According to an article in the Burlington Free Press, "Vermont's dairy farmers are grateful for a coming boost in federal price supports, but it won't be enough to reverse the downward economic spiral gripping Vermont's farmers."

Read it here:
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20090806/NEWS02/90806011

Something is very wrong with a system in which profits for the processors are up significantly while farmers and their suppliers struggle to keep their heads above water. So how come I never heard of Dean?

The Dean Foods Company is an American food and beverage company. In 1925, founder Samuel E. Dean bought the Pecatonica Marketing Company, an evaporated milk processing facility located in northwestern Illinois and named it the Dean Evaporated Milk Company in 1927.

Dean immediately began to expand the company by purchasing local Illinois dairy plants. The company's growth through acquisitions continued until December 21, 2001 when it was acquired by Dallas based Suiza Foods Corporation, a larger acquisition dairy company. After the acquisition, Suiza moved all operations to Dallas, Texas and the "new" Dean Foods Company was born.

As the dairy industry leader in the United States, Dean Foods Company sells milk and a full range of related products under more than 50 well-known local and regional brands, and a wide array of private labels. Dean Foods also sells products such as fluid milk, frozen vegetables, and has even become part of the pickle processor industry in the United States. They are the largest producer of soy milk in the United States. Their brands also include organic and non-dairy milks. It has been estimated that the total of cows milked by Dean exceeds the total production of milk in Vermont.

Their subsidiary White Wave Foods is the distributor of Silk soy milk, Horizon Organic dairy products, International Delight creamer, some Land O'Lakes dairy products, and Hershey's milk products. In addition, Dean Foods owns many other brands. Dairy products with any of the following brand names are owned by Dean: AltaDena, Borden, Brown's Dairy, Country Delite, Country Fresh, Creamland, Dairy Fresh, Garelick Farms, Meadow Brook, Meadow Gold, PET Evaporated Milk, Tuscan Dairy Farms, and Verifine. There are others.