News

So much milk, not enough processors, consumers

Wisconsin’s Ag Secretary says finding new milk processors for displaced farmers is very difficult.  Ben Brancel tells Brownfield most processors are near maximum capacity, and it’s not just a Wisconsin problem.  “New York has flooded the milk market of Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, so we’re pushing back against milk coming from the east coast because New York has nowhere near the processing capacity to handle the milk that they have been producing.”

Milk processors in Wisconsin and other states are telling Brancel production capacity is limited.  “Nobody has told us at this point that they’re at wit’s end about the amount of milk they’re getting and the products they’re producing in the marketplace, but they are expressing that they are very, very tight on their capacity to handle the milk that they have.”

Nasonville Dairy west of Marshfield, Wisconsin stopped taking milk from 13 farmers a week ago because they lost a major undisclosed cheese buyer.  Letters were sent to 75 farmers supplying Grassland Dairy in Greenwood, Wisconsin saying their milk won’t be picked up after this month because of lost ultra-filtered milk markets in Canada.

Brancel says the department has found processing facilities to take milk from about half of the 13 farmers let go from Nasonville Dairy.

More than half of the Grassland Dairy producers being let go at the end of the month have contacted the ag department’s Farm Center for help finding a new milk processor.  Brancel has asked processors to share any ideas for new markets and also for any short-term solutions to help the affected dairy farmers.

Secretary Ben Brancel discusses the search for dairy processors with Brownfield’s Larry Lee

The Wisconsin Farm Center toll-free number is (800) 942-2474.  

The website link is here.