MarketWatch reports a decline in milk sales. The news is reported following actor Joaquin Phoenix’s anti-dairy Oscars speech, when he won Best Actor in a Leading Role for the film Joker.
Phoenix said, “We go into the natural world and we plunder it for its resources. We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf and we put it in our coffee and our cereal.
“We fear the idea of personal change, because we think we need to sacrifice something, to give something up. But human beings at our best are so creative and inventive, and we can create, develop and implement systems of change that are beneficial to all sentient beings and the environment.”
The Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), a dairy marketing cooperative, said net sales had declined by $1.1 billion in 2018, from $14.7 billion in 2017 to $13.6 billion in 2018. Dairy industry executives say the milk beverage category remains competitive, while the dairy market as a whole has seen growth.
According to the market researcher Nielsen, dairy milk sales fell to approximately $12 billion last year from $15 billion in 2015, while alternative sources of milk have risen over the same period.
Almond milk sales have increased by nearly 6% to $1.35 billion over the same period, while oat milk soared 662% to nearly $60 million in 2019, Nielsen added.
