Since 1970, per capita milk consumption has been in the 20s. It
started out in the upper 20s ― 29.8 gallons of per capita fluid
milk sales in 1970, to be exact ― and has fallen steadily ever
since. Now, it’s precariously close to falling out of the 20s
and into the teens. According to the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, fluid milk sales totaled 53.739 billion pounds in
2011. If that number is divided by a U.S. population of 311.8
million in the middle part of last year, and then pounds are
converted to gallons, the answer is 20.04. To read the USDA
report, click here and go to Table 10. On Monday, declining
fluid milk consumption was the topic of this article in the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. In the article, Vivian Godfrey, CEO
of the Milk Processor Education Program, acknowledges, “Milk has
lost out to other beverages, primarily bottled water.” Bottled
water and soft drinks, through branding and innovative
marketing, have been able to assume their own distinct
identities, whereas milk is largely seen as a c