A 2017 Penn State Extension survey revealed four primary motivators for starting a value-added enterprise – maintaining a small family operation, improving profitability, having an interest or passion for processed dairy products, or providing a business opportunity for current and future generations.

Is your farm right for value-added dairy? In most cases, the question asked is: “Is value-added dairy right for your farm?” but maybe it is worth considering the reverse of that question when deciding whether to pursue a value-added dairy operation.

Note: This is the seventh and final article in a series about dairy culture. Since 2015, we have offered the Organizational Culture Inventory (OCI) test to document cultures on dairies.

Dairy sector economics have been challenging. On one hand, the U.S. and world economies are growing with increasing demand for dairy products, particularly butter and cheese. On the other hand, since Europe removed its milk quotas a few years ago and Canada tweaked its pricing system, the additional milk supply worldwide is outstripping this growing demand.

With milk market availability no longer a certainty, many producers are wondering how they can make their operations attractive for a direct supply contract. For the first 20 years of my career, I worked for consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies.

Like many of you, I attend many dairy meetings and am fortunate to have the opportunity to speak at many of them. In my interactions with dairy farmers and other industry people at these meetings, I find there is not a good understanding of what is happening with demand for dairy products.

Without a doubt, you’ve read a half-dozen or more articles in the past several months about managing your dairy operation during periods of low margins. I initially thought this would be another of those articles; however, I’ve changed my mind and decided to offer a different message.

Labor issues were critical topics both on the agenda and in conversations throughout the High Plains Dairy Conference in Amarillo, Texas, March 6 and 7, 2018. More than 300 dairy producers, industry personnel and university staff gathered for the event.

The grain market began the month of April by processing the March 28 USDA Prospective Plantings and Quarterly Stocks reports. The reports caught many off-guard. Cumulatively, corn and soybean acres were estimated at 177 million acres, 3 million acres fewer than the 2017 season.

Add these articles to your dairy business library. Four habits for resiliency