One of the key factors affecting the state of dairy in 2023 is domestic demand and the role inflation has on retail sales. The industry will need to focus on innovative products that balance premium experiences, health claims, taste and convenience to meet consumer demand and capture future growth.

Given its size, scope and geography, there are a range of issues facing the California dairy community. With attention spread across near-term financial challenges to longer-term environmental regulations, the state’s dairy producers are apprehensive at the start of 2023.

Intermingled with large population centers, dairy producers, processors and marketers in the Northeast and New England must stay in tune with local demands and global conditions. That results in a medley of opportunities and concerns.

A numerical snapshot of Wisconsin shows the state averaged about 1.27 million dairy cows in 2022, producing almost 31.9 billion pounds of milk. Both changed little from the year before.

Dairy producers in Texas and New Mexico continue to be on different trajectories. Preliminary USDA data indicates Texas milk production grew by more than 925 million pounds (about 6%) in 2022, topping 16.5 billion pounds.

Few segments of the dairy industry have struggled more than organic producers in the Northeast, where market exits by Horizon Organic and Maple Hill Creamery resulted in the termination of more than 130 producer contracts.

Geographically, the Central Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) stretches across Oklahoma and Kansas, large portions of Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska, and into counties in Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Milk producers and handlers supplying the Appalachian Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) cover five states: Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Like their neighbors to the south, they share similar concerns and diverse outlooks.

Running through the heart of the north-central U.S. and bordering three of the nation’s 24 major dairy states, Interstate 29 (I-29) is a strong vein from which to measure the pulse of the industry.