ROCKY HILL, Conn. -- Milk prices are being cited as the main reason why the number of dairy farms in the state has decreased by roughly 37 percent since 2000.

In 2000, there were 240 dairy farmers in the state. Last year that number was down to 155. Since January, another four have closed.

Those in the industry said dairy farmers are in a state of crisis. They said they're losing about $1 on every gallon of milk they produce.

"We had an OK year last year," said James Smith, of Cushman Farms. "You hope you can ride out the storm and hope that someday soon things will pick up, but when you're losing a dollar on every gallon of milk you produce, it doesn't take very long."

Because the price farmers get for their milk is dictated by the federal government, and the cost of production is so much higher in New England than in other parts of the country, farmers in the region are facing a difficult battle.

"A lot of milk in the United States was going overseas prior to the economic crash, and when that stopped we had a surplus of fluid milk and it didn't take long for prices to crash," Rep. Joe Courtney said.

Courtney met with dairy farmers in Windham Country on Tuesday to hear their stories firsthand and lay out what role, if any, the federal government can play in their efforts to remain in business -- a billion-dollar-plus business in Connecticut.

"It's always a game of numbers," he said. "You need a critical mass, and the numbers of districts that have dairy, especially small dairy, is not a large number. It's as simple as that.

"We have to sort of keep driving the message home that there is a new factor," he said. "That is, again, this recent collapse of prices, which the farm bill can't accommodate, and we really have got to have a revisit of this issue."