(NAFB.com) – The U.S. dairy industry has evolved during the past 20 years, with fewer dairy farms producing more milk. The USDA’s Economic Research Service says this raised questions about how dairy farms have changed in size, location, use of advanced technology, and cost of production. An ERS report addresses the issues of how the dairy farm structure has changed and how it differs by the size of operations and location. The study found that consistent with long-term trends, the number of U.S. dairy farms has fallen while milk production has risen. Moderate shifts in dairy farm locations have occurred between 2020 and 2022, with Texas and Idaho gaining production share while California lost some share. Dairy farm usage has trended upward for several advanced technologies, management practices, and production systems. Larger farms, on average, were more specialized in production and greater adopters of the most advanced technologies and management practices.