Connections - October 2009 - 5

d — edited by JaSMine GRiMM — photo by ole hongvanthong/photole photography airy farming is a cutthroat industry that belies the typical idyllic image. Veteran herdsman Steve Hershey would know. As the spiraling economy pushes production costs up, a surplus of the world’s milk supply drives milk prices down. Farmers have had to get creative in cutting costs and streamline their milking processes. Some, like Hershey, co-owner of Hershey Bros Dairy, are considering robotics. Hershey is intimately familiar with the industry. He began farming when he was 15, but his family has been laboring the farm sun up to sun down since 1875. The weight of the 134-year tradition pushes Hershey to move forward, no matter what. When he was young, Hershey would work from 4:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. milking cows. Today, he and his laborers milk three times a day beginning at 3 a.m., finishing at 1 a.m. If a night employee FaRMeR, the ReceSSion the Robo coW the doesn’t show up, Hershey pulls an allnighter to get the job done. Days like that are rough. “You put up with a lot of things that make people think you’re crazy,” said Hershey. On particularly long days, he tells himself, “Tomorrow won’t be like this.” Hershey’s optimistic point of view is pulling him through this particularly disparaging time of abysmal economic conditions. This year the farm has had a $420,000 deficit due to a global surplus of milk and dropped milk prices. Every dollar the milk price drops affects him hard. For each dropped dollar, he loses $60,000 in revenue. Milk is paid for in 100 pounds of weight. Hershey Bros Farm produces and ships 6 million pounds of milk annually. Thus far, he’s getting $7 less per hundredweight than last year. “Milk prices are one of those things that you need to be half sorcerer and

Connections - October 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Connections - October 2009