Is Tacoma Facing a Milk Famine?
Dairy farmers are shuttering their businesses across the city, citing the soaring cost of feed and livestock as the root of a brewing crisis.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Is Tacoma to become a milkless city? In the last few weeks, three big dairies here have quit business and still others are said to be getting ready to close up. The Washington and Union dairies south of town have both stopped, sold their cows and ceased to produce milk for the city. The O. K. dairy of Fern Hill has also closed up and the cows have been sold. In these three, over 150 cows have been taken from the Tacoma milk supply. Dairy Inspector Shoads says the situation is getting serious. He declares the dairymen say they cannot make any money at the high price of food and the high price of cows, and the number talking of stopping is alarming.
“Is Tacoma to become a milkless city?”
While today’s supply chain concerns center on global logistics, this 1909 report highlights how small-scale, local food producers were once the backbone of city sustenance—and how quickly that infrastructure could collapse under inflationary pressure.
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