The Milk Wars

 Does any one really drink cow's milk anymore? There seems to be between it and this new crop of plant based ones. Who will win? That's a good question.

Regular contributor Kim Severson wrote about this in today's New York Times Food section. Dairy milk consumption seems to have decreased thanks to Generation Z the group that were born between 1997 and 2013.THey prefer wither milk alternatives or just bottles of water. Last yeat they bought twenty  per cent less milk than the national average according to the consumer market researc company Circana. Even Masani Bailey who created a nostalgic "Got Milk" series of Titok videos has even pointed that out. There is a lot of baggage that comes with drinking real ro cows milk.Most of this has to do as more and more immirants arrive here and with that their intolerance to anyhting with lactose. Then there's the cows huuting the environment with producing methane gas. There is also the increasing skepticism about the dairy industry and the humane treatment of them as well. Social media is helping to spread this and turn many against the idea of drinking whole milk. 

FUnny enough other dairy products like cheese , yogurt and ice creams. These sales haven't suffered. However this is not enough to bring up numbers. Yes milk is selling. Last year milk sales were around $15.7 billion while all plant based milks garnered only 2.4 billion. However it's just not selling to the demographic who spends the most and creates the trends.That is changing though thanks to campaigns and new milk based products. Marathoner Yvonne Zapata has been chosen to promote milk as an energy drink for Gen Zers.The MIlk Processor Education Program has signed her to their 26.2 project , an ambitious effort to provide training and gear to every woman running a marathon in the US this year. Her portrait is going up on the Gonna Need Milk website. The only problem, - she really doesn;t drink it, preferring the nut milks instead. Then there are new milk based products. People still drink chocolate milk. There is a new one called Spylt  which has it caffeinated (although chocolate has plenty of caffeine in it to begin with ) thanbks to Shark Tank like contests creared by the dairy industry.

Can milk ever regain its popularity? The dairy industry is betting on it. People still need it and some love drinking it. It's here to stay.