This has much less to do with the rise of plant-based milk than the article implies. USDA checkoff programs force diary farmers to fund marketing while USDA marketing orders set minimum dairy prices. The result of this meddling is an enormous oversupply of dairy products. The USDA buys surplus cheese to encourage domestic cheese production. They buy surplus milk and give it to food banks. The oversupply caused by this bizarre fixation was noticed decades ago and a warning was published in the Federal Register in 1983:

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-1983-08-02/pdf/FR-198...