The United States now has 40,720 fewer dairy farms operating that it did in 1993, according to the National Milk Producers Federation.  That's a 25.9% decline over six years.

NMPF reviewed USDA data on dairy farms in major dairy states during 1993-98 and found the total declined from 157,150 in 1993 to 116,430 in 1998.  USDA defines a dairy operation as any farm with at least one milk cow during a given year.

The state losing the largest number of farms during the period was Wisconsin (-7,000) followed by Minnesota (-3,800), New York (-2,300), Ohio (-2,000) and Texas and Missouri (-1,800 each).  NMPF did not analyze the individual dairy farm losses in 16 of the 50 states that do not have significant dairy industries.

NMPF CEO Jerry Kozak said the analysis "clearly illustrates the economic pressures on individual dairy farmers as our industry consolidates.  Across the country, milk is coming from fewer but larger farms.  As dairy producers continue to be exposed to volatile swings in the market price for milk, we will continue to see dramatic drops in the total number of farms in the U.S., even in major dairy states like California and Wisconsin."