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Comment by ars | Hacker News Reader

I read elsewhere that there is a massive overcapacity of milk right now. It's part of the trade arguments between the US and Canada.

So I suspect very low milk prices probably didn't help.

Anecdotally it seems to me the market these days is for milk products like Greek yogurt and aged cheeses.

Also, I was bored one day and watched a lot of dairy farm videos - it's become very automated, where just a couple of people can manage an enormous herd of cows, and the cows even have better living conditions than at typical farms.

So that probably drives the massive overproduction as well since it's so easy to have a running farm.

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> part of the trade arguments between the US and Canada.

As noted in this article https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/new-nafta-slap-in-the-face-to-ca... Canada has always had a tightly controlled system that protects farmers by not allowing over production.

Where it's not uncommon to see milk as a loss-leader in big US markets (i.e. $0.99/gallon) the price in Canada is much higher and stable. I suspect our farmers are going to be hurt by the new NAFTA deal (when/if Congress ratifies it) in the long term.

The new NAFTA (and CETA) aren’t going to improve access/prices much.

NAFTA will allow access up to 3.6% of the dairy market tariff free.

I think CETA was supposed to allow Tariff free cheese imports to make up 9% of the market instead of 5. Not a massive change.

And the Greek yogurt and cheese don’t see to be getting cheaper. I understand like with 20 months aged parmesan that the warehouse time and labor probably far outweigh the milk as input costs, but yogurt cmon, I’ve made it myself for way cheaper (without economies of scale) but its still expensive for brand names at the grocery store (like $8 for big jar).

You'd think cheese would be incredibly cheap in the US given that there is such a ridiculous oversupply of it - 1.4 billion pounds last December: https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-cant-move-its-cheese-11... (https://outline.com/KCU7dz)

The weirdest thing about Greek yoghurt is that it is so hard to find any that isn't ultra-low or nonfat. The only brand that seems to sell full-fat yoghurt is Cabot, at least that I've seen. It's wildly better, and usually far lower sugar.

Fage has a full fat variety that is stocked in just about every grocery store: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fage

Fage tops out at 5% fat. It'll do in a pinch, but it's nowhere near as good as the Cabot 10%.

I love Fage full fat.I haven't seen it anywhere that I used to buy it for over a year.

And it's amazing, it's the only yogurt my family eats.

absolutely the winner out of all the fancy yogurts out there(european style, icelandic style, australian style).

That has not been my experience at all. Trader Joe's, for one, has sold full-fat Greek yogurt for at least ten years. It's in a blue and white container. Thicker than sour cream and will probably kill me at 50, but damn good!

Fat will not kill you as quickly as too much sugar. Most yoghurts have added sugar (insane amounts sometimes). I prefer plain with no added sugar; if I want some other flavoring I can add it myself. Once you get used to the plain varieties the tang is actually very pleasing. Not a big fan of the greek kinds as they are extremely wasteful to make.

Yeah but why does it have less protein per cup (I think 8g) than other brands of greek yogurt (typically 20g)?

I don't believe it's strained like the real thing, but added whatever to make it thicker.

Why would it kill you? Cultures that consume yogurt generally have a higher than average life span. The protein and fats in yogurt are healthy for you.

Certain retailers stock only what sells in this highest volume which is usually the nonfat variety, costco for example.

I started making my own full fat greek yogurt, it's pretty easy.

I believe it's to keep the calorie under 150. Cabot is at 300 calories per serving, whereas the low-fat to 2% ones are typically around 120 calories.

I suggest checking "Nancy's" dairy line, made in Oregon.

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