Farmer reveals why Walmart's Great Value milk is cheaper than other brands: "Just look at the label..."

Top retail chains such as Walmart and Costco are still in the game despite the rise of e-commerce, because of the discounts and other perks that they offer. Like other retailers, Walmart has its Great Value brand that promises products at a reasonable price. However, the cheaper products may come at a cost, according to a video posted by TikTok creator @iowadairyfarmer.

The farmer from Iowa shared the video in response to another user who asked why half a gallon of "Prairie Farms Milk" cost twice as much as a full gallon of Walmart's "Great Value Milk". Taking over, the farmer assured that he does have an explanation but there is a "caveat' to the answer.

Diving into the explanation, the creator says that the first reason why Walmart’s Great Value milk brand is a lot cheaper than the Prairie Farms is because it's skimmed milk and not whole milk. The whole milk of Prairie Farms is more dense and has more fat and nutrients compared to Great Value, the farmer says. "You're comparing apples to oranges here," the creator said.

He admitted that he may be a little biased in his explanation toward Prairie Farms because the company buys the milk from his farm. He then said that the second reason why Great Value milk is cheaper is because they procure milk from larger farms. He claimed that Prairie Farms buys milk from smaller family-owned farms and they do not buy excess milk from them to ensure they are paid a fair price. He further added that they only take as much as they need to pay a steady amount. “So when you buy Prairie Farms milk, on average, you’re supporting smaller, family-owned farms," the farmer said. 

“If you like the concept of smaller farms and you would rather support farms like mine, you can buy Prairie Farms," he added. The farmer further explained that Great Value also displays where it procures its milk from, so if buyers want to check, all they have to do is see the label. 

“But you can still know your farms even if you buy the lower-price Great Value option. You can look up where the label is, and which plant that milk came from. Look at the code, and you can see. Maybe it came from this one in Wisconsin and find out which farm shipped to that plant," he explained.

Several viewers in the comments agreed with the farmer and added more reasons behind the price difference. "A grocer like Walmart can also afford to keep a razor-thin margin on a staple like milk that will always be bought. They can even take a small loss on these staples that way you buy higher margin items," @beardedhunter0304 pointed out. 

While the farmer tried to put out a comprehensive explanation, he admittedly named Prairie Farms too much, which made the video look like a commercial. This is what most viewers expressed in the comments section of the video. "I feel like I was just hypnotized. Why do I want to go buy some prairie farms milk, prairie farms milk is good I think, prairie farms is healthy, must find prairie farms milk,😵‍💫" @skittlesfireburst commented. 

For more updates and videos, follow @iowadairyfarmer  on TikTok.