A01=Kirk Kardashian
agribusiness
agriculture
Animal Rights
Animals
Author_Kirk Kardashian
Category=JH
Cows
Dairy
Dairy Farm
dairy farming
Economics
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
farming
Milk
New England
scalability
Vermont
Product details
- ISBN 9781684582945
- Weight: 340g
- Dimensions: 140 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 12 Sep 2025
- Publisher: Brandeis University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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A gripping and witty exploration of the economic forces that make it challenging for small dairy farms to survive.
The dairy business is at the heart of the culture and economy of Vermont, just as it is in many other states. That fact meant little to Kirk Kardashian until he started taking his daughter to daycare at a dairy farm a few miles from his Vermont home. The farm had been owned by the same family for generations but struggled to make ends meet in a market where retail milk prices have held steady for decades while the prices paid to farmers have plummeted. Suddenly, the abstractions of economics and commodities markets were replaced by the flesh and blood of a farm family whom he greeted every day.
In the tradition of Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, Kardashian asks whether it is right that family farmers in America should toil so hard, produce a food so wholesome and so popular, and still lose money. His investigation uncovers the hidden forces behind dairy farm consolidation and explains why milk—a staple subject to both government oversight and industry collusion—has proven so tricky to stabilize, even as scores of small dairy farms close. This new edition brings the story up to date, as farmers grapple with an ever-changing landscape that includes shifting consumer preferences, immigration issues, climate change, and bird flu.
The dairy business is at the heart of the culture and economy of Vermont, just as it is in many other states. That fact meant little to Kirk Kardashian until he started taking his daughter to daycare at a dairy farm a few miles from his Vermont home. The farm had been owned by the same family for generations but struggled to make ends meet in a market where retail milk prices have held steady for decades while the prices paid to farmers have plummeted. Suddenly, the abstractions of economics and commodities markets were replaced by the flesh and blood of a farm family whom he greeted every day.
In the tradition of Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, Kardashian asks whether it is right that family farmers in America should toil so hard, produce a food so wholesome and so popular, and still lose money. His investigation uncovers the hidden forces behind dairy farm consolidation and explains why milk—a staple subject to both government oversight and industry collusion—has proven so tricky to stabilize, even as scores of small dairy farms close. This new edition brings the story up to date, as farmers grapple with an ever-changing landscape that includes shifting consumer preferences, immigration issues, climate change, and bird flu.
Kirk Kardashian is a senior writer at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a freelance journalist who writes about agriculture, business, and the outdoors. He lives in Woodstock, Vermont with his wife and three children.
