Discover how US dairy production fared in March. Did your favorite cheese see a production boost? Uncover the latest stats on cheese, butter, and frozen dairy products.
Here’s some good news for you! March has proven to be a bountiful month for dairy products with most of them witnessing a surge in production. According to the National Ag Statistics Service, total cheese output showed a delightful jump, rising by 7.6% over February and slightly above the production figures from March of 2023 by one-tenth of a percent.
“Italian style cheese production was up 8.6% from February, putting out an impressive 518 million pounds, which is 4.4% more than a year ago. American style cheese production showed a 10% increase over February, although it was 2.9% below the past year’s March production figures, resulting in 491 million pounds.”
Butter saw a respectable rise of 5.5% from February and a 1.4% increase from a year ago with a whopping 209 million pounds. A special mention goes to the dairy farmers in Wisconsin, who topped the nation in Italian-type cheese production, churning out 145.4 million pounds in March alone. They were closely trailed by their counterparts from California. However, California outperformed in producing the most Mozzarella cheese, with a sizable 134 million pounds.
Wisconsin continued to rule the roost in Cheddar cheese production, accounting for more than 60.4 million pounds in March. Compared to last year, dry whey production rose by an encouraging 3.4%, whey protein concentrate production was up 2.6%, and lactose production also notched up slightly.
The production of frozen dairy products was predominantly up in March, with hard ice cream production rising 1.4% to deliver 66.1 million gallons. Sherbet production also swelled 1.3%, resulting in 1.88 million gallons while Frozen yogurt rose marginally by a tenth of a percent to reach 3.71 million gallons. However, low-fat ice cream production witnessed a slump, dropping 12.8% to 37.7 million gallons.
