“The milk supply had been falling for the past eight months, in part because the number of dairy cows had dropped by more than 100,000, just within the past year. This sharp acceleration in the long-term trend, it seemed, was a result of the war in Iraq. Higher fuel costs meant higher feed costs, and that was just enough to put even more dairy farms out of business. And the Austrian maker of genetically modified cow growth hormone was indeed having production problems, but supply and demand for that hormone were soon expected to return to balance.”

– Marion Nestle, in her book, What to Eat, discussing why the cost of milk doubled in 2004.

photo via Swissmilk