The Protein Shortage Is Coming

This is also said at the end of TFA, where it says that "North America is currently building out about $12 billion of dairy-processing capacity. Projections suggest that the current shortage will be short-lived and that the dairy industry will catch up with demand in the near future."

Nonetheless, cow milk has only a small fraction of whey, so if the rest of the milk is not used for making cheese or milk protein concentrate, providing additional revenue, the whey would still be more expensive than now, increasing the prices of any products derived from it.

I happen to be affected by this price increase, because for me the most important sources of protein are lentils and whey protein concentrate, which contribute about the same amount of protein to my typical diet.

In Europe, where I live, as described in another article that is linked in the parent article, the price increase for whey protein concentrate already happened around a half of year ago, reaching around EUR 20 per kilogram, almost the double of its previous price. This is still acceptable, because divided by their amounts of protein content the prices for whey protein concentrate and chicken breast are about the same for now, but previously, where I live, whey protein concentrate was cheaper than any meat.