Dairy farmers in New England are dumping milk as saturated processing plants fail to keep up with record production.

For the fifth year in a row, U.S milk production has reached record levels at 18.4 billion pounds in May alone.

According to Bloomberg, the glut has caused dairy producers to pour milk into dirt holes. Government data shows that dairies in the northeast have dumped 31 percent more this year than over the same period last year.

Agri-Mark, a massive Massachusetts-based dairy cooperative, has buried 600,000 pounds.

Increased production is attributed in part to cheaper and more plentiful feed for cows.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture report from 2013 said Americans drink 37 percent less milk today than they did in 1970, though booming cheese production is driving global milk demand, which is expected to rise for a sixth straight year.

Read More:

• The U.S. Is Producing a Record Amount of Milk and Dumping the Leftovers (Bloomberg)
• Why Are Americans Consuming Less Fluid Milk? (USDA)