Research report from the James A. & Louise McClure Center for Public Policy Research | This report analyzes the community-level impacts of Idaho's changing dairy industry, and specifically, that part of the industry involved in milk production. Using a three-part methodology, we examine how the people who work on dairy farms impact local economies, schools, health care providers, justice systems, and other aspects of communities in southern Idaho. Two parallel trends shape the context for this analysis. Both are consistent with national trends in farm-dependent areas of the country. First, the structure of Idaho's dairy industry is changing. The trend is towards larger and more geographically concentrated farms with an increasing demand for wage labor. Second, Idaho is becoming more ethnically diverse as the state's Hispanic population grows at a faster rate than the rest of the population.
