LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — From the farm to the bottle, Pennsylvania dairies keep the economy moving.
"We're now number eight with milk production across the country. The milk that's being sold now is sold at the cost it takes to produce it," said Robert Barley, the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board chairman.
Barley is a dairy farmer himself, running Star Rock Farms in Manor Township, Lancaster County with his family.
He knows it takes a lot of work to get the product to market.
While shoppers would rejoice to find dairy for a dime, a new study shows prices bottoming out will only serve the biggest chains.
"Walmart started the idea of using milk as a loss leader," Barley said.
The Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board report shows that the state's minimum milk prices keep smaller businesses afloat.
Without it, processors and farmers would lose hundreds of millions, bankrupting an estimated 57% of fluid milk processors.
"When small processors and eventually, most likely, small dairies would leave, the effect on the local economy was close to between a half and a billion dollars," Barley said.
Central Pennsylvania wouldn't be the only region to see losses. The study shows an estimated $2.8 billion decrease in economic activity statewide if the milk pricing minimums are removed.
"With minimum profit in there for the folks in the processing side, the profit isn't guaranteed to the farmer, but at least it allows them to maintain the competition that we currently have with the amount of processors that we have in Pennsylvania," Barley said.
You can view the full report on the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board website.