(Replying to PARENT post)
And if you read the actual data[1], you'll realize that 73% of the returns come through subsidies. Or $0.35(cdn)/liter, so ~$1.40/gallon.
Really, that energy/water consumption number in the OP is bogus. There's no way around that. It doesn't mean that milk is particularly environmentally friendly, but neither is it anywhere near as devastating as OP made it out to be.
[1] https://www.realagriculture.com/2018/02/u-s-dairy-subsidies-...
(Replying to PARENT post)
That said we recently had to fund raise for farmers due to too dry weather and supermarkets increased the price a little bit explicitly to help them out.
(Replying to PARENT post)
The subsidies they received are baked into the current market prices you see for a barrel of oil.
(Replying to PARENT post)
Milk prices vary wildly from market to market in the U.S.
Where I live, where cows are rare, it's $2.39/gallon. In greener regions nearby it's closer to $1.89/gallon.
When I lived in Ohio, the hypermarkets always had it for 99¢/gallon as a loss-leader.
I can only assume that $3.50/gallon is normal for... San Francisco, maybe? Or if you're buying organic, free-range, ultra-filtered, sustainable milk.
(Replying to PARENT post)
If approximately 73% of the milk price is subsidized, that is about $12.96. Also, oil is heavily subsidized, which is the main cost of plastic bottled milk dispatched by oil using trucks.