More than 43 million gallons of unsold milk has been dumped by U.S. farmers over the first eight months of 2016 as dairy producers deal with a massive market glut.
The producers had ramped up their operations two years ago in response to a shortage, but are now struggling to help find new uses for the milk, according to the Wall Street Journal. Prices have dropped 36 percent on average since hitting record highs two years ago.
The amount of wasted milk was enough to fill 66 Olympic-sized swimming pools, the most wasted in at least 16 years, said the Journal after analyzing U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
"Everyone has dumped milk, from Minnesota to New England," Ken Nobis, head of the Michigan Milk Producers Association, told the WSJ.
The Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that it was offering to buy $20 million of cheddar cheese in an effort to reduce record levels of surplus private cheese. The cheese will be used by food banks and other food assistance recipients, the department said.
"America's farming families are being called on to demonstrate their world-famous resourcefulness and resilience in the face of this current market downturn, and USDA is making use of every tool that we have to help them," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Vilsack said farmers at other points in the supply chain are also receiving more than $7 billion in Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage payments for the 2015 crop year.
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