June is National Dairy month – a time when we take the opportunity to reflect, appreciate and celebrate the hard work our dairy farmers put in to providing us with all the milk and other dairy foods we enjoy so abundantly and so economically.

June Dairy Month originated in 1937 in response to depressed milk prices for the farmers. June Dairy Month was established to help draw attention to dairy farmers and the wonderful foods they provide during a peak production time for the cows.

In 1933, the New York State Legislature convened a special investigative committee, named after Sen. Perley Pitcher, to study the consequences of the collapse in milk prices.

The Pitcher Committee quickly identified the immediate problem: farm milk prices had fallen well below the farmers’ cost of production.

For example, the average price paid for 100 pounds of milk (hereafter abbreviated cwt) with a 3.5 percent butterfat content reached 99 cents in April 1933.

In January 1931, farmers had received $2.25 for the same amount of milk.

As a result, according to the New York State Milk Control Board: “Prices paid for milk had fallen to such a low level that dairymen could not possibly meet their most pressing obligations. Even the bare necessities of life could not be secured by many farm families, and many dairymen were threatened with the loss of the farms and homes in which their meager lifetime savings were invested.”

It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. Our dairy farmers are currently facing difficult economic conditions.

Several years of high feed and fertilizer prices, low farm commodity prices and the worst drought in 50 years have made conditions on all our farms a little more than a little tight.  

Thinking back to 1937 when June Dairy Month was initiated, life was a lot different – in a lot of ways. We were in the midst of the Great Depression. Unemployment jumped from 14.3 percent in 1937 to 19.0 percent in 1938. In two months, unemployment rose from 5 million to over 9 million, reaching almost 12 million in early 1938. Manufacturing output fell off by 40 percent from the 1937 peak – it was back to 1934 levels.

A snapshot view of other economic indicators showed:

n Average cost of new house in 1937: $4,100

n Average wages per year: $1,780

n Cost of a gallon of gasoline: 10 cents

n Average cost for house rent: $26 per month

n A loaf of bread: 9 cents

n A pound of hamburger meat: 12 cents

n Average price for new car: $760

Butter was 29 cents a pound and milk was 10 cents a quart. Milk was delivered by a milkman driving a horse and wagon. It was in quart bottles and was pasteurized but not homogenized so all the cream was on the top.

My dad always taught my sisters and me to look for the good – the “silver lining” to every cloud.

While we are currently enduring tough economic times and facing some natural disasters that are difficult to reckon with, we can be thankful that we are not suffering through some of the same concerns as our fellow Americans in 1937.

We have to keep in mind that in 1937, Chicago city schools closed due to increases in the number of polio cases.

Also in 1937, the German airship Hindenberg burst into flames while attempting to moor at Lakehurst, N.J. Japanese forces captured the city of Nanking in China and massacred an estimated 200,000.

Japan invaded China and seized Peking, Tietsin, Nanjing, Shanghai and Hangchow. The Memorial Day Massacre took place when 10 union demonstrators were killed when police opened fire on union protestors in Chicago.

And a huge dust storm was sweeping from Oklahoma westward – a natural phenomenon which we would later come to know as the Dust Bowl.

So do take a minute to be thankful for all we have – and don’t have – these days. And tell a dairy farmer you know thanks for all the hard work they put in so we can enjoy all the benefits of a cheap, safe and abundant supply of milk.

Celebrate what’s good – and that is June Dairy Month!



Marti Day is an area dairy agent with the Randolph County Center of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service. She can be reached at (336) 318-6000 or by e-mail at marti_day@ncsu.edu2