The Stratford dairy farm in KwaZulu-Natal province recently disposed of 11,800 litres of unpasteurized milk after the farms' cooling systems failed due to a power outage.
The milk was enough for a full day, and the farm's director, Ross Stratford, warned that if the energy crisis continued, milk prices would skyrocket. Ross reported that Eskom, a South African public utility that transmits and distributes electricity, supplied insufficient power to the farm, preventing the generators from kicking in on time and causing the fans and contractors to burn out.
Because much of the equipment blew out along with the cooling system, they were unable to cool the harvested milk quickly enough before it spoilt. According to Ross Stratford, the farm lost R85,000 (US$4,947) that day.
The spoiled milk had to be disposed of due to regulations imposed on the quality of milk farmers are expected to sell. Milk derived directly from cows is required to be pasteurized before it is sold.
Because the farm lacks the necessary infrastructure to pasteurize milk, it is harvested and sold to processing companies, which pasteurize and process it to make dairy products.
Burning out of equipment has been a constant issue, resulting in additional costs for repairing the equipment as well as the cost of purchasing diesel to keep the backup generators running.
"The entire supply chain is affected, but retailers want to keep the costs of milk as low as possible, to drive customers to their stores. We are unable to raise the price of the milk we sell, so we must cut costs in other areas of our business," Stratford claims.
Farmers are turning to insurance for their equipment, and because this is unsustainable, the price of milk will inevitably rise, affecting consumers and jeopardizing the country's food security.
