Dairy Is Milking America Dry

This episode is a collaboration with one of the best climate investigative journalists working today, Amy Westervelt. Amy has a podcast and ongoing reporting project called DRILLED that you should ABSOLUTELY check out, here’s the link:    / @drilledmedia  

Looking to watch our video about the Colorado River and all the water used to grow food for livestock? This is the link for you:    • Who’s Taking America’s Water? | Climate Town  

If you’re interested in learning more about potential reforms for checkoff programs in the US, this could be a good place to start: https://farmactionfund.us/2025/05/21/...

Special thanks to Jennifer Jacquet ( https://jenniferjacquet.com/ ) and Matthew Hayek ( https://www.matthewhayek.com/ ) for their expertise and help on this episode.

Amy Westervelt also has a podcast called RIGGED and you can check it out right here, right now:    • Rigged  

Sources & Citations

Citations reference first appearance, without repeating for subsequent usage:

• USDA: MyPlate: Dairy Group (accessed 2025)

• Code of Federal Regulations: 210.10 Meal requirements for lunches and requirements for afterschool snacks. (2025)

• True Health Initiative: New Dairy-Funded Chocolate Milk Study Targets Teen Athletes (2019)

• STAT: Mayo Clinic’s partnership with dairy poses conflict of interest, critics say (2025)

• Center for Nutrition Studies: Dairy-Funded Study Claims Yogurt Fights Inflammation (2019)

• Open Secrets: Deep-pocketed dairy industry continues war on plant-based milk as FDA hears comments on new draft guidance (2023)

• Congress of the United States: Letter to the Honorable Robert M. Califf, M.D. (December 16, 2016)

• USDA: Milk Price Support Program (2004)

• Politico: Why are farmers telling kids what to eat? (2016)

• Research Gate: Food for Fitness: A Daily Food Guide (accessed 2025)

• USDA: A Guide to Understanding the 1977 Food and Agricultural Legislation (1978)

• Kirk Kardashian: Milk Money (2012)

• Eric M. Erba and Andrew M. Novakovic: The Evolution of Milk Pricing and Government

• Intervention in Dairy Markets

• History: How the US Ended Up With Warehouses Full of ‘Government Cheese’ (2025)

• The American Presidency Project: Statement About Distribution of the Cheese Inventory of the Commodity Credit Corporation (1981 statement)

• Clickhole: Heartbreaking: The Worst Person You Know Just Made A Great Point (2018)

• University of Wisconsin-Madison, Farm Management: A History of Dairy in the Farm Bill and What It Means for the Current Legislation (accessed 2025)

• Marion Nestle: FOOD LOBBIES, THE FOOD PYRAMID, AND U.S. NUTRITION POLICY (1993)

• Cleveland Clinic: Is Dairy Milk Good for You? (2023)

• The American Journal of Medicine: The Epidemic of the 20th Century: Coronary Heart

• Disease (2014)

• Medline Plus: Lactose Intolerance (accessed 2025)

• Saveur: Why ‘Got Milk?’ Is One of the Greatest Ad Campaigns of All Time (2022)

• Penn State Extension (USDA data): Dairy Product Trends - Fluid Milk (updated 2023)

• The New York Times: While Warning About Fat, U.S. Pushes Cheese Sales (2010)

• PMQ Pizza: Meet Dr. Cheese, the Scientist Behind Pizza Hut’s New Detroit-Style Pizza (accessed 2025)

• USDA: Report to Congress on the National Dairy Promotion and Research Program and the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Program: 2009 Program Activities (2011)

• The New York Times: Documents on Marketing Cheese (2010)

• USDA: Report to Congress on the National Dairy Promotion and Research Program and the National Fluid Milk Processor Promotion Program (2006)

• PubMed: The impact of calcium and dairy product consumption on weight loss (2005)

• Nutrition Journal: Major food sources of calories, added sugars, and saturated fat and their contribution to essential nutrient intakes in the U.S. diet: data from the national health and nutrition examination survey (2003–2006) (2013)

• Vox: Big Milk has taken over American schools (2024)

• Michele Simon: Whitewashed: How Industry and Government Promote Dairy Junk Foods (2014)

• UN FAO: Livestock’s Long Shadow (2006)

• The New York Times: The Colorado River Is Shrinking. See What’s Using All the Water. (2023)

• Civil Eats: California Dairy Uses Lots of Water. Here’s Why It Matters. (2022)

• The Dairy Site: Livestock a major threat to environment - Remedies urgently needed (2006)

• Truth Tobacco Industry Documents: A PROPOSAL FOR R.J. REYNOLDS INDUSTRIES, INC. (1977)

• PRovoke Media: Edelman’s American Petroleum Institute Assignment Ends (2015)

• Ag Moos: DMI by the numbers, proprietary path of partners is paved (2019)

• Edelman: Dairy Management Inc: Undeniably Dairy (2017)

• Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy: U.S. Dairy Sustainability Report 2021 - 2022

• Science Direct: Collecting complex comprehensive farm level data through a collaborative approach: A framework developed for a life cycle assessment of fluid milk production in the US (2013)

• Science Direct: Carbon and water footprint of U.S. milk, from farm to table (2013)

• Science Direct: Regional analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from USA dairy farms: A cradle to farm-gate assessment of the American dairy industry circa 2008 (2013)

• Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy: U.S. Dairy Sustainability Commitment Progress Report (December 2010)

• Ag Proud: Progressive Dairy: The ‘now and then’ of long-day lighting (2023)

• Vox: The Aubrey Plaza ad for Big Dairy that may have violated federal law, explained (2023)

• Journal of Dairy Science: Greenhouse gas, water, and land footprint per unit of production of the California dairy industry over 50 years (2020)

• World Population Review: Lactose Intolerance by Country 2025

• Dietary Guidelines for Americans: Food Sources of Calcium (2025)

• Ag Proud: Progressive Dairy: Checkoff Watch: Meet the checkoff’s social media Dairy Dream Team (2024)

• Des Moines Register: Vilsack: Agriculture unfairly blamed for climate change (2014)

• U.S. Dairy Export Council: Tom Vilsack to Take Helm of U.S. Dairy Export Council (2017)

• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ex-agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack is the top paid executive at Dairy Management (2019)

• Rigged: S1, Ep3: A Tie is a Win (2021) 

• Springer Nature: Rethinking methane from animal agriculture (2021)

• Environmental Research Letters: Unintentional unfairness when applying new greenhouse gas emissions metrics at country level (2019)

• Environmental Research Letters: GWP* is a model, not a metric (2022)

• USDA: Cheese Consumption Continues to Rise (2005)

• Cheese Reporter: Per Capita Cheese Consumption Was Record 40.54 Pounds In 2023 (2024)

• National Milk Producers Federation: Driven by Cheese, Dairy Consumption Rises Again (2024)

• Climate Policy: The animal agriculture industry’s obstruction of campaigns promoting individual climate action (2025)

• Colorado Politics: Meatout Day Proclamation (2021)

• CPR News: MeatOut, Or Meat In? Governor’s Declaration Ignites Carnivorous Culture War (2021)

Episode Credits

Creator/Host: Rollie Williams

Writers: Rollie Williams & Matt Nelsen

Research Partner: Amy Westervelt

Director: Matt Nelsen

Editors: Rollie Williams & Laura Conte

Executive Producers: Rollie Williams, Matt Nelsen, Ben Boult, & Daniella Philipson

Cinematography: Ben Boult

Producer: Daniella Philipson

Assistant Editor: Ryan Martin Brown

Colorist: Nicholas Lareau

Intro Animator: Ian MK Cessna (https://ianhasawebsite.com/) 

Theme music by: Gratis (https://www.youtube.com/@gratis3241)

Special thanks: Jennifer Jacquet & Matthew Hayek

Special thanks to the Civil Liberties Defense Center (https://cldc.org/) for their continued support.