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Oct. 8, 2026 by Kristin Bakker, Digital Content Specialist, Farm Progress Livestock Group A class action lawsuit has been filed against dairy cooperatives controlling up to 70% of the nation's milk production for allegedly engaging in an illegal scheme since at least 2018 to constrain supply and artificially raise consumer prices for dairy products. Hagens Berman filed the lawsuit Oct. 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia Norfolk Division on behalf of dairy consumers and indirect purchasers, who believe consolidation of the U.S. dairy industry has led to "anticompetitive monopolization" that violates federal antitrust laws. The complaint claims the farmer-funded Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) program, now called the NEXT Program, is "a cartel of dairy cooperatives and dairy producers that has been the subject of high-profile antitrust litigation previously." The defendants include member co-ops such as Agri-Mark, Bongards Creameries, Dairy Farmers of America, Mount Joy, Darigold, Prairie Farms Dairy and others. Operated by the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), CWT is a voluntary, export-focused program funded by participating cooperatives that works to increase U.S. dairy product sales to overseas customers and better align domestic supply and demand for milk and dairy products, according to NMPF. Members provide funding for CWT/NEXT by contributing a share of milk marketed, currently assessed at 2 cents/cwt. "Through NEXT's first year, which ended at the beginning of July [2026], NEXT committed export assistance on more than 315 million pounds of dairy products destined for international markets. That's a 73% greater volume than in 2024, the last year of the CWT program, at a cost to its members that's half of the CWT assessment," NMPF CEO Greg Doud said in a news release. The lawsuit is directed at the export assistance program, claiming CWT members "use their voluntary contributions to subsidize each other's exports of dairy products to foreign markets" via the program, and the "export assistance causes a collective increase in domestic prices offsetting the cost of their voluntary contributions." This alleged collusion to reduce the domestic supply by exporting "massive amounts of dairy products" creates an artificial shortage that drives up prices, the complaint adds, and these inflated costs get passed through to every point along the distribution chain, from dairy farmers and cooperatives to processors, handlers, distributors, retailers and, ultimately, consumers. To read the entire article click here. Tweet |
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