Has the housing downturn had a more-or-less direct effect on the rising price of milk?

I was in Vermont over the weekend and talking to a dairy farmer about the rising price of milk. I was surprised when she said that higher sawdust prices was one of the causes. Sawdust? Sawdust, it turns out, is used for bedding the cows and the price of dust has doubled in the past year. I surmise that the downturn in housing construction has meant a reduced demand for lumber and thus less sawdust.

This entry was published on June 03, 2008 at 03:45 pm.

Tags for this entry:  economics 

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