Georgia dairy farmers are struggling with low milk prices and high fuel and feed costs.

Farrah Newberry, executive director of the Georgia Milk Producers, says she’s worried about the future of commercial dairy farming in the state.

“We have 252 dairies in Georgia now. About a decade ago or 12 years ago we had around 450. So we’ve lost well over 40 percent of our dairy industry in Georgia.”

Newberry says farmers need about $20 per hundred pounds of milk to make ends meet. But for the past four or five years, milk prices have been at about $10 to $12 per hundred pounds.

She says many farmers are getting out of the business.

“Especially in north Georgia, our farmers there, their land is worth more than their farm is, so they are selling their cows and selling out, selling that land for development.”

Everett Williams has a dairy farm in Madison. He says he’s had to increase his herd in order to stay in business.

“I’ve grow from milking 50 cows to up to over a thousand cows now.”

Williams says he also faces uncertainty over labor costs due to new immigration laws.

Dairy herds in south Georgia are growing because there is more land available, which is helping dairymen there.

Some dairies have begun processing their own milk to reduce their costs, and others are turning to agritourism to stay in business.

Dairy farmers in Georgia and ten other states could get up to $13 thousand each from a settlement with dairy processors accused of price fixing and underpayments to farmers.

Newberry says that would pay the average dairyman's feed bill for about a month.

Tags: Georgia milk producers, Everett Williams, Dairy farms, Farrah Newberry