The dairy industry is experiencing a period of growth in the U.S. right now. Gregg Doud, President and CEO of the National Milk Producers Federation, says one of the road signs is the current boom in dairy processing expansion.
“Somewhere in the neighborhood of $11 billion in new processing investment in dairy in the United States. And that’s 2023 through 2027, plus or minus. So this is the new Hilmar cheese plant in southwest Kansas. This is the new expansion of Chobani in Idaho, the new plant in New York for Chobani. There are all kinds of facilities all over the country, all kinds of different products, new and expansions, 11 billion.”
Is this a turnaround for the industry? Dowd says money talks.
“What it really says is, number one, it’s an investment in the U.S. dairy farmer, first and foremost. Second of all, that’s because if you look around the world, Europe, New Zealand, wherever else, where is the new growth in dairy coming? It’s coming here in the United States. The U.S. dairy industry is really competitive in the world market. And I think this is people putting their money where their mouth is. The fact that that’s going to be the case going forward.”