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Erica Pagel, director of Raw Materials Management for Foremost Farms USA in Baraboo, Wisconsin, has begun a three-year term of service on the Professional Dairy Producers Foundation board.
Heading into June Dairy Month and the dairy promotion season, I’m concerned by two recent conversations I've had with dairy consumers. I share these backyard barbecue conversations, both of which were with my friends, in hopes that it will help reopen a discussion about dairy product processing and imaging.
In 1910, E. Tucker, a Kentucky farmer, and three others sued a tobacco buyer for breach of contract. They were not suing for themselves, but an association of tobacco farmers. These men made up the negotiating committee of the Farmers’ Union of Breckenridge County in Kentucky.
Tired of too low prices, these tobacco farmers had come together and agreed to pool their receipts by selling all their tobacco at the best prices that could be negotiated. The income would be returned to the members in a blended price. The committee negotiated a contract for all of the tobacco.
It seems that every time the market moves from high prices to low prices, there is some sort of discussion that follows regarding how we can fix the market and return back to better prices. Consequently, low prices create such talk that are the very force that ultimately cause supply reductions either through more aggressive culling practices or exit of market participants. The shortened milk supply leads to the manufacturing of fewer products.
Whenever I travel to big cities and foreign countries, I’m reminded of how fortunate I am to live in rural America. There are so many reasons I could list, but simply, it’s the pride we have in the appearance of our small towns and countryside. In most big cities and many other countries, trash seems to be thrown everywhere.
This makes me wonder, like the chicken and the egg, what came first? Is it that many people don’t care and throw their garbage everywhere and the area starts to deteriorate or is the area already deteriorating and then people quit caring and start littering?
Each day over 50,000 producers in this country go about their business producing the safe, nutritious and affordable dairy products that consumers enjoy. In our society, we expect perfection when it comes to food safety. A food safety breach can be devastating to an individual consumer and catastrophic for an industry.
Many dairymen are considering selling their dairy farms due to huge losses in equity that have taken place in the last 18 months. Once the dairyman has made the decision to sell his dairy farm, the producer should immediately start planning the farm sale. Timing is the key to maximizing profits in the sale of the real estate, equipment and cattle.
Meet with your lender
Your lender is your business partner. After a producer has made the decision to exit the industry, he needs to immediately contact his lender; the producer will then discuss his proposed exit strategy.
There’s a famous saying that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and they – whoever “they” is – are right.
And while it’s a well understood cliché, in this recession, most people would be happy with a free appetizer. Or maybe a free drink – anything to help offset the costs of the overall meal.
Now, apply that logic to energy efficiency projects on your farm. Sure, it’s unlikely someone’s going to drop an energy-efficient motor or pump at your front door, but there are ways you could get some of the costs reimbursed for your energy-saving efforts.
Recent market research by the U.S. dairy industry shows that a growing number of consumers care about the health and environmental impact of the products they buy.
As a result, there is a growing demand for products made responsibly. This presents an opportunity for dairy to continue to show how it is producing its products in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.
