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Today we're looking at 15 things you didn't know about the dairy industry. Welcome to alux.com, the place where future billionaires come to get inspired.
Hey there, Aluxers, and welcome back to our channel for a video where we're focusing on one of the most debated and talked about industries in the world: the dairy industry. People have been drinking animal milk for thousands of years, and since it's still marketed as one of the healthiest and useful foods, we want to see what makes this industry thrive so much and why people consume so many milk products. The market is now full of animal and plant-based milks, so it looks like this industry is expanding significantly. Whether you buy it from a supermarket or your local supplier, you're supporting the dairy industry by consuming milk, yogurt, cheese, or ice cream.
Nowadays, the trend is shifting to a more plant-based diet due to animal rights protesters and health factors. But on a worldwide scale, milk products are still in high demand. Whether you like it or not, some sort of dairy is found in most products, including chocolate, sauces, or desserts. However, if it's such a popular product, then this industry must be making more money than we think, right? Well, let's have a look.
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Number one: 2.1 billion liters of milk are being consumed every day. The worldwide consumption of milk and milk products is faced with a growth and a quantity-oriented trend. People don't want to quit dairy, but they do want to consume good quality and tasty milk products because we're so used to having them on the table. Over 2.1 billion liters of milk are being consumed every day in the world. With globalization, huge quantities of cheese, butter, and other dairy products are traded every day. The US exports dairy worth $45 billion, while Germany exports dairy worth around $4.4 billion.
Number two: Happy cows make the most expensive milk. A liter of milk at the supermarket is somewhere between $2 to $4. There are a few dairy products like milk, yogurt, or butter that are very accessible to everyone, but there's also a few milk brands that are targeted to another category: luxury milk. If you want to drink the milk that comes from happy cows that spend their days eating grass and sunbathing, then you have to pay over $40, more than 30 times more expensive than regular milk. This expensive milk comes fresh from Japan's Nakazawa Foods and supposedly this milk has special stress-relieving qualities and more melatonin. Furthermore, the cheese made from this special milk costs $600 per pound.
Number three: 73% of the US milk price is subsidized. The US spends a lot of money subsidizing the entire food industry, from meat, maple, dairy, and cereals. American farmers are in great need of these subsidies that pile up to $22 billion per year. In comparison with other countries, it's one of the most subsidized industries, more than Canada or Europe. On top of that, more than $550 million are spent each year just to advertise animal products such as milk, meat, and eggs to Americans. Unfortunately, though, new food and wellness trends are more plant-based.
Number four: The meat industry depends on the dairy industry. There is a loop that forms between these two industries. Cows need to be pregnant to give milk. They need to be artificially inseminated, and the calves they give birth to are either sold to slaughterhouses for veal meat or raised on the dairy farm to become milking cows if they're females. After a milking cow is done producing enough milk after 5 years on average, it's sold again to a slaughterhouse, but this time for ground beef or hamburger meat. It's a cycle in which the animal is used either way.
Number five: This industry is worth roughly $400 billion. Milk has been in our diet for a long time. Having cows around the house used to be a luxury, but luckily nowadays we can easily pop to any store to get our one liter of milk for a few bucks. Globally, though, the dairy industry is making over $400 billion. The industry suffered tremendously back in 2009 due to the financial crisis and has been slowly recovering since then. Along with cow's milk, goat milk has been on a rising trend as well throughout the world. The milk production has been growing steadily, and numbers are expected to grow in the next 5 to 10 years.
Number six: Cows now produce up to 12 times more milk than they would naturally. Visiting a dairy farm is more often than not far from being a happy experience. You get to see thousands of cows spending their lives in a barn with little sunshine and barely any room to be free or wander around. They live for 4 to 5 years in which they're constantly pregnant and milking by being artificially inseminated over and over again. The cows are able to produce more milk than they normally would. With all the biological modification that cows have been suffering through, they are now producing 12 times more milk than a normal cow.
Number seven: India cherishes its cows more than its people. The fact that India cherishes its sacred animal more than anything in the world is a well-known fact. Cows are highly respected and adored in India. While some people are living on the edge of poverty, there are nursing homes and centers dedicated to cows for their well-being and pleasure, but almost none for the poor. The fact they protect cows is affecting the meat and dairy industry. They can't expand and use cows as other nations do. Although the demand for milk is rising, there are strict rules for how to behave with cows and a newly formed cow patrol that's killing people that hurt or mistreat them. This way, the dairy industry is set for a sad ending in India.
Number eight: Plant-based milk shouldn't be called milk. Almond milk, coconut milk, even soy milk aren't to be considered milk because they don't have the same consistency or even origins as animal milk. Just because they look white and milkish doesn't mean it's milk, or at least that's what some people think. There have been some very vocal people around the world saying that plant-based milk is not actual milk and therefore should not be called milk. Indeed, milk's definition doesn't include nut milk because it's not produced by mammary glands, so plant-based milk might be called a beverage or something else if this initiative gets enough support.
Number nine: The dairy industry is one of the biggest environmental polluters. Besides cars, the oil industry, and other factors, there's also the food industry that is massively increasing emissions of greenhouse gases. Raising cows and producing milk products has a damaging impact on our planet. The production of dairy requires a lot of water. 1,500 liters of water are needed to make one liter of milk, and only 297 liters of water are needed for one plant-based dairy operation. 1 kg of cheese requires 10,500 liters of water. Dairy is also taking a lot of land, not just land to raise cows on, but also to produce their food.
Number 10: The most expensive milkshake costs $100. In the past, we talked about expensive foods, desserts, teas, and everything gourmet. There are many posh foods in this world, and we're more than happy to share them with you. Since we are talking about dairy, we have the most expensive milkshake on the menu today. You can find it at Serendipity 3 in New York City, and it costs $100. So what makes it so expensive? They use milk from cows in the Channel Islands, ice cream from Tahiti, a rare caramel sauce from Venezuela, Marino cherries from Italy, and edible gold on top. And it also looks opulent and luxurious. More expensive than $100? In Alux, if you're not up to date with the most expensive foods in the world, then just click on the top right corner to watch our video, "The Top 10 Most Expensive Desserts in the World."
Number 11: Tetra Pak sells billions of milk cartons. Vietnam is an emerging milk market. They've started to get a taste of buying milk cartons from the store, and now their dairy industry is worth over $4 billion. More than 8 billion Tetra Pak milk cartons are sold all over Vietnam, but there is a downside to it because less than 20% of those milk cartons are being recycled. The rest end up in landfills or in the ocean and end up being washed back onto their beaches. It's not necessarily the same ones, but they are Tetra Pak packages, which are harder to recycle.
Number 12: 97% of US dairy farms are family-owned businesses. Getting into the dairy industry is not easy. It's a lot of physical work, animal care, high-tech machines, and quality control. It's not a job for everyone because, just like in any other job, it's more than meets the eye. You don't just milk the cow and call it a day. In America, most dairy farms are family-owned, meaning they've been doing this job for decades. Roughly 97% of the dairy farms are, in fact, family-owned businesses, so every milk product you buy in America comes from a hardworking family.
Number 13: It takes less than 48 hours for milk to reach the stores from the time it leaves the dairy farm. Cows give around 6.5 gallons of milk per day. That milk is rapidly taken and stored or processed into dairy products. The milk we buy is not the same milk cows give to their babies. It's being skimmed and processed in less than 48 hours since the milk is taken from the cow, it ends up being processed and packaged, then delivered to your local store or supermarket. The entire process is fast and goes on every day to meet the constant demand of dairy on the market.
Number 14: Saudi Arabia's royal family launched a dairy company. Saudi Arabia's ruling family is involved in many industries. Some of their relatives, because their family is quite large, co-founded the largest dairy company in the region. It's called Almarai, and it operates in the entire Gulf region. Sultan bin Muhammad bin Saad Al Kabir has a net worth of $3.8 billion, a farm where he trains purebred horses, and keeps a 24% stake in Almarai because the company is now listed.
Number 15: Cleopatra used to bathe in milk. Thousands of years ago, beauty used to be something only royalty had access to. There weren't any masks or makeup lines, but a few secret ingredients and rituals that are still being used to this day by some people. One of them is a milk bath. Cleopatra used to do this beauty ritual often because milk has amazing properties for the skin. Nowadays, this spa experience is still available for those who want to look and feel like Cleopatra, and it consists of milk and honey in a bath with rose petals.
Whatever you use milk for, or whatever milk you choose, it's that food category that's not very easy to cut off. Dairy is present in our lives from day one, and it brings so many benefits and also jobs to so many people. But since it's not so easy being an entrepreneur, we'd like to know: would you ever consider going into the dairy industry? Let us know in the comments.
And of course, for sticking with us until the end, here's your bonus.
Number 16: Some kids believe cows are purple due to Milka's branding. We've all seen Milka's branding and commercials where they portray purple cows. Unfortunately, kids that weren't exposed to domestic animals like cows or horses before didn't know that purple is not a common color in the animal world. Some kids really do believe everything they see on TV, or that chocolate milk comes from brown cows. TV and any kind of visuals have a strong impact on children, which reminds us just how amazing being a kid can be.
Thank you for spending some time with us, Aluxer. Make sure to subscribe so you never miss a video. If you want more, we handpicked these videos you might enjoy, or head over to alux.com for the best in online living content on the planet. Be a part of the largest community of luxury enthusiasts in the world and tell your story.