In 2016, US dairy farmers dumped 43 million gallons of milk, the largest recorded loss in at least 16 years, as production outran the plants able to process it

AI-generated representative image: A dairy tanker is shown releasing surplus milk at a farm facility, illustrating the large-scale milk disposal that occurred when US production outpaced available processing capacity. Credits: ChatGPT In the first eight months of 2016, US dairy producers and handlers discarded, dumped, or lost more than 43 million gallons of milk. The US Department of Agriculture’s data suggest that the volume was the largest amount of milk wasted in at least 16 years of comparable information. Some of the discarded or dumped milk went into fields, manure lagoons or animal feed. Meanwhile, some was lost along truck…