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Dean Foods issues shouldn’t impact farmers much

A dairy industry leader says fluid milk sales have been difficult but Dean Foods filing for bankruptcy shouldn’t make them worse.

Dairy economist Mark Stephenson with the University of Wisconsin says while Dean’s represents about a third of the nation’s fluid milk processing, milk will still be bottled.

“The worst-case scenario I think for farmers, maybe a handful, if we have some of those Dean plants—the assets—that get closed because they’re not well located or are old and inefficient plants, then some farmers are going to see increased hauling costs.”

He says Deans represents about 10 percent of all milk sales in the U.S. and whatever the outcome, it will cause changes in the dairy industry.