By Leisa Boley Hellwarth, a dairy farmer and attorney near Celina
It’s always about the money. Always.
Here’s a current example. In March of 2018, Dean Foods notified over 100 dairy farmers across 8 states that they were terminating their contracts, effective end of May, 2018. Dean Foods blamed an oversupply of raw milk, a decrease in fluid milk consumption and Walmart’s new 250,000-square-foot milk processing facility in Indiana. Sadly, some of these dairy farms went out of business when they were unable to locate a new processor.
In what seemed like karma, Dean Foods filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 on Nov. 12, 2019. When they sought bankruptcy protection, Dean Foods was the largest milk processor in the US. Dean Foods explained they intended to use the Chapter 11 proceedings to keep running the business and address debt and unfunded debt obligations as it sought to sell the company.… Continue reading
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