4 ms·
Milk costs about $3.50 per gallon in the USA. If approximately 73% of the milk price is subsidized, that is about $12.96. Also, oil is heavily subsidized, whic
by throwaway12iii 8y ago
Milk costs about $3.50 per gallon in the USA.
If approximately 73% of the milk price is subsidized, that is about $12.96. Also, oil is heavily subsidized, which is the main cost of plastic bottled milk dispatched by oil using trucks.
- quickthrower2 8y agoWow, in Australia it’s about 1 AUD or 70c USD per litre. So about the same price, but no subsidies as far as I know. That said we recently had to fund raise for farmers due to too dry weather and supermarkets increased the price a little bit explicitly to help them out.
- niij 8y ago> supermarkets increased the price a little bit explicitly to help them out How is this different from normal supply and demand?
- sjwright 8y agoBecause the supermarkets are a oligopsony. This distorts the market.
- benj111 8y agoI thought you'd spelled oligopoly incorrectly, then I googled. I've done a business studies degree so surprised I hadn't come across the term. TIL. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligopsony https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligopsony
- quickthrower2 8y agoActually I looked more closely today and they sell two supermarket branded milk cartons: one with the donation of 10% added to the price and the regular milk. Same stuff inside I presume!
- voltagex_ 8y agoCounterpoints / sidenotes: that price is really, really low. We probably should pay more for milk but the industry was dereguated in 2001. https://www.dairyaustralia.com.au/industry/prices/farmgate-milk-price https://www.dairyaustralia.com.au/industry/prices/farmgate-m...
- benj111 8y agoWould that not breach anti cartel laws? I assume Australia has some?
- kortilla 8y agoNo, that’s not how oil subsidies work. Plastics aren’t receiving extra discounts below the market oil rates. The subsidies they received are baked into the current market prices you see for a barrel of oil.
- reaperducer 8y agoMilk costs about $3.50 per gallon in the USA. Milk prices vary wildly from market to market in the U.S. Where I live, where cows are rare, it's $2.39/gallon. In greener regions nearby it's closer to $1.89/gallon. When I lived in Ohio, the hypermarkets always had it for 99¢/gallon as a loss-leader. I can only assume that $3.50/gallon is normal for... San Francisco, maybe? Or if you're buying organic, free-range, ultra-filtered, sustainable milk.
- nowarninglabel 8y agoAverage price is $3.27/gallon in December. Source: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/RetailMilkPrices2018.pdf https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/RetailMil...
- miguelrochefort 8y agoWow, that's cheap! In Quebec, it's illegal to sell milk for less than US$4.89/gallon.
- rhacker 8y ago> San Francisco, maybe? Or if you're buying organic, free-range, ultra-filtered, sustainable milk I don't think it's legal to sell regular milk there - it has to be either nut milk or raw milk.
- groby_b 8y agoThat'd still assume cows, land and labor are free. Which I'll just go ahead and say is probably an invalid assumption :) And if you read the actual data[1], you'll realize that 73% of the returns come through subsidies. Or $0.35(cdn)/liter, so ~$1.40/gallon. Really, that energy/water consumption number in the OP is bogus. There's no way around that. It doesn't mean that milk is particularly environmentally friendly, but neither is it anywhere near as devastating as OP made it out to be. [1] https://www.realagriculture.com/2018/02/u-s-dairy-subsidies-equal-73-percent-of-producer-returns-says-new-report/ https://www.realagriculture.com/2018/02/u-s-dairy-subsidies-...