The US dairy industry is fighting to slow the persistent decline in US milk consumption as eating habits change and rival drinks keep popping up on supermarket shelves.
Coffee bars selling US$3 (NZ$4.50) iced lattes are popping up in US high schools, helped along by dairy groups scrambling for new ways to get people to drink milk.
At a high school in North Dakota, US$5000 from a dairy group helped pay for an espresso machine that makes lattes with about 230 millilitres of milk each. The drinks used 2000 litres of milk this year.
It’s not known how much coffee drinks in high schools might help boost US milk consumption, or whether this will even get traction nationally. But with US consumption of milk down 40% since 1975, the dairy industry is looking for all the help it can get.
