MOSINEE, WI (WSAU-WAOW) – A Central Wisconsin cheese company is taking some of the milk that Canada will stop buying from Wisconsin farmers. Mullins Cheese of Mosinee is one of what state officials hope will be several dairy processors to step in to purchase the milk from 75 farmers who were told by Grassland Dairy that it would no longer need their milk as of May 1.
Grassland said the move was due to new trade rules that allow Canadian processors to buy milk cheaper from Canadian farmers. Dairy farmers in the U.S. complain it’s a new tariff that closes the Canadian market to them.
“Thank you to Mullins Cheese and several other milk handlers that have taken on impacted farmers. I commend you for stepping up and doing your part to help Wisconsin’s dairy farm family. Taking on even one farm helps,” state Ag secretary Ben Brancel said in a statement.
“I strongly encourage other dairy processors to consider how they can be part of the solution,” Brancel said. “Dozens of Wisconsin farm families still have less than two weeks to find a home for their milk before they will be forced to go out of the dairy business, losing not only their job but their livelihood.”
“I am asking, please, that dairy processors think through how they can handle this extra milk in the short-term in order to sustain the long-term success of Wisconsin’s dairy industry,” said Brancel.
The state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) is working with dairy farmers and processors on a daily basis. Farmers in need of help are encouraged to contact DATCP’s Farm Center at 1-800-942-2474.
