Question about milk processing on Oahu

[memorylane]

Why doesn't Oahu build a manufacturing plant for dairy products so milk, at the least, isn't so insanely overpriced? There is plenty of "farm" land for raising dairy cows on.
Just curious.

[Amati]

Re: Question about milk processing on Oahu

Oahu USED to have dairy farms, but the last closed in 2008.

The decline in Hawai'i's dairy sector and livestock industry in general comes amid rising feed, shipping and land costs, urban encroachment, environmental regulations and stagnant sales.

Meanwhile, the Big Island dairy industry saw some changes in Jan 2012.

Steve Whitesides of Idaho-based Whitesides Dairy recently acquired Island Dairy Inc., which is now doing business as Big Island Dairy LLC.
The farm with about 900 milking cows was bought for about $13 million,

The sale comes about three years after [prefious owner] Sade*ghi expanded production and reintroduced fresh milk to Oahu, Maui and Kauai under the brand name Hawaii’s Fresh. Island Dairy previously supplied only Hawaii island with fresh milk.

[Honoruru]

Re: Question about milk processing on Oahu

Up until 1984, all of Hawaii’s milk was locally grown and produced. There was no imported milk, in large part because of Hawaii's Milk Act of 1967. But then there was a Heptachlor scare in 1982 (remember that?), and there were calls for importing milk from the mainland. Safeway was at the head of this call, and even took it to court, and won. They were the first to import milk to Hawaii in 1984. It was big news then. More imports were to follow.

In the meantime, like in Amati’s post above, Hawaii’s dairy farms began to close down one after the other, from over three dozen farms on Oahu in the 1970s to zero today. The last Oahu dairy to close was in 2008. Of the two dairy processors, Foremost closed its plant in 2004. Meadow Gold closed its ice cream plant (remember that?) in 2003, and pretty much all of the milk it sells now is imported from the mainland.

[memorylane]

Re: Question about milk processing on Oahu

The Heptachlor scare must have been just before or just after we left as I don't recall hearing of it but of course, we were fresh of the heels of Hurricane Ewa.

I can't even fathom how people are able to buy and drink the stuff at over 8 per gallon.
Thanks to the hormones given to cows (not sure if it pertains to dairy cows or not), I don't do very much milk drinking these days. And prefer it flavored (banana is the GOD of flavored milk!!).

[Amati]

Re: Question about milk processing on Oahu

I never buy milk anymore. I use soy milk, even for cooking. Various flavors/unflavored work for various purposes.

[Menehune Man]

Re: Question about milk processing on Oahu

The only milk in our house for over ten years now has been regular Carnation canned milk. We use it for tea and coffee.

Oh yeah... Very rarely we'll get the Carnation sweetened condensed milk to dip strawberries in. Yum!

[lensperson]

Re: Question about milk processing on Oahu

As a sidebar, consider the Platypus and Spiny Ant-eater.
Both are mammals yet have eggs instead of gestation within mama.

The transition from the warm world of floating to the world we inhabit is a big bump in the road.
The transition from world to world is helped by milk, but this food is species specific and
not designed for consumption by adults.
The topic of milk can bring considerable emotion to the surface considering
the source. Botticelli seems aware of this.

[memorylane]

Re: Question about milk processing on Oahu

Naw, they are just too busy developing 5 more better and greater phones per year and computers getting lighter and lighter and all the other stuff sheeple follow...