

Small farmers are being destroyed by giant corporate farms contracted with Wal Mart and other giant conglomerates. The large volumes they generate with lower costs driven by automation are putting enormous pressure on small farmers who simply can not reach those efficiencies and match the low costs. How is ignoring the plight of the small farmer making America Great Again? Another campaign lie?

I stopped drinking cow’s milk bc of the way industrial factory farming treats the dairy cows and their offspring. I saw the metal cubicles the cows have to be in, the mechanical tubing that milks them instead of human hands, etc, and was sickened and said to myself, no way. I switched to almond milk. I did not know about all these smaller farms where cows are treated, presumably, well, not shoved into metal cages, etc. Places where cows are treated humanely. I think many would be willing to drink milk again if we knew the animals were treated well, got to breathe fresh air, walk on grass, live a normal animal life. Maybe it’s hard to get the message out that these farms are treating animals humanely, but it could help them survive. The cruelty issue motivates many vegetarians and vegans. If that cruelty issue was not there, people like myself would not refuse dairy and meat and poultry products. I feel really sorry for these small farmers. Thanks for this article. Very good info, although very sad too. We know too little about this.

I don't drink much milk, but make up for that with my cheese and ice cream consumption. Haven't noticed a drop in retail prices for either one.

Perhaps certain kinds of family farms are no longer a viable business model? Other kinds of non farming family businesses have also failed without this level of concern. And, isn’t there a suicide exception to life insurance?

I think the answer is in the article: organic milk sells for $43 while conventional milk sells for $15. Make the switch. And try making cheese, etc. Its hard work but change with the times. In CT, may dairies are doing well by join groups like Farmers Cow (which markets its dairy under its own label) or selling direct to consumers (especially with ice cream). Change with the world as it changes.

Coming from a farming community I all too well understand the plight of the American farmer/rancher. They live and work in their own world, taking orders from no one and understand the only way out of sagging prices is to produce more. The value of land, crops, livestock and equipment can run into the millions of dollars. Unfortunately too many independent farmers are not educated in the business side of running their enterprise. A high school education doesn't carry one very far and the school of hard knocks can take your farm before the tuition is paid. Sad to say that being a farmer today means more than simply working hard; you also have to understand and be able to successfully navigate the business side of your farm.

Over the last decade or so a lot of people have lost their jobs, their houses, their family history, their legacy, through no fault of their own. That's the way capitalism works. Mixed economies that provide social safety nets for people put out of work through no fault of their own can mitigate the fallout from these difficult economic transitions. But there are a lot of people who want to simply blame the victims. They believe assisting them is like feeding stray cats - it just breeds dependency. It transfers the wealth of productive members of society to lazy bums who deserve no sympathy. When the opioid crisis moved from big-city minority ghettos to white middle America, suddenly its victims became a lot more sympathetic. I suspect destitute white farmers will be seen as much more sympathetic than destitute minority residents of the inner cities. In truth both deserve our support, and I hope we can see our way clear to provide it.

To admit one needs help is an incredibly brave thing to do.

From similar experiences in the '80s, I feel for these families. Dairy farming is not an occupation one can simply jump in and out of at a whim depending on market demands. Good productive herds can take decades to build up. In the '80s it was stray voltage killing a year's production, flood, drought, unprofitable milk prices, a work injury, or just sheer bad luck. We fought all those, having to milk three times a day just to recover from stray voltage, as well as work outside the farm in order to buy feed, but we started to see daylight at the end of the year with a new crop of calves. Then the barn burned to the ground one afternoon and we had to sell all the animals because a Midwest winter was on the verge, and we had nowhere left to house them. Providing food to people is a thankless task financially. It's either in your bones and you understand, or it isn't, and you don't. Most people don't have a clue how they get their food, or the effort involved, nor often the misery.

Thank you for the article (and wonderful photos). I'm glad there is an outlet for these men, should they choose to take advantage of it.

“Dean Pierson, a dairy farmer, shot all 51 of his milking cows and then turned the weapon on himself, leaving suicide notes on cow tag cards.” Tears are clouding my vision as I read this heart wrenching article. Reading about Mr. Pierson left me speechless. Unless you have experienced this degree of hopelessness, it is difficult it understand the emotional battles farmers like Mr. Pierson struggled with. My father had to sell his farm because he could no longer maintain it. He sold the cows, chickens and pigs, but no one wanted our dogs, cats or rabbits. One Saturday afternoon I heard multiple gun shots. When my father came into the kitchen, I saw the tears on his face. I asked what happened but he just returned outside. I asked my mother what happened but she just held me in silence. When I looked out the kitchen window, I saw my father loading our deceased pets into a wheel barrel. I realized then what he did and that he was going to bury them. I was only 11, but I’m crying as hard now as I did then. I will never forget the pain and despair in my father’s eyes. He would only say that since no one wanted our pets, he was not going to leave them behind to starve or freeze to death. I can’t help but think Mr. Pierson and my father shared similar thoughts. Deciding to kill one’s animals and then oneself due to feeling overwhelmed is a scenario no farmer or human being should ever be confronted with. Thank you to those who work the suicide hotlines.

We have the same tragic situation in western mass & many small family dairies have gone out of business. Impossible to survive when production costs are higher than the allowed selling prices. The Agrimark suicide hotline was front page news here in January. These small farmers should be allowed to raise prices so they can survive. People out here are willing to pay the higher prices for our locally produced hormone & antibiotic free milk & it’s products rather than supporting the national better subsidized milk giants with their unflavorful milk.

There is an interesting documentary on this subject called "Forgotten Farms." I saw it and though I live in farm country, I had no idea until I did how hard dairy farming is, how low the profit, if any, and how much these people sacrifice in order to do something which so normal and good. And on top of that, they have quietly shaped the way our land is, the beauty of it. Hats off to them. May each find a way to adapt. Around here it's organic vegetables and raising hogs or beef or lamb.

What an interesting article. I agree that this is such a bold step for Mr. Morgan to openly share his experience and vulnerabilities. I would love to see more stories like this, that push our thinking and awareness outside of the chaos in Washington. Thank you for publishing and look forward to seeing more stories like this.

It's tough. But demand and means of production constantly change in any industry. And they have changed before and will change again in farming, If people want less milk you have to change what you do, as this farmer did - successfully.

These farmers did not fail, it was and is macro-economic changes that are overtaking them. I doubt any of them will read this but its not you. I think it was the Marines that created ad-hoc a suicide intervention network by texting their brothers and sisters when they thought they were in trouble. The same could help these farmers who like Marines tend to get isolated when they are stressed. Farm policy oftentimes runs counter to the Laws of Economics which like gravity can be defied but never escaped. An aging population, less demand for many reasons all point to less demand for milk and we can't export our way out of it.

I have great empathy and gratitude for Mr. Morgan to not only stick around but to talk about his circumstances. He may have saved the lives of other hard working farmers who thought they were alone.