What's hindering progress

More concentrated dairy farms

In the past century, Dane County's dairy farms and their practices have intensified, with each cow now producing more milk and manure than they have historically.

Farms have increased their efficiency, enabling cows to generate more milk with less feed to meet the growing dairy demand (see figure below).

While there are fewer farms and cows, and manure production has declined since its peak in the 1950s, the consolidation of dairy operations concentrates manure on smaller parcels of land. Shrinking space for manure spreading means a higher risk of phosphorus runoff, since the land can’t absorb such high doses of the nutrient.

Figure source: Gillon et al. (2015)

Data source: USDA Ag Census & Surveys, WI DATCP

The growing cheese demand

The growing demand for cheese is a main driver of the intensification of dairy operations. These figures show the growth in per-capita and total cheese consumption in the United States from 1970 to 2012. This increase is due primarily to the demand for Italian cheese, specifically mozzarella, a common pizza topping.

Data source: USDA-Economic Research Service