Organic milk

First, check out Crunchy Chicken's update on her Sustainable Food Challenge, especially the comments. It seems a lot of people are like me: already spending less than the monthly allotment (the Food Stamps dollar amount allotted for a family your size), and finding it nearly impossible to add more dollars to their food budget in order to buy more organic, local foods. This, again, is why collective solutions are important.

On milk: I drink mostly soy, hubby drinks only cow's milk, and Daughter sometimes prefers only soy milk, and sometimes only cow's milk. I didn't make it to Fred Meyer last week, but stopped at Trader Joe's. Their organic milk is about $6 a gallon, but they sell hormone-free non-organic milk for $2.49/gallon, which I bought. Daughter thought it tasted funny, but hubby was fine with it.

I stopped by Fred Meyer this morning, and saw that their organic milk is $2.79/gallon, so I will buy some today after work. Hopefully, my daughter will like it. :)

I have a huge question, however. A year ago, regular milk in most stores was about $4/gallon. It's come down in most places to $2/gallon. Since I used to spend so much more on milk, I can accept paying an extra 49 or 79 cents to get a healthier brand for my family. But why has the price of milk fallen so much?

Update: Google is my friend. According to recent reports, milk prices have fallen 50% in the last year, "victims of the economic slowdown in the United States and a cut in exports due primarily to the strong dollar. Milk producers contributed to their own difficulties by increasing production through last year in response to good prices since 2005." Milk producers are slowing down production in response, so prices may rise again.

Update II: The $2.79 organic gallon of milk at Fred Meyer's is half-priced for milk that is close to its expiration date. I bought a gallon due to expire on 4/9 on 4/6. My family goes through milk quickly, so I don't think it will be an issue. Plus, my daughter loved it!