News

Dairy analyst won’t rule out another processor crisis

A dairy analyst says the crisis caused by a milk processor dropping producers might happen again.  Mark Stephenson is with the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Dairy Profitability.  He tells Brownfield the May incident where Grassland Dairy let 75 Wisconsin and Minnesota farms go still has farmers talking.

Mark Stephenson

Mark Stephenson is with the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Dairy Profitability.  He tells Brownfield the May incident where Grassland Dairy let 75 Wisconsin and Minnesota farms go still has farmers talking.  “One of the questions I do get from farmers is, ‘Is this just a one-off kind of thing, you know, something that was unusual and happened once and we’ll never see it again?’ and I don’t think that’s the case.  We’ve got a lot of milk up here right now that’s chasing some plant capacity and it’s not just from Wisconsin, but milk from neighboring states.”

Stephenson says it’s time for farmers to look at milk production differently.  “For so long, we’ve just said make more milk, you know, we need more milk, the plants need that.  Now, we’ve got the milk and we need to say the kinds of questions about ‘What kind of milk do you want me to produce?’ and ‘How much of that do you want me to produce?’ (and) ‘What are your customers asking for?'”

Stephenson says some dairies are already working more closely with processors to produce the quantity and quality of milk needed.

 

Add Comment

Your email address will not be published.


 

Stay Up to Date

Subscribe for our newsletter today and receive relevant news straight to your inbox!