Making headlines as we approach the final week of January 2025 are:
- Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025 introduced
- Rabobank: Milk production costs are structurally increasing
- Consumers are moving back to milk
- Vitaliano: Cheese, butter and yogurt sales shine as milk production slips
- IDFA names new members of executive council and directors
Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025 introduced
Last week, a group of U.S. representatives and senators introduced the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act for consideration by the 119th Congress.
The bipartisan legislation is led by U.S. Reps. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pennsylvania) and Kim Schrier (D-Washington) and Sens. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), Peter Welch (D-Vermont), Dave McCormick (R-Pennsylvania) and John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania).
The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act will allow for unflavored and flavored whole and reduced-fat (2%) milk to be offered in school cafeterias.
Schools that participate in the federal school meals program have not been permitted to serve whole milk since 2012. Since then, school milk consumption and meal participation have declined.
The 2020-25 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) reports kids 2-18 are largely missing their dairy intake recommendations, with upward of 75% of all school-aged children missing their recommended levels of dairy.
“Federal policy, based on flawed, outdated science, has kept whole milk out of school cafeterias for more than a decade,” said Thompson. “Milk provides 13 essential nutrients that supplement growth and health, two key factors contributing to academic success. The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025 provides schools the flexibility they need to offer a variety of options, while supporting students and America’s hard-working dairy farmers.”
Updated scientific and medical research indicates higher-fat milk consumption by children is associated with lower childhood obesity and other positive health outcomes. The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025 highlights the many health benefits and nutrients milk provides to young Americans, including better bone health, lower blood pressure and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease or Type 2 diabetes.
Last Congress, the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act received overwhelmingly bipartisan support with 134 cosponsors. It was passed by the House of Representatives 330-99 in December 2023, but the Senate did not take up the legislation before the 118th Congress adjourned.
Gregg Doud, president and CEO of National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), thanked the legislators for their leadership in boosting students’ access to critical nutrition and said, “NMPF is ready to work with the bill’s bipartisan sponsors to move this commonsense, widely supported solution across the finish line this year.”
Rabobank: Milk production costs are structurally increasing
A recent report by RaboResearch highlights a significant rise in milk production costs from 2019 to 2024. The operating cost environment for average milk producers is likely to be more expensive and variable over the next 10 years compared to the last decade. Driving this increase are structural factors such as regulatory pressures, energy transition costs, climate change impacts and higher interest rates.
Dairy farmers worldwide are experiencing the pressure of rising milk production costs. Across eight regions – Argentina, Australia, California, China, Ireland, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the Upper Midwest – total production costs have increased 14% from 2019 to 2024. Notably, over 70% of this increase has occurred since 2021.
According to Emma Higgins, senior agriculture analyst for RaboResearch, the primary driver of these rising costs is farm working expenses, which have also risen by 14% since 2019. Feed expenses remain the largest cost category, with fluctuations in the volume and price of both homegrown and purchased feed significantly impacting total production costs and global competitiveness.
In 2024, Oceania dairy farmers achieved the lowest production costs, outperforming other regions by a margin of 17% when adjusted for standardized milk composition and regional production costs in U.S. dollars. However, the appreciation of the U.S. dollar by around 10% against Oceania currencies in 2024 placed U.S. dairies at a comparative disadvantage.
China has emerged as more globally cost competitive due to notably lower feed prices.
When comparing costs in local currencies, production costs in the U.S., the Netherlands and China were 10% to 20% higher in 2024 than in 2019. Meanwhile, producers in Australia and New Zealand faced increases of around 25%, and those in Ireland and Argentina saw cost hikes of 30% to 40%.
As production costs rise, dairy producers face increased vulnerability during milk price downturns. “Adapting to these changes by mitigating or controlling costs will be crucial for survival and success in this new era. Producers who focus on enhancing production efficiency are better positioned to overcome these challenges, particularly as increasing stocking rates is less feasible in Oceania and Europe,” Higgins said. “Conversely, dairy producers in the U.S. and Argentina, who do not face stocking limitations, are in a more favorable position for expanding milk supply in the future.”
Consumers are moving back to milk
Plant-based beverages are losing market share to milk for the second year in a row.
NMPF released data from Circana, which tracks retail sales scans that shows milk’s sales volume relative to plant-based beverages rose again in 2024, with its relative share now at its highest since 2019.
In 2019, milk had 91.39% of the market share by volume. It dipped to a low of 89.28% in 2022, and in 2024 is back up to 90.18%.
While milk consumption stayed essentially flat, plant-based beverage consumption fell for its third consecutive year, with almond and soy continuing to fall and oats only maintaining its level of retail volume.
Vitaliano: Cheese, butter and yogurt sales shine as milk production slips
Fluid milk sales in 2024 are on track to exceed 2023's, which would be the first time fluid would see a year-over-year gain since 2009, according to NMPF's Peter Vitaliano. Summarizing dairy markets in the January 2025 Dairy Management Inc./NMPF Dairy Market Report, he said, total commercial use through November last year was above the same period in 2023 for all cheese, butter and yogurt but lower for the main dairy ingredient products.
U.S. dairy exports were lower in November, with cheese exports a bright spot on the strength of volume going to Mexico, South Korea and Japan. Growing butter imports from Ireland are raising total U.S. dairy import volumes.
Meanwhile, on production, following three months of levels above a year ago, U.S. milk production dropped in November by 1% due to an unusually large drop in milk production per cow.
For more information on commercial use, dairy trade, milk production, product inventories, prices and margins, view the January 2025 Dairy Market Report.
IDFA names new members of executive council and directors
The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) announced new members of the organization’s executive council as well as new directors for the group’s five industry segment boards.
Daragh Maccabee, CEO of Idaho Milk Products, was selected to chair the IDFA executive council. Joe Diglio, president and CEO of Michigan Milk Producers Association, was selected to be vice chair.
IDFA’s executive council is composed of executives from across the dairy foods industry and focuses on the business and operations of the association. The five industry segment boards represent fluid milk, ice cream, cheese, yogurt and cultured products, and dairy-derived ingredients, and are composed of experts and executives who drive policy and strategy alongside the association’s leadership. Together, the executive council and industry segment boards make up IDFA’s governance structure and ensure that IDFA represents and engages all segments of the growing dairy industry in the U.S.
Click here for a listing of IDFA’s new leadership.
