“America’s Dairyland” is written on our licence plates. Our state has the most dairy farms of any state. Since 2009, our farmers have set a new annual record for milk production. However, the future of Wisconsin’s dairy industry appears bleak.

According to a new US Department of Agriculture report, the average American dairy farm has only turned a profit twice in the last 20 years. Between 1997 and 2017, 64% of Wisconsin’s family farms closed. In addition, one-third of dairy processors have gone out of business since 1970.
Why?

Monopolies. Dairy Farmers of America, Land O’ Lakes, and California Dairies, Inc. dominate the dairy industry, controlling 83% of milk sales. Simply put, large corporations are driving out small family farms.
The Concept

Dairy industry experts are urging the federal government to intervene and reform farm policy in order to assist family farmers like the nearly 7,000 in Wisconsin.

2020 marked the first time in state history that the number of dairy farms fell below 7,000.

“Family-scale dairies are collapsing at an alarming rate, and those that survive face rising costs, negative returns, and mounting debt, while consumers are sold the illusion of pastoral, sustainable milk products,” said Rebecca Wolf, a Food & Water Watch food policy analyst.

“The next Farm Bill represents a critical opportunity to reverse course by restoring supply management and reforming the farm safety net. The Farm System Reform Act, as well as the Food and Agribusiness Merger Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act, will help ensure that we do not dig a deeper hole by preventing consolidation and factory farm proliferation.”

Sarah Lloyd, a dairy farmer from Wisconsin, has also asked the government for assistance right now.

“We need prices that are fair, covering our cost of production and giving us a return to maintain our businesses and make a living. Overproduction and industry consolidation make this increasingly difficult, if not impossible,” Lloyd explained. “We won’t be able to export our way out of this.”
FAQ on the Farm Bill

The country’s first farm bill was enacted in the 1930s as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. The bill expires and is updated every five years. The current bill is set to expire at the end of 2023.

Data on Dairy

• Only about 3% of Wisconsin farms produce 40% of the state’s milk.
• Wisconsin’s milk production has increased by 25% in the last decade, but average farmer profits have not increased.
• Milk prices reached an all-time high in 2014, but have since fallen.
• In Wisconsin, the average profit margin for milk is 10%.

The region has been severely impacted by the cyclone’s aftermath, with power, roads, and communication only recently restored.

1News spoke with Nick Dawson, a dairy farmer from Patoka, just outside of Napier, who is being forced to cut his season by four months due to a lack of road access.

Dawson had to halt all milk production when the power went out, which caused significant problems for the welfare of his 460 animals.

“Our biggest issue right now is animal welfare; just getting stock water is a big issue,” he said.

“There’s also light and power for our stock water, so when that goes out, it’s pretty difficult.”

Dawson was unable to milk his cows for four days; when cows are not milked, they are susceptible to infections such as mastitis – he claims eight of his cows are affected.

He told 1News that production was up 26% for the year, making it the farm’s best season ever; however, Cyclone Gabrielle changed that.

Cows are being milked again, thanks to generators, but tankers are unable to enter the farm, forcing Dawson to dump milk.

“It’s ridiculous; there are people starving all over the world, and we’re dumping milk,” he said.

“I don’t think a tanker will come here for four to six months.”

Due to the early end of the season, Dawson is unable to get the product off the farm and thus cannot make a living. Fonterra, thankfully, will pay him for the last three years of average output.

He stated that the cyclone had altered the farm’s entire plan.

“You set your whole year around for this production, this milking and sheep and beef farms are the same; they’ve gotta get their product off the farm to make some money.

“Without them coming off, we’ve got to start thinking about winter rations, how we’re going to get through winter with the amount of grass we’ve got.”

Slips have destroyed Patrick Crawshaw’s land, which he also farms in the area.
Crawshaw, Patrick.
Crawshaw, Patrick. (Image courtesy of 1News)

He said it was difficult to see his land in the state it was in after the cyclone.

“We went through the process of [installing] hundreds of kilometres of fencing to protect the waterways, try and create biodiversity, stock management and things like that; it’s all in pieces now.

“It’s all rebuildable, but the task is enormous,” he explained.

While both men’s farms have been severely damaged, they agree that connecting the community and assisting those in need is the most important task.

“Last night, I turned on the TV for the first time in days, and we’ve got it easy,” Dawson said.

“Thoughts go out to people in town; we’re fine, we’re pretty self-sufficient; I think, look after them first and then work your way out.

“I’m fine with the work that we’ve got ahead of us and the process of getting that back in shape, but certainly out of our farm gate, it’s more about people’s welfare,” Crawshaw said.

Dairy exports in the United States reached a new high of $7.6 billion in 2021, up from $6.4 billion in 2020. However, US dairy exports not only broke that record last year; they shattered it, with exports totalling $9.5 billion. In just one year, exports have increased by 25%. According to USDA, the United States shipped 2.4 million metric tonnes to foreign buyers, a 5% increase from 2021.

“We’ve had three consecutive years of record U.S. dairy exports while facing some of the strongest dairy export headwinds we’ve ever seen,” says Krysta Harden, President and CEO of the United States Dairy Export Council.

The United States set annual export records for cheese, whey, and lactose. Cheese shipments from the United States increased by 12% to 451,370 metric tonnes, or nearly 1 billion pounds.
Working hard pays off.

“The dairy industry in the United States did not get to this point overnight,” Harden says. “It took more than two decades of hard work to get here — work that included strengthening the United States’ global reputation as a reliable supplier of high-quality dairy products, developing relationships with overseas buyers, promoting dairy consumption in high-potential markets, and investing in people, products, and infrastructure specifically designed to meet the varying needs of consumers from Tokyo to Dubai to Lima.”

In 2022, the United States increased its global cheese sales, posting gains on multiple continents. Mexico grew 18%, the Middle East and North Africa grew 41%, Japan grew 17%, Central America grew 17%, the Caribbean grew 25%, South Korea grew 9%, Australia grew 14%, and Colombia grew 28%.

Mexico became the United States’ first $2 billion dairy export market, with sales increasing 37% to $2.5 billion.

Mexico was also the top volume market for the United States, with exports increasing by 9%. Better-than-expected economic growth — five consecutive quarters of GDP growth through December 2022 — aided demand recovery. A stronger peso aided affordability, especially in the second half of the year. In 2022, the United States’ cheese, nonfat dry milk/skim milk powder (NFDM/SMP), and butterfat sales to Mexico all set new highs. Cheese shipments from the United States to Mexico increased by 18%, NFDM/SMP sales increased by 6%, and butterfat increased by 340%.

In 2022, the top product markets in the United States were:

Mexico exported 27% of its cheese, 43% of its NFDM/SMP, and 30% of its milk protein concentrate.

China was responsible for 30% of whey exports and 26% of lactose exports.

Canada exported 43% of all butterfat.

Taiwan was responsible for 38% of fluid milk and cream exports.

The return of butter

Butter exports totalled 144.1 million pounds in 2022, a 48% increase over 2021 and the highest level since 2013. Butter exports totalled $240.5 million in 2022, a 37% increase over 2021. Last year’s top markets for US butter exports were Canada (105% increase), Bahrain (38% increase), South Korea (209% increase), and Mexico (97% increase).

Ice cream exports in 2022 were 2% lower than in 2021. Ice cream exports totalled $255.6 million, a 3% increase over the previous year.

Tom (from left), Tammy, Vanessa, holding Johan, Mallory and Jeremy Mursu stand by their farm near New York Mills, Minnesota. The Mursus were named the 2022 Minnesota Milk Producers of the Year. PHOTO SUBMITTED

More than 1,350 guests have visited Mursu Dairy during the last 10 years. A brown guest book lays open at the dairy, awaiting visitors who come for a tour. It is the second book of its kind, the first had the names of more than 1,000 guests.
People from the neighborhood, county, state, country and around the world have made their way to Mursu Dairy to see the innovation of this small dairy farm near New York Mills. But now in addition to vast visitors, Mursu Dairy has been named the 2022 Minnesota Milk Producers of the Year.
 “We do what we can in our little corner of the world,” Tammy Mursu said.

The farm is run by Tom Mursu and his wife, Tammy, and their son, Jeremy Mursu, and his wife, Vanessa.
Tom said the award is an honor.
“We were shocked,” he said.
Minnesota Milk selects a farm from those who have been nominated. Nominees are touted as being innovative and open to the public.
Tom said Mursu Dairy has seen an uptick in interest ever since they put two robotic milking systems on their farm.
“We’ve always had an open door,” Tom said.
Tom has served on cooperative boards, and Tom and Tammy serve on the Otter Tail County American Dairy Association. Jeremy serves on the West Central Holstein Club board.
The whole Mursu family is involved in planning and implementing an annual visit to the farm by the New York Mills kindergarten class. Each year, the students come to the farm to see and learn about where milk comes from. Princess Kay of the Milky Way usually pays a visit to the school that day as well. The event started in 2014 as an idea between Tammy and daughter Bridgett, who is a kindergarten teacher.
Mursu Dairy has come a long way in the past 70 years. Tom’s parents started to rent a dairy farm near New York Mills in the mid-1950s. After a couple of years of renting, they bought the farm.
Tom’s dad, Martin, would get up every morning and milk 12 cows by hand. Then, on his way to his job at Wadena Silo Company, he would drop the milk off at the creamery. As Tom got more involved in the farm, the cow numbers slowly increased.
By the mid-2000s, Tom was milking 50 cows in the 36-stall tiestall barn. In 2012, the Mursus talked about improvements.
“That got to be too labor intensive so something had to change,” Tom said.
Their solution was to build a new barn and purchase two Lely robotic milking units. Construction started for the project in fall 2012 and was completed in June 2013. Today, the Mursus milk around 145 cows.
“Those first years, we had a lot of people come to visit,” Tom said. “It did not take long to fill the guest book Tammy had set out.”
The Mursus farm 500 acres of owned and rented land. They harvest dry corn, silage corn and high-moisture corn. They raise their replacements and forages.
“It was an excellent year for forage,” Tom said.
Jeremy farms full time with his dad and is in charge of robot maintenance, taking care of the cows, breeding and helping with fieldwork. He has been farming full time since winter 2008.
When Jeremy graduated high school, he went to Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Fergus Falls. While there, he took a course in taxidermy and then did taxidermy work for the next two years. He then pursued a degree in elementary education.
While Jeremy was student teaching in fall 2008, he realized that was not the career for him. Since then, Jeremy has been farming with his dad. Vanessa cares for their two children and helps when she can, especially in preparation for the kindergarten visit.
Tammy helps on the farm by feeding the calves and does the bookwork. The calves are housed in the original barn that is more than 100 years old.
Tom and Tammy’s son, Trent, is a welder in Detroit Lakes. Both Bridgett and Trent come to the farm to help at various times of the year.
Martin, 93, comes to the farm every week day.
Of Tom and Tammy’s 11 grandchildren, those who are old enough to join 4-H lease animals from Tom and Tammy and show at the county fair.
Tom and Jeremy are working with an estate planning attorney to transition the farm to Jeremy.
“I think flexibility is the way to go,” Tom said.
The flexibility is also why the Mursus decided to go with robotic milking in the first place. Because they are a small farm, they do not have any employees and wanted to have the flexibility to get other things done around the farm and off the farm. They never expected to have so much attention after putting in the robots. Almost immediately, the Mursus started to welcome visitors to see the robots.
“Robots are pretty common now, but when we first got them, it was a new thing,” Tom said.
Word spread about the new technology and soon friends, friends of friends, neighbors, community members and church groups were coming to the dairy.
Tammy keeps the guest book in the office of the barn, and it contains names of people from around the world. One memorable guest was a woman from Malaysia, who was living in New York City to attend college and made her way to Mursu Dairy. She came to New York Mills with some friends who had family in the area.
“She didn’t know the difference between a hay field and a corn field,” Tom said. “We let her feed a calf; that was an experience for her.”
The Mursus said she learned a lot while visiting Minnesota and left an impact they will not soon forget. Tammy said they helped her see the good of the American farm.
“She came to realize that farmers do take good care of their animals, and in turn, the cows take care of us,” Tammy said.

According to Jennifer Spencer, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension dairy specialist in Stephenville, milk prices remain historically good for producers, and demand for milk and milk products ranging from cheese to ice cream remains strong. However, she claims that higher input costs are reducing profitability.

According to Spencer, Texas continues to perform well and add dairy capacity and cows. Texas surpassed Idaho to take third place in milk production for the first six months of 2022. However, the summer heat reduced output, and Texas finished fourth for the year.

Texas dairies produced 15.1 billion pounds of milk as of December 1, a 6% increase over the same period last year. According to the US Department of Agriculture, Spencer expected the 2022 total to be near 16 billion pounds by the end of the year, up from 15.6 billion pounds in 2021.

Prices remained above $23 per hundredweight in 2022, after fluctuating between $23 and $25 per hundredweight. The price per hundredweight averaged $23.67.

However, dairy producers faced additional challenges this year as higher costs reduced potential profits, according to Spencer.

Feed costs account for roughly 60% of dairy producers’ expenses on average, she claims. Drought and high fertiliser costs impacted forage yields this year, and prices for grains and supplemental feed like cotton seed rose dramatically.

Fuel costs and labour shortages also hampered dairy operators more than in a typical year, according to Spencer.

“Dairy producers had more opportunity to be profitable in 2021 because they didn’t have to struggle to keep up with rising feed and other costs,” she says. “Despite the good prices, it was a difficult year.”

Texas dairies are continuing to follow industry trends in which dairy size and overall production are increasing while the number of operations is decreasing.
TEXAS DAIRY PRODUCTION IS EXPANDING

Texas’ dairy production could increase significantly in the coming years as processing capacity expands to handle milk. Multiple soft cheese processing facilities, such as cottage cheese, cream cheese, and other spreadable cheeses, are set to expand or open in the next two years to meet rising demand.

The cheese industry was the primary destination for the 226 billion pounds of milk produced in the United States in 2021. 1 pound of cheese requires 10 pounds of milk.

Amarillo’s facility will open later this fall, and Stephenville’s facilities will likely expand. Another facility in Lubbock is set to open in 2024, and a new facility in western Kansas will receive milk from the Texas Panhandle.

Dairies in the Texas Plains produce approximately 80% of Texas milk.

“Texas dairies increased their production capacity by about 25,000 cows this year, and the processing expansion will help producers add to that growth,” she says. “One of the limiting factors impeding production is processing capacity.”

Liquid milk consumption is declining, but dairy products for lactose intolerant consumers are increasing, according to Spencer. Summer ice cream demand typically results in seasonally higher milk prices.

Whey, which is used in products such as muscle recovery powders and baby formula, is a growing part of dairy demand, according to Spencer. It is a byproduct of cheese production that was considered waste until a use for its 99% amino acid protein was discovered.

Spencer claims that consistently expanding dairy options for consumers is driving overall production growth in the United States.

“Texas producers are very progressive, so they are adapting to the challenges in order to maintain production and profitability,” she says. “The demand is there, and I believe there is room for Texas dairy production to expand further.”

According to French media sources, the probe, which will also look at the smaller firm Celia Laiterie de Craon, is tied to a huge controversy in 2017 involving salmonella poisoning of newborn formula.

“This step marks the beginning of the judicial investigation in which Lactalis will be fully involved and in full France probes dairy giant Lactalis over recall failure, negligence transparency”, the company said.

“We will get access to all of the components in the case in the coming weeks and will be able to reply precisely to the entirety of the concerns highlighted in this inquiry,” Lactalis said.

Lactalis, a privately owned company, is the world’s biggest cheese maker and one of the world’s largest dairy conglomerates.

Established in 1933, the firm has grown gradually throughout the years. It became a prominent worldwide player after acquiring Italy’s Parmalat in 2011.

Poland’s leading grocery chains recently began selling butter for PLN3 (US$0.68) per package, the lowest price in years. Butter prices in the Polish dairy sector increased by 20% in 2022, with certain product categories exceeding PLN10 (US$2.26) per package. Dairy firms have warned that by decreasing retail pricing, retailers are eroding profits across the supply chain.

“Nobody considers how such pricing would effect farmers,” Waldemar Bro, head of the National Organization of Dairy Cooperatives, told Money. “Over the previous two years, the price has been at or near the European average. But, not only has the price of butter decreased.”

Despite rising production costs, last year was reasonably favourable for Lithuanian dairy enterprises, according to Dalius Trumpa, CEO of Lithuanian dairy company Rokikio Sris. “Unfortunately, it has already passed us by. Dairy product prices are not merely declining this year. They’re crumbling.”

On January 24, a group of dairy firms addressed an open letter to the Polish Agriculture Ministry’s Henryk Kowalczyk, requesting that authorities interfere in the market. The authors cautioned that the sector was on the verge of collapsing owing to a sharp deterioration in market circumstances in Poland and other Central and Eastern European regions.

Another Polish dairy sector association, Dairy Forum, stated in January that local dairy firms were under rising pricing pressure from retail chains. Retailers, in turn, are thought to be concerned about a continuous reduction in sales of the most popular dairy products in recent months.
Exports are under attack.

In general, the price decrease is a worldwide trend. In recent months, the price of exported cheese in important overseas markets has fallen from €5 to €4 per kg.

Polish dairy producers have also warned of a decline in the worldwide price of a variety of dairy products such as powdered milk, butter, powdered whey, and cheese. Bro voiced worry that “prices are decreasing every day,” which might harm Polish dairy exports.

To some degree, the decline in worldwide pricing may be ascribed to fewer Chinese dairy imports in recent months, according to Polish dairy producers, who note that China is the world’s biggest consumer of dairy products and controls the price dynamics on the global market.

School lunches are a lifeline for many hungry youngsters. Every day, about 30 million youngsters depend on school lunches. Moreover, according to a 2021 peer-reviewed study conducted by experts at Tufts University and the Icahn School of Medicine, food eaten in schools had the greatest nutritional quality when compared to food consumed in grocery shops, restaurants, and other significant food sources.

On other days, school dinners may be the only healthy meal that children get. Even for children who do not encounter food hardship, school meals may help cover nutritional gaps in their diet, particularly those given by dairy foods. In reality, children who engage in school meals eat more dairy milk, fruits and vegetables, and less sweets and snacks than non-participants.

Many children’s diets, particularly those from minority populations, do not reach the daily dairy intake suggested by the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans beginning at the age of four. This is crucial because nutrient-rich milk contains calcium, vitamin D, and potassium, three elements that many youngsters do not get enough of in their diets.

Notwithstanding the advantages of dairy, there are misconceptions concerning dairy foods and school meal quality. Here are four facts about how dairy in school meals helps youngsters develop and learn.

1. Dairy is often consumed in school meals.

Many school-age youngsters get their dairy through school lunches. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, school lunches are the richest source of dairy in children’s diets. Moreover, school meals may include up to two of the three required daily portions of dairy.

According to a 2017 research published in Preventive Medicine Reports, school meals supply 77% of low-income children’s daily dairy milk intake and 70% of total dairy consumption. Milk and dairy foods, such as cheese and yoghurt, are essential in ensuring that children from all socioeconomic situations benefit from dairy’s nutrients.

2. A range of milk choices are available, all of which include nutrients.

Milk alternatives in schools include fat-free, low-fat, flavoured, and lactose-free milk. Whichever kind of milk a student selects, it contains 13 important components that are beneficial to health.

A word on lactose-free milk: Contrary to common misconception, a student does not require paperwork to get lactose-free milk, such as a parent letter or a physician declaration. It is permitted in school food programmes to meet the health requirements of pupils. “I represent a school district with a high African American population, and lactose-free milk is served as an option for any of my students who want it, helping them benefit from milk’s hard-to-replace nutrient content,” says Donna Martin, EdS, RDN, LD, SNS, FAND, school nutrition director at Burke County Schools in Georgia.

3. Flavored milk has less additional sugar than you would assume.

Many parents and health experts are worried about the presence of added sugars in their children’s diets. The good news is that milk firms have collaborated with schools to minimise the amount of added sugars in school-available flavoured milk.

According to the National Dairy Council, between 2007 and 2021, the dairy industry in the United States decreased added sugars in flavoured milk in schools by almost half. The average calorie count of flavoured milk provided in schools is 126, which is just 29 higher than unflavored milk. In the end, according to NHANES statistics, flavoured milk accounts for just 4% of added sugars in the diets of children aged 2 to 18, with soft drinks accounting for the majority of added sugars.

4. Flavored milk boosts intake of milk and nutrients.

According to a research published in Nutrition Today, eliminating flavoured milk from schools may reduce overall milk intake and impair children’s ability to satisfy their nutritional requirements.

Drinking flavoured milk may really assist youngsters in meeting their nutritional requirements. According to a 2022 study published in the journal ACTA Scientific Nutritional Health, consumers of flavoured milk drank approximately 1-cup more total milk than non-consumers, which contributed to higher consumption of calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamins A, D, and B-12, and riboflavin. In fact, as compared to non-flavored milk drinkers, they drank 51% more vitamin D, 27% more calcium, and 16% more potassium.

These are only a few statistics that demonstrate the significance of milk and dairy foods as part of nutrient-dense school meals. Children may not acquire all of the nutrients they need to develop and learn throughout their childhood and adolescence if this key food category is not included in the healthy eating patterns offered by school meals.

According to Doug McKalip, chief agricultural trade negotiator for the United States Trade Representative’s office, Canada’s second attempt at allocating dairy tariff quotas shut out most of the firms, providing only a fraction of the access promised in the trade agreement between the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

“Under the USMCA, Canada pledged to open its market to U.S. dairy goods, and dairy producers anticipate receiving the market access advantages promised,” McKalip added.

On January 31, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) requested a USMCA dispute settlement panel for the second time, claiming that Canada’s revised quota allocation rules failed to address issues that prompted an initial dispute panel to rule last year that Canada’s practises violated its USMCA obligations.

In response, Canada’s trade minister, Mary Ng, has committed to defend the supply management system and accused USTR of attempting to “renegotiate” the provisions of the USMCA agreement via the dispute resolution process.

The first panel held that Canada had improperly reserved the majority of its quotas for raw milk imports by Canadian processors, blocking Canadian merchants and food service companies from importing several higher-value US dairy products.

According to McKalip, Canada’s quota modifications “fallen again, well short of real market access.”

Additionally, the agricultural trade official, who was approved by the US Senate on December 23, told Reuters that he urged Mexico to explain the science behind its prohibition on genetically modified maize, paving the way for another USMCA trade dispute case.

As part of the USMCA trade agreement, which was signed in 2020, Canada agreed to provide US dairy farmers access to around 3.5% of its $17 billion yearly market and to enable greater US skim milk and milk protein exports to Canada.

The agreement maintained Canada’s decades-old supply management system, which limits local dairy, egg, and poultry output to stabilise revenue and safeguard against foreign competition with hefty tariffs.

Tariff-rate quotas are intended to enable certain amounts of dairy imports duty-free while imposing tariffs if the limitations are met.

Yet, McKalip claims that Canada continues to restrict merchants and food service enterprises access to quotas, which should be made available to all buyers and sellers.

“It should work the same way it does for almost any commodity and any type of relationship of this kind, in that they truly do provide market access and that dairy farmers and various dairy products here in the United States are able to compete and be part of selling to willing buyers,” McKalip said.

“We’re not asking them to do anything they didn’t agree to when they agreed to the clauses of USMCA,” McKalip said of the United States’ stance.

A Goulburn Valley water body wants to know what governments will do when the Murray-Darling Basin Plan ends.

After a difficult couple of years marked by supply chain and inflationary challenges, Saputo has shifted its emphasis to value above volume.

Since input prices “remain high” throughout the supply chain and labour, president and CEO Lino Saputo, Jr., said the Canadian dairy giant is “focused on achieving cost reductions in addition to pricing actions to offset some of the cost challenges we cannot control”.

“The operational environment remains dynamic,” Mr. Saputo said as he delivered third-quarter results through December 31, with adjusted EBITDA increasing almost 30% to CAD1.16 billion (US$868.3 million) for fiscal 2023 to date. “As a result, we are pursuing our efficiency and productivity measures.”

As part of its four-year strategic strategy, Saputo aims to increase that measure to CAD2.13 billion by the conclusion of the fiscal year 2025. Adjusted EBITDA increased 38% to CAD445 million in the quarter.

“Despite price increases compared to last year, dairy remains an inexpensive, versatile, and accessible alternative relative to other proteins on the market,” Mr. Saputo noted. “But, customers are value aware, so we’re satisfying their demands via specific product choices, pack sizes, and promotions.”

The adjusted EBITDA margin grew to 9.7% in the quarter from 8.3% in the same period in 2022.

Since the strategic plan’s debut in the summer of 2021, Saputo’s CEO has detailed the shifting market dynamics caused by pandemic-related supply chain bottlenecks and inflationary pressures.

“The second factor I would say that has changed substantially from the earlier stages of the strat plan, is we’re not concentrating on the volume objectives anymore, we’re focusing on value above volume. And this is a significant move to ensure that we maintain our margins and continue to offer a valuable product for our consumers in an environment where they’re willing to pay for the added value,” Mr. Saputo told investors on a post-results call.
Consolidation of manufacturing facilities

Despite pricing to offset growing input prices, Saputo’s volumes are largely holding up, while customers in Europe, particularly the United Kingdom, are bearing a greater pain from energy price increases than those in the United States or Canada. Volumes in Europe fell throughout the quarter.

“Our elasticities are only mildly growing, and we see solid market demand,” the CEO added.

He added: “In Europe, amid continued inflationary headwinds and a tough consumer environment in the UK, the firm improved its performance backed by price initiatives resulting into sales and EBITDA growth. Nonetheless, the persistent volatility in the operating environment put more pressure on operating margins.”

After previous statements about facility closures in the United States and Australia, Mr. Saputo hinted that more optimisation around manufacturing capacities might be in the works.

Earlier this month, the business announced plans to establish a new cheese factory in Franklin, Wisconsin, but only after closing three others: the Big Stone plant in South Dakota, the Green Bay facility in Wisconsin, and the South Gate facility in California.

As a consequence, Saputo anticipates “financial gains” beginning in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 and “fulfilling its full potential” of roughly CAD74m per year by the end of 2027.

“We’ll continue to close the margin gap as we go on with our global strategic plan activities, which include productivity measures, right-sizing our manufacturing footprint, optimising our plant operating expenses, and cost savings,” Mr. Saputo stated.

Saputo reported third-quarter sales of CAD4.6 billion, an increase of 18%. Thus far this year, it has increased by 20.7% to CAD13.4 billion.

Throughout the relevant quarters, net income almost quadrupled to CAD179m from CAD86m the previous year, and increased to CAD463m from CAD237m year to date.

Chronic labour shortages continue to be an issue for the dairy giant, particularly in the United States, implying that other food businesses are also experiencing employment difficulties.

“Like many other firms, we have been hampered by labour shortages, particularly in the United States,” Mr. Saputo said. “Staffing numbers and the influence on operational throughput have been a serious problem in the previous 18 months. While labour has improved significantly with increased worker stability, we are not yet out of the woods.”

This is based to a USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) projection, which is influenced by several financial performance measurements such as revenues and costs, gross and net value added, and net cash income, as well as changes in assets, wealth, and financial ratios.

Net farmer income for all agriculture sectors is forecast to decrease by $30.5 billion (18.2%), while net cash income is likely to fall by $44.7 billion (nearly 23%) from last year. Both numbers have been adjusted for inflation. Even if the negative estimates are achieved, both indicators will remain above 2020 levels and above the 2002-2021 average, according to the ERS. Lower pricing will mostly drive the downward trend.

According to estimates, dairy producers are facing a perfect storm.

Milk revenues are expected to dip 14.6%, or $8.4 billion, according to the ERS, a drop only topped by chicken egg sales (-24%). Dairy producers are set to experience an increase in assistance under the Dairy Margin Coverage Program (DMC), which is expected to provide US$285 million in payments in 2023, an increase of US$156.7 million, or 122.2%. The program’s enrollment period ended on January 31, 2023.

Aside from the DMC, other direct government payments, such as those from the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) and the Emergency Livestock Relief Program, are expected to be curtailed this year (ELRP). Ad hoc aid, which includes farm bill-designated disaster programmes, is estimated to pay out US$6.1 billion less in 2023, owing mostly to decreased ERP payments.

Because of the drop in government subsidies and milk collections, dairies are expected to have the greatest dollar loss in average net cash farm income (NCFI) of any farm company that specialises in animals or animal products. The average NCFI is expected to be $408,900 in 2023, a decrease of US$258,200 (-39%). Regionally, agricultural enterprises in the Fruitful Rim are expected to lose the most money (US$46,700), while those in the Northern Crescent are expected to lose the most money (29.9% ($28,200) per farm. Farms in both locations are expected to have greater production costs and lower cash revenues in 2023.

Feed expenditures are predicted to fall from US$76.5 billion to US$72.6 billion, as is fertiliser (US$42.1 billion against US$42.4 billion, but still much over the 2021 figure of US$29.5 billion). Fuel and oils are expected to dip to US$17 billion, down from US$20.1 billion, while electricity is expected to grow marginally to US$7.2 billion, up from US$7.03 billion. Production costs, including those linked with operator residences, are expected to rise by $18.2 billion to $459.9 billion.

Brian Reisinger said that the cows gave more milk than ever before on the day they left.

“I think they might have known where they were going,” Reisinger said.

The Reisingers stopped milking cows and started raising heifers and planting cash crops instead of selling the whole farm. This is part of a bigger trend in Dairyland.

“In general, the farms that have been closing down have been smaller. Chuck Nicholson, an associate professor at UW Madison’s Dairy Innovation Hub, said that the farms that are growing are usually the ones that are bigger.

Nicholson says that over the past 20 years, nearly 10,000 dairy farms have closed in Wisconsin. The National Agricultural Statistics Service said in a report that came out last month that more than 400 dairy farms in Wisconsin closed down last year. That is the most money that dairy farms have lost in three years.

Nicholson said, “It’s not really a matter of small vs. big.” More and more small farms are moving away from dairy, merging with bigger farms, or closing down.

Nicholson said that fixed costs like buildings and equipment can be spread out over a larger number of cows on larger farms. So that their costs go down and their profits go up.

Aside from the economy, changing demographics have also had an effect on how Wisconsin looks. In Wisconsin, the average age of a farmer is 55, and not all of their children want to take over. Janet Clark says that her small family farm is still going because the next generation is willing to take over.

Clark, the second-generation owner of Vision Aires Farms in Fond du Lac, said, “A lot of farms don’t have the next generation like my parents did.”

Reisinger said that the loss of small farms affects Wisconsin’s culture, no matter how the state got to where it is now.

Reisinger said, “It’s a big part of who we are as Wisconsinites.” “So when you lose that, you do lose a part of who you are.”

Nicholson said that these changes in the industry probably won’t change what’s on grocery store shelves. As bigger farms grow, milk production has gone up.

The volume of exports rose 15% in December, and all of the major exports grew in the last month of the year. But our analysts are keeping an eye out for headwinds in the year 2023.

U.S. dairy exports ended a year that was already very good with a bang. Based on milk solids equivalent (MSE), export volume went up 15% (+24,098 MT MSE) for a total of 2.4 million MT MSE. In terms of money, exports grew by 21% in December (+$128 million), bringing the total value of exports to over $9.6 billion in 2022, which is up 25% (+$1.9 billion).

In December, most of the major exports went up. Cheese went up 16% (+5,035 MT), NFDM/SMP went up 8% (+4,675 MT), whey products went up 20% (+8,200 MT), and lactose went up 30% (+8,849 MT). Only butterfat (down 4%, or 202 MT) and fluid milk/cream (down 4%, or 462 MT) were down a little bit in December.

Overall, December’s data showed that the major trends we’ve seen all year continued: the U.S. dairy industry made long-term investments, there were plenty of supplies, and strong demand from the key U.S. markets drove exports to record highs. As an example, U.S. exports to Mexico went up 23% (MSE) in December, which added 9% to the volume at the end of the year. In the same way, Japan went up 27% in December and 22% for the year, China went up 75% in December and 11% for the year, Korea went up 4% in December and 9% for the year, and so on.

Overall, 2022 was a great year for dairy exports from the United States. Can we expect the same in 2023? In this month’s report, we’ll talk about how great 2022 was and what to expect from U.S. exports of SMP, cheese, and whey this year.

The PMVAP update and the new ODMAP will allow USDA to better help small and medium-sized dairy enterprises that survived the pandemic and are now facing new difficulties.

“The Biden-Harris administration continues to meet its pledges to cover gaps in pandemic aid for producers. “USDA is announcing a second batch of roughly $100 million payments to finish off the $350 million commitment under PMVAP via partnerships with dairy handlers and cooperatives to make the payments,” said Jenny Lester Moffitt, USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs. “The USDA is also introducing additional aid aimed at small to medium-sized organic dairy producers to help with expected marketing expenses as they confront a number of obstacles ranging from weather to supply-chain issues.”

Market Volatility Assistance Program in the Event of a Pandemic

PMVAP provides assistance to producers who obtained a reduced value as a result of market irregularities induced by the pandemic and subsequent Federal regulations. Because of the increase in the production ceiling, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service will issue PMVAP payments to qualified dairy producers for fluid milk sales ranging from 5 million to 9 million pounds from July through December 2020. This amount of output was not eligible for payment under the PMVAP’s first round. Payment rates will be the same as in the previous round: 80% of the income difference each month for fluid milk sales ranging from 5 million to 9 million pounds from July to December 2020. USDA will once again distribute funds via agreements with independent handlers and cooperatives, with handlers reimbursed for allowable administrative expenses. USDA will inform handlers of qualifying producers of the chance to participate.

More information regarding the increased PMVAP production quota may be found at www.ams.usda.gov/pmvap.

Program for Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance

The new ODMAP, which will be managed by the USDA’s Farm Service Agency, is meant to assist smaller organic dairy farmers that have experienced a unique mix of obstacles and rising expenses in recent years. The continuing epidemic and drought conditions throughout the nation have exacerbated these difficulties. For 2023, the FSA intends to provide payments to cover a percentage of small organic dairy producers’ expected marketing expenditures. The final amount spent will be determined by enrolment and each producer’s estimated output, although ODMAP has been granted up to $100 million.

ODMAP’s support will be supplied using leftover Commodity Credit Corporation monies from previous pandemic assistance initiatives. Based on national marketing cost estimations, the aid will cover up to 75% of qualifying organic dairy farmers’ future expected marketing expenditures in 2023. This aid will be made available via a simplified application procedure based on a nationwide per hundredweight payment. The subsidies will be set at the first five million pounds of predicted output, in line with current dairy programmes that aid smaller dairies most susceptible to marketing issues. This programme is still in the works.

As further information regarding the Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program becomes available, it will be posted and updated on www.farmers.gov.

The United States Department of Agriculture provided this article.

New research shows that Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin (DFW) is driving results, and consumer appreciation for Wisconsin Cheese has grown significantly.  

New research reveals recognition, growth and appreciation for Wisconsin Cheese. The team at DFW continuously tracks and monitors progress. DFW tracks awareness and perceptions of Wisconsin as a cheese origin with our target market. This is a measure of all DFW’s marketing efforts with the key objective of lifting perceptions of Wisconsin Cheese among consumers. The latest research shows: 

• Wisconsin is the No. 1 top-of-mind cheese origin among U.S. cheese shoppers/consumers;
• Among U.S. cheese shoppers, Wisconsin leads in front of other domestic and international origins with imagery attributed to great tasting, and nearly 90% agree that Wisconsin cheeses are from a place with a long tradition of cheese-making; 
• Awareness of the Proudly Wisconsin Cheese badge – on the front of Wisconsin Cheese and Dairy labels — grew 350% in the past 3 years among the target audience; and
• Consider-to-purchase conversion rates grew 80% among the target audience in the last 5 years. 

“Helping grow demand for the $45.6 billion Wisconsin dairy industry is not a job to be taken lightly,” says Chad Vincent, CEO of Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin. “The entire staff works diligently to be tireless advocates for our dairy farmers, and the research results prove we are making progress.”  

The marketing team has already achieved $60 million in earned public relations coverage over the past six months, earning placements and telling our cheese, farmer and dairy stories in key publications like Forbes, Tasting Table, Mashed, and NBC. Food52, a leading ‘foodie’ publication, developed a cheese-forward “Meet the Makers” video series, which to date has delivered over 5 million views across various Food52 platforms. In just the month of January 2023, DFW has earned accolades for multiple initiatives, including the following:  

Grate. Pair. Share., DFW’s digital cooking and lifestyle magazine, won three awards at the 16^th annual AVA Digital Awards. The e-magazine focuses on a blend of the three major themes that interest our target audience: knowledge, inspiration, and storytelling about Wisconsin Cheese. Harvest 2022 and Spring 2022 earned Platinum awards, and Summer 2022 received a gold award. 

Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin took first place at the 2023 Winter Fancy Food show, winning the Booth Contest. With more than 13,000 qualified industry participants and more than 1,100 exhibiting companies at Winter Fancy Food, DFW maximizes the opportunity to meet with key distributors and retailers and demonstrates the top-tier quality of Wisconsin dairy products. Placing first for booth design, branding and staff performance — the Wisconsin Cheese pavilion stood out.  

Wisconsin Cheese Broadcast earned a National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) Award for Cheese Champions Virtual Media Tour. The awards program honors the best work in agricultural communications. The campaign for the tour featuring info-, recipe- and idea-packed sessions led by prominent spokespeople earned a Merit award. It will advance to the National Best of NAMA competition in April. 

Previously, the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin team achieved a Guinness World Record, received national recognition for the ‘Cheeselandia’ social media campaign, and won multiple marketing awards. 

We’re excited to continue serving the state’s dairy farmers throughout 2023.  

### 

About Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin: Funded by Wisconsin dairy farmers, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin is a non-profit organization that focuses on marketing and promoting Wisconsin’s world-class dairy products. For more information, visit our website at WisconsinDairy.org 

In 2022, agricultural exports from the United States, including dairy, established a new high in both value and volume. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (Feb. 7, 2023), U.S. dairy exports to the globe totalled $9.5 billion last year, exceeding the 2021 dairy export value record by 25% and indicating an 85% rise in only the previous ten years. Furthermore, US dairy exports reached 2.82 million metric tonnes in 2022, a new high and a 52% rise over the previous ten years.

The International Dairy Foods Association’s president and CEO, Michael Dykes, D.V.M., is overjoyed with the news.

“Today’s export results underscore the speed at which the U.S. dairy sector is innovating and capitalising on chances to market U.S.-made dairy products worldwide. Consumers in the United States and throughout the globe continue to want more American dairy because we provide a diverse range of tasty, healthy, economical, and sustainable dairy products. From high-value whey to award-winning cheeses, milk powders used to manufacture life-saving products for children and adults to safe and nutritious, shelf-stable milk, U.S. dairy is renowned across the globe for its quality and dependability. Because of the tenacity and ingenuity of American dairy exporters and dairy foods firms, we are set to become the world’s largest provider of dairy products.

“As we look into the export statistics revealed today, we notice that U.S. dairy exports touched a record $9.51 billion in 2022, exceeding the previous high of $7.61 billion established in 2021. While inflation affected export prices, overall dairy export volume reached a new high, surpassing the previous record of 2.67 million metric tonnes established in 2021. Export volumes to our main four international dairy markets—Mexico, Canada, China, and the Philippines—all reached new highs. The figures are startling since the market for dairy products in the United States was virtually completely domestic only three decades ago. The dairy sector in the United States today exports around 18% of total milk output.

“As U.S. milk output continues to climb over the next decade while other dairy-producing rivals experience diminishing production, the U.S. government must assure there are operating, efficient routes for U.S. dairy exports to satisfy rising worldwide demand. IDFA encourages the Biden Administration and Congress to explore additional free trade agreements in developing regions for US dairy and to continue to hold trading partners with whom we have agreements to their promises.”

President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, Jim Mulhern, is likewise pleased with the results.

“For the third consecutive year, U.S. dairy farmers have proved how their devotion to innovation and sustainability leadership progressively have made them the world’s source of choice for healthy dairy products. U.S. sales are at all-time highs in both value and volume, and a record proportion of U.S. milk output will be shipped internationally in 2022. This occurred despite the hurdles our exporters faced last year, which included supply chain issues, a lack of new trade agreements to promote more fair playing fields overseas, and other trade restrictions that threatened to derail progress.

“Let this be a signal to the world: U.S. dairy farmers are, and will be, a rising force for global nutrition, sustainability and health, as indicated by the increasing preference of customers globally for the goods they generate. We’re delighted to see today’s year-end export totals reflect a goal we’ve been pursuing for decades, and we look forward to seeing greater growth in the years ahead.”

One of the last farms that produces milk in the Mackay Whitsunday area is about to close, so the community has started a fundraiser to try to save the farm.
Important:

One of the only two dairies in Eungella that sells milk in the Mackay area is in danger of closing.
The community has launched a fundraiser to help save the farm.
A dairy industry analyst says that rising input costs and the nature of dairy farming make it a tough business to be in.

Eungella used to be home to more than 50 dairies. It has tropical rainforests and beautiful views of the Pioneer Valley.

But now there are only two left, and one of them may not be around much longer because of recent bad weather.

Dale Fortescue and his wife, Paula, own Eungelladale dairy. They say that a series of hard times has left them with increasing bills and a small income.

“The money in the bank doesn’t look too good,” Mr. Fortescue said.

“If we can’t get help, this is the end of the road for us.”

After storms and landslides in January shut down access roads, the community became cut off, and some people couldn’t leave.

One of them was the Fortescue family.

Even though they make and process their milk on site, the rainy weather caused a big drop in how much milk they made.

Dale Fortescue, who runs a dairy farm in Eungella, kneels down in his paddock.
Dale Fortescue is a farmer in Eungella. He says that this fundraiser could make or break the future of his dairy.
(ABC Rural: Lara Webster)

Mr. Fortescue said, “It was almost the last nail in the coffin for us.”

“The rain really cut our milk production by two-thirds when it came.”

The loss of production was made worse by the fact that there wasn’t enough grain.

Mr. Fortescue said, “Usually we have a bit of feed behind us, but we haven’t been able to do that this year.”

“I have enough grass to keep them going, but we need a little more grain to make milk.

“If we can get a lot of grain, the amount of milk we make will go up… But you’re talking about spending $10,000 on a load that only lasts us eight weeks.”
People come together to help.

Cheryl Bousfield, who lives in Eungella, started a fundraiser for the area’s dwindling dairy industry. She did this to show her support for the business.

“My friend who is close with Dale and Paula told me how hard things were,” Ms. Bousfield said.

“They’re having trouble because one thing after another has gone wrong.

So, this would only help them get back on their feet.

Milking time
Dale and Paula Fortescue run one of only two dairy farms left in the north Queensland town of Eungella.
(ABC Rural: Lara Webster)

Mr. Fortescue was surprised to hear about the fundraiser, but he said he was very grateful for it.

He said, “We’re really glad that someone took the chance to do this.”

“I don’t like being a charity case, but I’m happy because we’re pretty much out of options.”
Hard times for the dairy business

John Droppert, who is in charge of industry insights and analysis at Dairy Australia, said that all dairy farmers were having a hard time. He said that high costs for things like grain and fertiliser were a big problem.

“The basket of inputs that farmers buy, on average, has gone up by about 60%,” Mr. Droppert said.

He said that milk prices don’t go up when costs go up.

“Your cost base is very volatile, and in times like these, it tends to go up, while the price of milk doesn’t change as quickly,” he said.

“Dairy farming is a biological system, and it’s hard to turn cows on and off.”
Help for local businesses that is strong

Mr. Droppert said that there was a bright side to the market right now.

He said, “The prices of dairy products on the shelf are going up.”

“And another thing that came out of COVID was that people realised how important it is for food to be made closer to home.

“There are definitely chances for more local businesses to serve that market.”

Ms. Bousfield said that helping local farmers was very important to her.

“If we don’t support [them], then it will be all big business and big multinational companies, and we won’t have any choices,” she said.

“I think it’s very important to help small farmers who are trying to make it.

“Every day, they are just trying to stay alive.”

For the time being, the USDA says flavoured milk may remain in schools.

According to Dairy MAX, when flavoured milk is available, children are more likely to consume their three daily portions of milk, with low-fat chocolate milk being the most popular choice 70% of the time.

The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) are upbeat about the USDA’s planned revisions to school food nutrition guidelines, particularly the USDA’s intentions to keep low-fat flavoured milk available to kids.

The USDA is seeking feedback on two recommendations, dubbed “alternatives,” for how to manage flavoured milk in the future:

Alternative A: Beginning in the 2025-26 school year, high school students (grades 9-12) will be allowed to drink flavoured milk (fat-free and low-fat) during school lunch and breakfast. Elementary and middle school students (grades K-8) would only be able to drink fat-free or low-fat unflavored milk. The USDA is also seeking public feedback on whether to expand the age range for flavoured milk to include students in grades 6-8, limiting only children in grades K-5 to fat-free and/or low-fat unflavored milk. Sugars added to flavoured milk would be restricted in both circumstances.
Alternative B: Maintain the present norm, which permits all schools to provide flavoured and unflavored fat-free and low-fat milk during school lunch and breakfast. Sugars added to flavoured milk would be kept to a minimum.

“We are pleased that the USDA is keeping low-fat flavoured milk in schools, giving children another, and preferred, option for accessing the 13 essential nutrients milk provides, including three of the four nutrients of public health concern,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation.

“However, we query why the USDA would recommend school lunch alternatives that potentially restrict a child’s access to these nutrients, and instead encourage them to extend access to dairy options.”

According to the NMPF and the IDFA, they are carefully analysing other aspects in the proposed regulation, such as the weekly added sugars and salt limitations, to determine their influence on children’ capacity to benefit from nutrient-dense dairy products. The organisations will submit official comments as asked by the USDA, which will be allowed until April 10, 2023.

Comments on the proposed rule may be made in writing using the guidelines in the Federal Register Notice.

As part of its transitional nutrition guidelines issued in February 2021, the USDA permitted low-fat flavoured milk to be sold in schools. The new final rule allows schools and daycare facilities serving participants aged six and up to provide flavoured low-fat (1%) milk in addition to nonfat flavoured milk and nonfat or low-fat unflavored milk.

“Milk is the leading source of calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and vitamin D in kids ages 2-18, and 1% flavoured milk is a nutrient-dense, low-fat choice children will really prefer to drink,” Mulhern noted.

According to Dairy MAX, a regional dairy council cooperation in many Southern and Western states, when flavoured milk is available, children are more likely to consume their three daily portions of milk. In fact, 70% of kids prefer flavoured milk, with low-fat chocolate milk being the most popular option.

A Canadian dairy farmer is speaking out about the legal way of getting rid of extra milk, which is called “dumping.”

In an emotional video that was posted to TikTok but has since been taken down, Jerry Huigen from Dunville, Ontario, points to a drainpipe and says that because of government rules, he has to dump 30,000 litres of extra milk at the end of the month.

“Right now, we’ve reached our goal. “The government and the DFO (Dairy Farmers of Ontario) have rules about it,” says Huigen. “It makes me sad.”

Supply management is a system that controls dairy production in Canada. It was put in place in the early 1970s to deal with production surpluses.

The Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC) sets quotas for how much milk can be made each month based on how much milk is expected to be needed. Farmers only get paid for the milk they make up to their quotas, so any extra milk is thrown away.

Huigen says that his 260 dairy cows make more milk in the winter than is needed, but he can’t sell it.

Huigen takes a sip of raw milk from a glass and says, “They make us throw it away.”

Last November, the CDC agreed to raise the price of milk at the farm gate by about 2.2%, or just under two cents per litre, starting on February 1, 2023. This happened after prices went up by 2.5% in September and 8.4% in February of last year.

“When I get my hair cut, people say, ‘Wow, $7 for a little bit of milk,'” he said. I say, “Well, you need to go higher up because we don’t have a voice anymore as dairy farmers,” says Huigen. He also says that it’s hard to grow his business because any money he makes “goes down the drain.”

“How dare you put this milk on the market for $7 per litre and think that’s okay when there are single mothers with no extra money and kids at the SickKids Hospital who could use this?”

“But this isn’t something we’re supposed to talk about,” he says.

Maxime Bernier, the leader of the People’s Party of Canada, tweeted in response to the video that his party was the only one willing to get rid of the “costly and wasteful supply management system” and that all the other parties were “in the pocket of the dairy mafia.”

Kite Consulting says that dairy farmers will lose money in the coming year because milk prices will fall faster than their costs.

As farmgate prices continued to fall, the main topic of discussion at Dairy-“State Tech’s of the Dairying Nation” keynote session on February 1 was “surviving the next six months.”

Edward Lott, the managing consultant at Kite Consulting, said that the industry had gone through a big inflationary cycle, with the price of milk almost doubling in the past year and costs going up by almost the same amount.

See also: Milk prices at the farm gate will drop in February and March

“In the future, that balance will change, because I don’t think costs will always go down by the same amount as milk prices,” he said. “That will be the big challenge.”

Mr. Lott said that the industry needs to think about where the margins need to be in the future so that milk can be sold. He also said that in the medium to long term, an extra 2p/litre margin will be needed to do this.

Robert Craig, vice-chairman of the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers and a director at First Milk, said that producers should build real financial discipline into everything they do.

“As a discipline, you should make cashflows, budgets, and analysis every month so you know exactly where you are and where you want to go. This will help you see any bumps in the road ahead. When you do that, it’s easy to stay alive,” he said.

Mr. Craig said that by the end of 2023, milk prices could be about the same as they were at the end of 2022, but there’s a bump in the road before that.

Adam White, who is in charge of agriculture at Barclays, told farmers that they should have a plan for their farms.

He said to decide if you want to grow or shrink, think about your plan for the farm’s future, and know where you want to take it.

Tom Bradshaw, the vice president of the NFU, said, “We are not alone, and there will be a lot of change.” We’ve seen this over the past year, and it’s going to keep happening. We don’t live in a world that is at all stable.

“I just want to tell everyone that if they are having trouble, there are lots of people who can help them, and we shouldn’t just sit around and try to figure this out on our own. As farmers, we have a lot to answer for. Sometimes we are too proud, and when things are hard, we need to help each other. A problem shared is half a problem.”

The head of Dairy UK, Judith Bryans, told farmers to work together and ask organisations in the industry for help. Lyndon Edwards, an AHDB board member and sector chairman, told farmers to look around the farm to see what’s good and what’s bad and to make a list of things they want to change.

He also said to think about some of the work being done on regenerative practises, which can help the bottom line and give some easy ways to make the business more profitable overall.
Profitability

Kite Consulting listed the most important things for dairy businesses to pay attention to over the next few months:

Make a plan for gathering food. High-quality forage will help cut down on feed costs, and the first cut will start in about 75–80 days.
Hedge risks Make sure you have a plan and a budget. Being able to buy the things you need to meet your plan is a great way to know where your money stands.
Increasing the price of milk New programmes, like Arla’s sustainability programme, offer bonuses for meeting requirements, and farm businesses need to start thinking about how they will do this right away.

Keep a positive attitude.

Investment Long-term resilience needs investments, and in the next few months, farmers need to think strategically about what is best for the long run.

Dr. Matt Utt, a senior dairy product analyst at the global animal health company Zoetis, said that investment on the farm is important and that sometimes you have to “spend money to make money.”

RBC says that milk containers made in Russia are now being marked with their weight instead of their volume.

Analysts from the service Prodazhi.rf say that the change is likely an attempt to hide the fact that dairy prices have gone up in recent months and that, in many cases, the amount of milk sold in each container has gone down.

“Marketing experts know that most Russians don’t know that one kilogramme of milk is less than one litre,” said Dmitry Yanin, chairman of the International Consumer Societies Federation.

In Russia, prices for goods and services rose by an average of 11.9% in 2022. Even more, the average increase in dairy prices was 15.2%.

In 2021, 11 organic dairy farms in Vermont shut down. The following year, 18 more came. And the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont thinks that another 28 farms will close this year.

This information, which was put together by a state dairy task force and recently given to legislators, is why the association wants $9.2 million to go to organic dairy farmers in the budget for this year.

During a joint meeting of the House and Senate agriculture committees last Thursday, association leaders asked lawmakers for the one-time payment. That amount would make up for the money organic farmers have lost because of changing dairy prices, which, according to the association, have only gotten more crazy over the past few years.

The $9.2 million would be the same as giving all organic producers $5 per hundredweight of their goods in 2022. A hundredweight is the same as 100 pounds of milk and is used in dairy stores.

At the hearing, the people who supported the request did not say how the money would be spent.

In the past few years, many organic dairy farms in Vermont have had to shut down. According to the Organic Farmers Association, farmers got $8 to $10 per hundredweight less than what it cost them to make that weight.

Jen Miller, who is in charge of farm services for the group, said in an interview that this trend, along with rising costs for feed, fuel, and labour since 2021, has made it hard for many farmers to pay their bills and loan payments.

Miller told lawmakers that payments to organic dairy farms started getting less money in 2017. Miller said in committee that farmers lost $2 to $3 per hundredweight that year, and prices kept going down until 2020.

Last year, drought, inflation, rising production costs, and problems in the supply chain made things worse for farmers.

Miller said in an interview, “We’re getting to the point where the best managers can’t make more money or cut costs any more than they already have over the past five years.”

Miller said that farm managers have tried to stay afloat by reducing the size of their herds and increasing the amount of milk they get from each cow, but they are running out of ways to do so.

In an interview, Maddie Kempner, the policy director of the Organic Farming Association, said, “The loss of these farms to the state is a loss for the economy, but it’s also a loss of culture, a way of life, and a huge loss for climate resilience.”

The Vermont Dairy Task Force found that when 11 farms closed in 2021, the state lost more than $41.5 million in economic activity. In 2022, 18 farms shut down, which cost another $67.9 million.

In addition to asking the state for $9.2 million this session, people who support organic farms want the federal government to make a version of the Dairy Margin Coverage Program for organic dairy farms.

Farmers can sign up for insurance from the government that helps them deal with risks through the programme. When the difference between the national price of milk and the average cost of feed falls below a certain level, the government gives money to farms.

The programme doesn’t take into account how much organic feed costs or how much organic milk costs. This means that when only organic farms are having trouble, the programme can’t help.

In an interview, Sen. Bobby Starr, D-Essex/Orleans, who is in charge of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, said that it’s not easy to figure out what to do.

Starr said that his committee could look into making a programme that would start when the price of milk fell below a certain level. When that happens, companies that buy raw milk to make other things will have to pay the difference between what it costs to make and what it sells for on the market.

Starr also brought up the idea of putting together a board of farmers, consumers, and people who process milk to help figure out who can pay what when prices change. It would be like the Northeast Dairy Compact Commission, which was in place from 1997 to 2001. Congress set up the commission, which gave the New England states the power to decide how much fluid dairy products, like drinking milk, cost.

Starr said, “I hear more from farmers about how low their prices are than from consumers about how high their prices are.”

Tuesday, the US said it wanted a second trade dispute settlement panel to look into Canada’s dairy import quotas. The US said Canada was not living up to its obligations to open its market to US producers. The move is the latest fight between the two trade partners over Canada’s protected dairy industry, which has been going on for a long time.

What is the structure of Canada’s dairy industry?

Since the 1970s, Canada has tightly controlled the supply of milk, eggs, and chicken by putting high tariffs on imports and putting limits on how much farmers can produce.

Quotes limit how much farmers can make based on how much is needed in their own country.

Import quotas limit the amount of goods from other countries that can come into Canada at a low rate of duty.

The Canadian Dairy Commission, which is a government agency, sets the price that farmers will get for their milk each year.

In 2002, a WTO panel sided with the US and said that Canada broke its trade obligations by helping dairy farmers. Because of the WTO decision, Canada can’t export as much dairy as it used to.

WHY ARE THE UNITED STATES UPSET?

U.S. companies that process dairy want to sell more to Canada, but high tariffs make that hard to do.

The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office says that Canada’s way of figuring out quota allocations under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on Trade is unfair. This means that Canadian retailers and food service operators can’t use the allocations, which is bad for business.

Mary Ng, Canada’s trade minister, said she was disappointed by the U.S. move and that she would fight against any attempts by the U.S. to “re-negotiate” during the settlement process.

HOW MUCH IS CANADA’S DAIRY SECTOR WORTH?

Canada’s farm dairy sales are worth C$7.39 billion ($5.54 billion) each year. The government says that processed dairy shipments are worth C$16,2 billion in 2021.

CANADA WANT TO KEEP THE SYSTEM BECAUSE?

All of the major political parties say that they support supply management because it keeps dairy farmers’ incomes stable.

Prices have gone up and down a lot for producers in other countries.

There are 9,739 dairy farmers in Canada. They are one of the most powerful groups in the country. Most farms are in Quebec and Ontario, which are the two provinces in Canada with the most seats in parliament.

The opinions of others?

Other countries that make dairy products, like New Zealand, say that Canada’s controls are an unfair way to protect its dairy industry.

Some groups in Canada say that supply management keeps the country from becoming an export power in dairy, like it is in grain and meat. They say that putting a lot of restrictions on imports makes food prices in Canada go up.

“Canada’s TRQ allocation system is not only a violation of USMCA — it directly harms American dairy farmers, processors, and other workers by unfairly restricting access to their market,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Public Domain)

Jerry Dakin feels a lot better about his farm and business now than he did a few months ago. Hurricane Ian hurt his Dakin Dairy Farms in Myakka City to the tune of millions of dollars.

Dakin said, “I’ve never seen a storm like this. We’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it’s been hard, but we’ve made it through.”

There have been huge losses. Dakin lost 360 cows and a lot of buildings on his land. He won’t be putting up the old buildings again because he couldn’t get insurance for them. Since the storm, Dakin, his crew, and people from the town have been working hard to get the farm back to normal.

Dakin said, “We’re rebuilding all the main buildings and everything else. We’re already back to milking 2,000 cows, and we’re not going back on that.”

Dakin says that putting roofs back on the buildings and making sure fans and misters work are the most important things that are being done. That’s so the cows can stay cool, which is important.

Dakin said, “Our numbers are down, but we’re going to get them back up.” “Our main goal is to fix up the place, and then we’ll bring the cattle back in.”

Dakin says that the farm still needs to be fixed for another 3 months before it is back where it needs to be. He says that inflation means that insurance won’t cover all of the costs of repairs, so he’s still trying to figure that part out. Dakin says he’s thankful for how far they’ve come since Ian and where they’re going with the recovery.

“No matter what is going on, you should always look at the good things,” said Dakin. “And through all of this, there has been a lot of destruction, but there have also been a lot of wins. At Dakin Dairy Farms, we look at all the good things that have happened.

The current crisis in the Latvian dairy industry is expected to end in the next few months, when wholesale prices for raw milk should rise to €0.40–€0.50 and production costs will drop from their peak in 2022, said Janis Sholks, chairman of the Latvian dairy union, to local press.

The Latvian dairy industry is very dependent on how the European market is doing as a whole because 65% of the milk produced in Latvia is exported as raw milk or as dairy products.

“At the moment, there is too much of everything in Europe,” Sholks said. “This includes a large stock of butter, dry powder, and technical dairy products.” Sholks also admitted that the supply is currently higher than the demand on the key sales markets, which is making prices go down.

The dairy industry in Latvia is getting used to price changes. Early in 2022, wholesale raw milk prices were also low, but they went up a lot over the next few months. This made dairy companies profitable again, so they could start paying back their loans, said Guntis Gutmanis, chairman of the Latvian Council for Cooperation of Agricultural Organizations.

This didn’t last long, and the price has once again dropped below what dairy companies are comfortable with. At the moment, Latvian milk farms feed their cows with the expensive harvest from the middle of last year, because the current prices, which are a bit higher than those from the middle of last year, don’t cover the costs of production.

In the meantime, the Latvian association of agricultural statutory societies has asked Didzis mits, the minister of agriculture, to get involved in the dairy market to make sure that the price of buying milk is at least the same as in Lithuania, which is close by. Farmers in Latvia were worried that businesses can’t stay in the red for long and that the current crisis could put many farms out of business, which would help competitors in neighbouring countries.

The head of the state support department in the Latvian Agricultural Ministry, Zigmars Kinkns, said, however, that the government would not step in to set prices. He said that the wholesale milk price goes up and down in a way that is called cyclical, and that this happens several times in a year.

Sholks estimates that there are 5,000 milk-making businesses in Latvia now, compared to 14,000 a decade ago.

Thanks to more exports and the success of the dairy-to-beef breeding programme, Colorado’s dairy industry should still be strong in 2023.

Last week, on “Dairy Day” at the Colorado Farm Show in Greeley, a number of speakers talked about the challenges facing the state’s growing dairy farms. The U.S. Farm Data Service says that there are 303 dairies in the state of Colorado. Logan County has 13 dairies, making it the third largest dairying county in Colorado after Weld, which has 78, and Morgan, which has 17.

Even though Americans are eating more dairy than they have in 60 years, the demand for plain white milk keeps going down.

Bill Keating from Dairy MAX told the crowd that overall dairy consumption would rise by more than 1% from 2019 to 2021, with cheese, butter, and yoghurt seeing the biggest rises. Keating said that the average American eats about 40 pounds of cheese in different forms every year.

On the other hand, as families shrink, less white milk is being bought. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that the amount of white milk people drink has dropped by almost half since 1970.

“Families are having fewer children, and that’s been reflected in the number of deliveries to schools,” Keating said. “At home, parents are looking for alternatives, like almond and soy products, or other fluids altogether.”

People may be moving away from white milk because of a new focus on health and happiness, which is mostly a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As a response to the pandemic and the uncertainty and change in the world, there is a strong desire to be happy,” Keating said. “This means that consumers will take steps to improve their own health and well-being.”

This trend is happening all over the world, not just in the U.S., and it is increasing the demand for dairy fats like butter, cream, whole milk powder, and anhydrous milk fat, which are used in many consumer products.

Megan Sheets of the U.S. Dairy Export Council told the group that taste is the main reason people buy cheese around the world, and that different parts of the world like different tastes and textures. In Korea, for example, people like cheeses that are milkier and creamier, while people in the Middle East like cheeses that have sharper flavours and are a little bit drier.

Sheets said that the U.S. has about 25% of the world market for dairy products, and that 18% of the mill production in the U.S. goes to other countries.

Consumers want to know more about dairy than just what they can get from it. They also want to know about how it affects the environment.

Sheets said, “There is a growing agreement around the world that sustainability is important.” “That means being kind to the environment, using renewable energy, and recycling as much as possible. On dairy farms, there is also a lot of care for the animals.

Vice President of American AgCredit Brian Larson said that the economic outlook for dairy farms is good. He said that the number of cows in the U.S. dairy herd has stayed the same at about 9.4 million, and he said again that cheese is still one of the biggest sources of income in the industry. Larson said that the average price of a hundred pounds of milk should be in the low $20 range. He also said that the prices of feed and alfalfa may go up a little bit, but they will soon level off.

After the morning sessions on Wednesday, there was a legislative update and a talk about getting more beef from dairy herds.

Chinese scientists have successfully cloned three “super cows” that can make a lot of milk, according to state media. This is seen as a big step forward for China’s dairy industry, which will no longer have to rely on imported breeds.

Scientists from the Northwest University of Agricultural and Forestry Science and Technology raised the three calves, which were born in the Ningxia area in the weeks before the Lunar New Year on January 23. This was reported by the state-run Ningxia Daily.

They were made by cloning cows from the Holstein Friesian breed, which comes from the Netherlands and is known for being very productive. The chosen animals can make 18 tonnes of milk each year, or 100 tonnes of milk over the course of their lives.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, that is about 1.7 times as much milk as an average cow in the US would produce in 2021.

An official in the city of Wulin in Ningxia told the state-run Technology Daily that the first of the cloned calves was born on December 30 through a caesarean section because it was so big. It weighed 56.7 kilogrammes (120 pounds).

According to the Technology Daily, the scientists took cells from the ears of the most productive cows and used them to make 120 cloned embryos. They then put those embryos in cows that would act as surrogates.

In what is being called a “landmark” conservation project, Chinese scientists clone an Arctic wolf.
The project’s lead scientist, Jin Yaping, called the birth of the “super cows” a “breakthrough” that makes it possible for China to keep the best cows “in a way that makes economic sense,” according to the state-run newspaper Global Times.

In China, only five out of every 10,000 cows can produce 100 tonnes of milk over the course of their lives. This makes them a valuable resource for breeding. Jin said that it is hard to breed some cows that are very productive because they are not found until the end of their lives.

The Global Times says that as many as 70% of China’s dairy cows are brought in from other countries.

Jin told the newspaper, “We plan to take two to three years to build a herd of more than 1,000 super cows as a solid foundation to deal with China’s dependence on overseas dairy cows and the risk of being “choked” [by supply chain disruptions].”

Farmers in many countries, including the US, breed clones with regular animals to add desirable traits, like high milk production or resistance to disease, to the gene pool.

In the past few years, China has made a lot of progress in cloning animals.

The world’s first cloned Arctic wolf was made by a company in China that clones animals.

In 2017, Chinese scientists said they had made cloned cows that were less likely to get bovine tuberculosis, a disease that can harm cows in many countries.

The process of turning manure into fuel is not new, but government incentives to reduce greenhouse gases have caused a boom in such projects, especially on dairy farms.

Since June, a plant north of Beresford, South Dakota, has been using the manure from 15,000 cows to make biogas. It is pumped from the big dairy farms into four huge tanks with domes called digesters. Each digester can hold 2 million gallons.

“Those digesters hold 2 million gallons of the cow’s unwanted parts,” said John Reid, the plant manager at DTE Vantage’s biogas operation.

The manure stays in the digesters for about three weeks, where it is stirred and kept at a steady temperature of about 100 degrees. Microbes use an aerobic process to break down the manure, releasing methane and other gases as they do so.

Between two dairies north of Beresford, S.D., there are four anaerobic digesters. Biogas for California’s fleet of cars that run on natural gas is made from the waste from 15,000 cows. The farmer gets paid, and DTE Vantage, the company that owns the facility, makes money.

In this way, the word “digester” fits well with how animals work and how their waste is collected and reused in the process.

Monday night, Iowa State goes to Texas Tech. Should you bet on the Cyclones in this Big 12 game?

“We think of it as a cow’s fifth stomach,” said Dave Grooms, one of the three full-time workers at the operation.

Biogas is collected and cleaned up right there. It can be used to make electricity, heat homes, or, as in the case of the Beresford operation, power vehicles that run on natural gas. About 90% of the nutrients in the manure that goes into the digester come back out in the manure that comes out of the digester. It can be used like any other manure, either to fertilise fields or to give cows a place to sleep.

As of right now, digester operations can get a lot of money from the government in the form of renewable fuel credits. Dr. Dan Anderson, an extension expert in agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State University who goes by the online handle @DrManure, said that companies looking to build digesters call dairy farmers a lot. He has gotten a lot of calls from companies that want to work with Iowa State’s dairy, he told people at the Feedlot Forum in Sioux Center on January 17 who were there to hear about cattle.

Iowa used to have four anaerobic digesters in operation. Anderson says that number has grown by about 90 in the last year and a half.

During the Feedlot Forum in Sioux Center, Iowa, on January 17, an engineer from Iowa State University Extension named “Dr. Manure” talked about the market for renewable fuel credits and making biogas from manure.

“It’s a big change for the better,” he said.

The Environmental Protection Agency says that until recently, most biogas in the U.S. came from natural gas from landfills. POET’s ethanol plant in nearby Chancellor has been powered by natural gas from a landfill near Sioux Falls since 2009.

Over the last five years, the number of ag-based natural gas projects has grown steadily, and in 2021, they will be more than the total number of landfill projects. It is caused by policies like the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, which says that a certain amount of transportation fuels made from renewable sources like ethanol must be mixed with petroleum-based products. Some states, like California, have their own programmes, like the Low Carbon Fuel Standard in California. Minnesota wants to come up with its own plan.

The Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed last year, made biogas taxed the same as wind and solar for the first time.

Near a dairy in Beresford, South Dakota, digesters send biogas into pipes. After being cleaned, the renewable natural gas is put into a pipeline that sends fuel to vehicles in California and other western states that have goals for renewable fuel.

Anderson said that credits for biogas made from cow manure can be worth up to $1,000 per cow per year.

Most of the time, companies work with dairies to build digesters. Companies get most of the money because they take on most of the risk. A digester costs about $1 million, by Anderson’s estimates. Building the system to clean the gas costs another $500,000 more. The connection to major natural gas pipelines costs another $1 million, which is also a big cost.

Anderson said that if farmers want to see a bigger return on their money, they will need to work together to build biogas projects.

He said, “It needs to be big.”

Can people who raise cattle get in on the biogas craze?

When methane from dairy manure is used to make renewable natural gas, flares burn off the hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide gases that are left over.

Anderson said it is possible, but the type of manure treatment system makes a difference. Instead of solid manure from a feedlot, liquid manure stored in a deep pit or lagoon works best for anaerobic treatment.

Under California’s programme, credits can’t be given for biogas made from cow manure. The law says that you can only use manure from dairy farms and hog farms.

Because beef cattle don’t make as much methane as dairy cows, the federal credits from biogas made from beef are a small fraction of the credits made from biogas made from dairy cows. Anderson said that the federal credits for RINs, which come from the Renewable Fuel Standard, are about $50 per headspace.

In the past, an anaerobic digester might have helped the dairy farm pay for some of its electricity costs. However, Dr. Erin Cortus, an engineer at the University of Minnesota Extension who has worked with livestock and the environment since her days at South Dakota State University, says that the market today gives a bigger financial reason for these expensive systems.

She said it’s important to think about how the manure is taken out of the barns, whether it’s scraped or flushed. Different kinds of digesters can be used with different kinds of systems.

Another big question is if the cows sleep on sand at the dairy.

Cortus said, “We know how hard sand can be.” “It’s possible, but it’s also something to think about.”

At the DTE Vantage biogas facility, methane from dairy manure flows through a system of membranes. It gets rid of the oil, water, and other gases in the natural gas before sending it 8 miles away to a transmission pipeline.

Having room for the digester and a place to store the manure are also important, as is having access to a natural gas pipeline.

The biogas made in Beresford goes 8 miles underground through a pipe to a larger transmission line.

To get into the pipeline, the natural gas has to be clean, which is checked several times along the way. At the Beresford facility, water and oil are taken out of the gas by passing it through a system of membranes and heat exchangers. Hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide that should not be there are burned off in two flares on site.

Kevin Dobson, vice president of biomass for DTE Vantage, said, “Since the 1980s, we’ve been taking bad gas from landfills and cleaning it up.

A few years ago, DTE began to work with Wisconsin dairies. The company’s first building in South Dakota is in Beresford, and Dobson said that they hope to build more.

DTE liked Beresford because it had two large dairy barns with a total of 15,000 cows.

During building at the Beresford site, the inside of an anaerobic digester tank can be seen. When the manure is heated, it sits in the 2 million gallon tanks for three weeks. During that time, it gives off methane gas, which is then captured, cleaned up, and used as fuel for cars.

“These projects are pretty expensive to build and keep up, so we wanted to go big to save money,” Dobson said. “The place is nice, and the farm is a great companion.”

The owner of the dairy in Beresford asked that his name not be used in this story.

The farmer is paid by DTE, and he or she still gets to use the manure as fertiliser on their fields.

Dobson said, “There’s an incentive in pay that isn’t tied to the milk market.”

He also said that it was good for the environment. By capturing the natural gas, the farm puts out less greenhouse gas. Dobson said that it can also help make the water and air around the farm better. Dobson said that digestate, which is what’s left of manure after natural gas is taken out, has less of an odour than raw manure and less faecal pathogens, which is good for water quality.

In the mid-1980s, DVO Inc., another digester company, got its start in Wisconsin, just like DTE. Stephen Dvork, the planning engineer and president of DVO, said that one of their first projects was with the Gordondale Farm in Wisconsin. Neighbors had sued the farm because it smelled like manure.

Last month, Dvork gave a talk at the Minnesota Renewable Energy Roundtable in Waseca, which was put on by the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute.

He talked about the advantages of using digestate as fertiliser, which is sometimes done in Wisconsin with irrigation systems. He said that manure can be put on crops directly without having to burn them, and that many of their customers have stopped buying lime because the digestate has high pH levels.

Cortus tells farmers that they should test digestate before using it, just like they would with any other type of manure. The idea is that plants can use the nutrients in digestate more easily.

Melissa Wilson, who works for U of M Extension, talked about the nutrients in digestate at the Renewable Energy Roundtable. Usually, digestate has more ammonium nitrogen than raw manure, which makes it easier for plants to use.

Wilson said, “The amount of N, P, and K stays the same, but these nutrients are changing their forms.”

Many farmers take the digestate through one more step to separate the liquid from the solids. Wilson said that this can be helpful when using precise technology to spread manure. There isn’t much phosphorus in the liquid, but it is a much better source of nitrogen and potassium. Most of the phosphorus is in the solids.

“It turns into a fertiliser with a very high value,” she said.

Reid thought about how the Beresford biogas system, which he manages, is using methane, a gas that has been a focus of efforts to clean up the environment, to make things that can replace fossil fuels and synthetic fertiliser.

He said, “It’s a cool thing to be a part of.”

There have been floods in several California regions, but no one wants their water delivered in a torrent. You like steady, light rain, but so far they haven’t been able to store very much of it.

Some of the runoff is being captured by reservoirs, but most of it is just being sent to the ocean. That’s making things much worse for California’s farmers. The price of feed is really expensive. The cost of labour is astronomical. The high price of gasoline and fertiliser has made it difficult for California dairy farmers to compete.

More precipitation for California is predicted this week after a dry spell of a week.

The Midwest Dairy Association’s programmes are reaching more people than ever before in the 10-state area with 39 million people. Dairy products are a big part of people’s plans to be healthier this year, so the year is already off to a good start.

Molly Pelzer, CEO of Midwest Dairy, said, “Our accomplishments and progress toward building trust and demand show the value of our checkoff at work.” “In 2023, we’ll continue to increase trust in dairy through nutrition and education and build on our relationships with new and existing retail partners.”

Midwest Dairy has been working on a three-year strategic plan since 2021. Their vision is to bring dairy to life to make the world a better place, and their mission is to work with others to give consumers a great dairy experience. In 2023, Midwest Dairy will use partnerships, work in schools, and industry innovation to reach more people and make checkoff funds have a bigger impact.

Collaboration is one of the most important parts of all programmes and activities that aim to grow the dairy industry and gain consumer trust. Midwest Dairy helps dairy farmers get the most out of their checkoff investments by working with and through partners to share information and real-time experiences that show how dairy products connect with consumers today.

With the Five Cheese and Sausage Pizza limited time offer, customers have been very interested in a new partnership with Godfather’s Pizza Express. The point-of-sale materials used in the three-month programme are paid for by Midwest Dairy.
Famous people on social media, like gaming and YouTube star MrBeast, who has millions of followers and shares his thoughts and promotes dairy, are still getting the word out to younger people about dairy.

Midwest Dairy continues to support dairy in schools based on research and a history of being a leader in student health and wellness.

Work that is being done on business case studies right now will help school administrators increase meal participation with smoothies made with dairy, coffee stations, and breakfasts made with dairy. Studies show that students are more likely to choose school meals when they come with a coffee drink. This encourages students who might not normally drink milk to do so. Both nutritious milk and the school meal programme get people excited about these dairy-based programmes.
A pilot STEM programme in high schools gives dairy farmers a chance to shape the next generation and explain things in a scientific way. Students learn how dairy is a part of a healthy lifestyle, how production decisions are based on science, and what kinds of jobs are available in the dairy industry.

The Cooperative and Processor Support (CAPS) programme is a way for Midwest Dairy to work with processors, farmer-owned cooperatives, and dairy food and drink manufacturers. Through this programme, Midwest Dairy gives new and innovative dairy products market research and consumer insights, as well as ongoing communication resources and help with marketing.

Midwest Dairy’s work is always centred on the farmer’s dairy story. Midwest dairy farmers, dairy groups, and agricultural organisations can share this story with the help of Dairy Grants. With these grants, great ideas for getting the word out to consumers about the dairy industry become a reality. In 2022, grants were used to bring dairy to new places and audiences, host events on farms, and connect with Gen Z consumers. Now is the time to put in an application for funding in 2023.

Midwest Dairy can change and meet customer needs because it has a strong base built on its success in 2022.

“We will keep building on our dairy promotion work into the new year,” Pelzer said. “This is to make sure that the money dairy farm families put into the checkoff works well for them.” “We’ll keep focusing on five things: increasing sales of dairy products, building trust, advancing research, getting people to support the dairy checkoff, and training farm and community leaders.”

Weaker productivity makes it hard to produce at a competitive price and still make a profit, leaving UK dairy products vulnerable.

In the UK, productivity on dairy farms has gone down over the last ten years, while productivity in other major dairy-producing countries has stayed the same or gone up.

The International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN) has found that the average UK dairy farm is now less productive than it used to be.

Productivity is the ratio of the amount of output to the amount of input. It is a way to measure how well something works.

If you look at the productivity of a typical 160-cow herd in North-West England as pence per litre (ppl) of output vs. input, you can see that it has been going down over the last ten years.

IFCN data shows that this is also happening on a typical North German farm, so the UK is not alone.

But farms in other places, like Denmark and Belgium, which have been exporting dairy for a long time, are getting more out of their animals.

Countries that are exporting more, like Spain, Poland, and Belarus, have also become more productive.

It is hard to produce at a competitive price and still make a profit when productivity is low. This makes it easy for countries with more efficient production to undercut UK dairy products.

With the prices of inputs being so high right now, it may be hard for farms to improve productivity in the near future, at least in terms of outputs per person.

The AHDB looked at the data from the IFCN and said, “International comparisons of productivity like this often lead to two comments.

“The first is that the UK was already more productive, so some other countries are just catching up.

“This may be partly true, but the data shows that farms in a few of these countries are now more efficient than those in the UK.”

The AHDB also said, “A common second question is, if a lot of British milk is sold in the UK, why does this matter to farmers here?”

“The direct result is that herds make less money because they use more resources to make less.”

The AHDB said that imports and exports expose the UK to global dairy prices, so UK herds are in the same market as those in Poland, Spain, and any other country that exports dairy.

“Costly inputs do make people think about efficiency, and farms will carefully think about whether the output is worth the input,” the levy board said.

“If things get better, the key is to keep putting more emphasis on efficiency, which will lead to better profits, productivity, and competitiveness in the future.”

New research shows that for the past 20 years, the US has had dairy policies aimed at increasing milk production and export markets. 

According to an analysis by Food and Water Watch (FWW), the average American dairy only made a profit twice in the last 20 years, even though milk production went up by almost 40%.

Most farmers haven’t made more money from milk, and American shoppers haven’t paid less because milk prices have stayed low and production costs have gone up. This is so that US exporters can compete on the global market.

In the last 20 years, US dairy exports have grown by a factor of eight, which is more than almost any other commodity. At the same time, the FWW report says, the industry as a whole has been rapidly consolidating.

The US Dairy Export Council (USDEC) says that booming exports have helped farms of all sizes, but between 1997 and 2017, about two-thirds of family-sized commercial dairies disappeared as factory farms, exporters, and a few powerful cooperatives took over the dairy industry. The people in charge of trade associations are making a lot of money while small farms fail.

Monopolies in the dairy industry are also bad for the environment. Even though the number of cows has stayed the same since 1990, the FWW report found that methane emissions from dairy manure have more than doubled since then. This is because of how factory farms handle their waste.

It warns of a “vicious circle” in which low and volatile milk prices make it hard for family farmers to make a living and force them to “get big or get out.” In other words, the only way for many small farms to stay in business is to grow their herds and turn into factory farms, which increase greenhouse gas emissions and threaten the quality of the air and water, or to sell out to mega-dairies, which do the same things.

The FWW report, Economic Cost of Food Monopolies: The Dirty Dairy Racket, says that overproduction needs to be stopped because current state and federal dairy policies are driving family-scale farms out of business and adding to the climate crisis.

Rebecca Wolf, a food policy analyst at FWW, said, “The big picture of the economic cost of dairy consolidation is that it’s a story about farmers losing their jobs and going through hard times, and the environment getting worse.” “But it wasn’t always this way, and it doesn’t have to be this way. We need to reject false solutions and instead change policies to help farmers, the environment, and the US economy.”

The US dairy industry has consolidated faster than any other agricultural industry, with the exception of hog and egg production. At the farm level, there are fewer farms and more mega-dairies. At the processing level, there are fewer but larger corporations and cooperatives that buy, process, and sell dairy products.

Analysis of USDA data shows that between 1997 and 2017, the number of dairy farms in the US dropped by more than half, while the average number of cows per farm went up by 139%. More than 70% of the milk made in the United States comes from farms with at least 500 cows. The biggest dairies have herds of more than 25,000 cows.

Larger farms are less likely to let their cattle graze. Instead, they buy feed for them, which is the source of the most greenhouse gases from industrialised agriculture. Also, factory farms store manure in liquid form, which makes it easier for methane to escape. This is different from field cattle, whose manure breaks down with few emissions.

Methane is a gas that doesn’t last long but is very good at keeping heat in. It’s responsible for about a third of the rise in global temperature since the pre-industrial era, and nearly 45% of the warming happening right now. Nearly a third of all man-made emissions come from livestock. This is because of their burps, how they deal with manure, and how they grow feed crops.

In recent years, scientists have been warning about how much industrial farming contributes to global warming. As a result, agribusinesses like dairy have turned to unproven solutions like carbon offset markets and feed additives to reduce the amount of methane cows burp up instead of fixing the main problem, which is factory farming large herds.

Falling profits are one reason why dairy farms are merging.

Farmers have had trouble making a profit because production costs have gone up faster than milk prices, which were a little bit lower in 2021 than they were in 2000. This is partly because the US has made a big change in its dairy policy. Instead of keeping prices stable by guaranteeing a minimum price and buying and storing extra milk that would then be given away or sold, the policy now encourages production and grows export markets.

The change in policy, which included promoting dairy products in developing countries, helped the US become one of the biggest dairy exporters in the world. As exports went up, so did price swings, and the US kept milk prices low to stay competitive.

“This made money for agribusinesses and left farmers at the mercy of unstable international markets… “It is clear that policies that focus on exports have not helped the average US dairy farmer,” says the FWW report.

The dairy industry, which includes farmers, manufacturers, and cooperatives, as well as individuals and political action committees (PACs), gave $5.1 million to federal candidates in the 2020 election cycle, according to Open Secrets, a watchdog for transparency. In the same year, the industry spent $6.9 million to lobby hard in Washington to keep corporate subsidies and other benefits from the farm bill.

“The get big or get out message from our political and business leaders has come true,” said Sarah Lloyd, a dairy farmer in Wisconsin who helps run her family’s midsize farm with 450 cows. “Allowing this concentration has killed small and medium farms and crushed rural communities across the US.” “Farms that have been around for a hundred years can no longer keep their heads above water because of this boom-and-bust system, which makes it easier for farms to merge… It’s a never-ending cycle.”

In the last 20 years, farmers have killed themselves and the number of people living in rural areas has gone down because of their debts and bankruptcies. Lloyd said, “We can’t solve this problem by exporting or consuming more. Instead, we need policies that better manage supplies to match actual demand, so that dairy farming can once again be a good way to make a living.”

But dairy farmers have to pay for corporate plans that hurt their own interests. FWW thinks that between 2005 and 2018, dairy farmers paid about $4 billion into the Dairy Checkoff programme. This is a mandatory programme that pays for campaigns to promote US milk, butter, and creamers to consumers and fast food companies. These campaigns mostly help mega-dairies.

At the state level, at least $75 million in New York taxpayer money has gone to a few corporations and cooperatives over the last 20 years, with the promise of a few thousand jobs. However, some of those jobs were lost quickly when dairy plants shut down.

A spokesperson for the USDEC, which is mostly funded by the federal checkoff programme and the USDA, said that its main goal was to increase exports “on behalf of dairy farmers of all sizes across the country and because export sales help boost farm-level milk prices.” The current federal safety net for dairy is an insurance system that helps farmers deal with the effects of fluctuating prices.

“The sector is proud of its commitment to sustainability,” said a spokesperson in a statement. “It is working toward its 2050 goals of net zero emissions and better water management.”

Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack was named CEO of USDEC after leaving the Obama administration, where he reportedly made more than $900,000 in 2020, which is more than 3,000 times the average farm income. Since he went back to work for the USDA under Biden, Vilsack has kept boosting US agricultural exports as a top priority.

A spokesperson for the USDA said that under the Biden-Harris administration, it had put in place a variety of new economic and technical support for small and mid-sized farms, including organic dairies, which make up 2% of milk production. The USDA was also working to create more competitive markets and strengthen local and regional food systems. “Together, these steps will help make sure that small and medium-sized producers have more, newer, and better ways to make money so they can improve their bottom line, get a fair price for their products, and fight against consolidation.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced the details of additional assistance for dairy producers, including a second round of payments through the Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program (PMVAP) and a new Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program (ODMAP). The update to PMVAP and the new ODMAP will enable USDA to better support small- and medium-sized dairy operations who weathered the pandemic and now face other challenges.

“The Biden-Harris administration continues to fulfill its commitments to fill gaps in pandemic assistance for producers. USDA is announcing a second set of payments of nearly $100 million to close-out the $350 million commitment under PMVAP through partnerships with dairy handlers and cooperatives to deliver the payments,” said USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt. “USDA is also announcing new assistance targeted to small to medium size organic dairy farmers to help with anticipated marketing costs as they face a variety of challenges from weather to supply-chain challenges.”

Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program

PMVAP assists producers who received a lower value due to market abnormalities caused by the pandemic and ensuing Federal policies. As a result of the production cap increase, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will make PMVAP payments to eligible dairy farmers for fluid milk sales between 5 million and 9 million pounds from July through December 2020. This level of production was not eligible for payment under the first round of the PMVAP. Payment rates will be identical to the first round of payments, 80 percent of the revenue difference per month, on fluid milk sales from 5 million to 9 million pounds from July through December 2020. USDA will again distribute monies through agreements with independent handlers and cooperatives, with reimbursement to handlers for allowed administrative costs. USDA will contact handlers with eligible producers to notify them of the opportunity to participate.

As part of the first round, PMVAP paid eligible dairy farmers on up to 5 million pounds of fluid milk sales from July through December 2020. The first round of payments distributed over $250 million in payments to over 25,000 eligible dairy farmers. These dairy farmers received the full allowable reimbursement on fluid milk sales up to 5 million pounds.

More information about the PMVAP production cap increase is available at www.ams.usda.gov/pmvap.

Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program

The new ODMAP, to be administered by USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), is intended to help smaller organic dairy farms that have faced a unique set of challenges and higher costs over the past several years that have been compounded by the ongoing pandemic and drought conditions across the country. Many small organic dairy operations are now struggling to stay in business and FSA plans to provide payments to cover a portion of their estimated marketing costs for 2023. Final spending will depend on enrollment and each producers projected production, but ODMAP has been allocated up to $100 million.

The assistance provided by ODMAP will be provided through unused Commodity Credit Corporation funds remaining from earlier pandemic assistance programs. The assistance will help eligible organic dairy producers with up to 75 percent of their future projected marketing costs in 2023, based on national estimates of marketing costs. This assistance will be provided through a streamlined application process based on a national per hundredweight payment. The payments will be capped at the first five million pounds of anticipated production, in alignment with preexisting dairy programs that target assistance to those smaller dairies that are most vulnerable to marketing challenges. This program is still in development.

Details about the Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program will be available and updated at www.farmers.gov as more details are released in a Notice of Funds Availability later this year.