Dean Foods a 94 year-old-company has been producing iconic American dairy products under the labels of Organic Valley, TruMoo, Land O’Lakes and Dairy Pure to name a few. On November 12, 2019 Dean Foods filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection to keep the business operating, while working out debts to help fund pensions while selling the company to a dairy cooperative of Dairy Farmers of America.
This is much in alignment with the steady decline of cow’s milk in the past four years. The company blames it struggles on the “accelerated decline in the conventional white mik category.” The company ‘s sales tumbled 7% in the first half of the year, and profit fell 14%. Dean Foods has lost 80% this year alone. “Despite our best efforts to make our business more agile and cost-efficient, we continue to be impacted by a challenging operating environment marked by continuing declines in consumer milk consumption,” said Eric Beringause, the CEO of Dean Foods. The company reported a 91-percent drop in profits, discontinuing its contracts with over 100 milk contracts with dairy farmers across eight states. Dean Foods refocused to a plant-based alternative “Good Karma Foods”, holding it as a majority.
We would like to give some of the credit to the undercover investigations by Arm Investigations (Animal Recovery Mission) which have had a strong impact and influence upon both individuals and companies to people making this switch to plant-based alternatives. In 2017 ARM investigated McArthur Dairy, a Dean Foods supplier. Systemic abuse of baby calves being dumped in a ditch and shot in the head, along with the beating of cows with sharp objects in horrific conditions. When people see these investigations it creates ripples against the dairy industry who is long known for systemic abuse. Thank you to all involved consumers, and undercover investigators. We are making a change!
May all Dairy companies begin to see the progress of moving to plant-based dairy.