Dairy Industry Looks Beyond Our Borders to Expand Demand

The Chairman of the National Milk Producers Federation’s Young Dairy Cooperative says trade continues to be a top concern for the industry.
Michigan dairy farmer James Weber milks just shy of 200 cows and tells Brownfield Network if the country’s dairy industry wants to produce more milk, it needs a market outside of the U.S. “We have goals to export 20 percent of our product and beyond that because our industry is still growing production within this country, and our domestic market has kind of reached a max right now,” Weber says.

Weber is excited to see growth in the Asian Pacific region but says he’d like to see the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) upheld.
The U.S. Dairy Export Council says about 15 percent of the country’s overall milk production is currently exported. Export volumes last year set a record and were up 10 percent compared to 2019.

EDITOR’S TAKE:
An excellent goal for U.S. dairy producers to pursue. Expanding domestic consumption has been a difficult task for the dairy industry for quite some time, many years in fact. Competition for consumer demand, especially fluid milk consumption, has been fierce in recent years with the advent of alternative beverages in a similar space. Obviously, turning to our neighbors immediately to our north and south is the ideal starting place, but that will require strict enforcement of the USMCA. Looking overseas is the next best alternative and makes a great deal of sense with growing population and expanding incomes creating a number of opportunities. It’s time to focus on these markets as suggested in the article and we wish the dairy industry great success!