Dairy farms in San Luis Potosí are disappearing
The closures involve family-run and medium-sized dairy units across San Luis Potosí. Organisations representing livestock producers, agricultural officials and dairy-industry specialists have identified a decline in net returns and the withdrawal of farmers from the sector as central features of the situation. The reduction in the number of milking operations has also reduced the state’s dairy herd and affected a long-established productive activity.
Farmers are paying more for compound feed, feed grains, mineral supplements and electricity. Power is needed to pump groundwater and operate cooling equipment. At the same time, raw-milk payments from pasteurisers and private intermediaries have remained flat or have been reduced through volume-related deductions. Producers have therefore been unable to cover their regular operating expenses with the prices received at the farm gate.
Water stress has compounded the financial pressure in the Altiplano and the metropolitan area of San Luis Potosí. Limited water availability has cut local sowing and supplies of alfalfa and other cut forage. Some producers have had to buy feed from distant areas, incurring additional transport costs. Heat stress and insufficient supplies of suitable water in cattle pens have reduced output per milking cow and changed the balance of milk solids.
Some farmers have sold productive cows for slaughter to meet immediate liabilities. Other operations have sharply reduced their herd numbers or shifted, without detailed preparation, towards making dairy products that can generate daily cash. The sector has also been affected by a shortage of younger people willing to take over the farms. Dairy work requires full-time labour throughout the year, while the returns available to producers have not been sufficient to attract many members of the next generation.
The lack of succession has coincided with growing real-estate pressure in rural areas. Parcels and ranches are being divided or sold for industrial and urban developments, according to the account. Farms that leave production also remove primary infrastructure from the local dairy economy and reduce the number of properties available for cattle and milk production.
Leaders of the dairy sector are calling for coordinated government action. Their requests include emergency soft-financing facilities, targeted support for purchasing forage and clearer commercial arrangements intended to provide remunerative farm-gate prices. The sector says the loss of local dairy farms destroys rural employment and increases reliance on imported milk powder and dairy analogues.
