Many dairy producers in California are cautiously optimistic about what 2025 has in store, including Tyler Ribeiro from Rib-Arrow Dairy in Tulare. Topping his list of concerns right now are feed and water costs.

Entering 2025, the Texas dairy industry is healing from last year’s drought conditions and bird flu outbreak. However, Darren Turley, executive director at the Texas Association of Dairymen, says dairy producers are expecting better conditions and pricing moving forward.

Despite political uncertainty, dairy producers across the Midwest are feeling positive and optimistic as we begin 2025, largely due to higher milk prices, improved profitability and a strong beef market.

Looking to the future, many dairy producers across the Northeast – especially in New York and Pennsylvania – are capitalizing on positive margins. “A lot of producers in our area of New York are positioning for growth, whether that be herd size, expansion or diversification,” says Tyler Reynolds of Reyncrest Farm, Corfu, New York.

Talk of growth, expansion and new opportunities have historically been quieter in the Southeast than in other regions, but Travis Senn, assistant director of milk marketing and analytics at Southeast Milk Inc. (SMI), says dairy farmers in this region are entering 2025 with a “level of confidence they haven’t had in years.”

Bird flu or highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 was a wild card for the dairy industry in 2024, as the first diagnosis in dairy cattle happened in Texas in late March. Progressive Dairy interviewed state veterinarians and animal health officials in the five states with the most cases of bird flu on dairy farms – Texas, Idaho, Michigan, Colorado and California – to learn more about their approach to managing and minimizing the disease.

On-farm financial margins have improved over the last year, and many organic dairy producers are feeling positive and optimistic thanks to lower inflationary pressure, higher mailbox prices and rising consumer demand.

World Ag Expo will be held Feb. 11 through 13 at the International Agri-Center in Tulare, California, and will feature more than 1,200 exhibitors, numerous seminars, demonstrations, farm tours and more.