Got Milk? Got Money?
If you've been wondering about the high price of dairy lately, well, it seems there's a worldwide milk shortage. The International Herald Tribune reports that, "Driven by a combination of climate change [drought in Australia has hurt their dairy industry badly], trade policies [to limit exports] and competition for cattle feed from biofuel producers, global milk prices have doubled over the past two years." That price increase doesn't even reflect the full economic impact of the shortage, the report suggests, since most milk is bought on long-term contracts. Experts say supply can be ramped up over the coming years, but it may have a hard time matching the increase in demand. In China alone, per capita milk consumption has soared to more than 25 liters (or 6 gallons) per year. In 2000, it was a mere 9 liters per person per year.
2 Comments:
We should all be making an effort to eat less milk and dairy, and other animal products, since livestock is one of the top contributors to climate change. There are other healtier, more environmentally sound and animal friendly ways to obtain protein and calcium, such as legumes, nuts, dried fruit, green leafy vegetables, and whole grains.
Kind of scary to believe that milk consumption is rising in a country where most of the inhabitants are born lactose intolerant.
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