Posted: January 31, 2007 at 7:10 pm
By News Editor
Wisconsin dairy producers have their state’s congressional delegation reaching out to the USDA on their behalf.
Three members of Wisconsin’s Congressional delegation are calling on U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns to reject changes to the federal milk marketing orders being considered by the USDA that could hurt the prices that Wisconsin dairy farmers receive.
Congressman Dave Obey, along with Senators Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold say the changes proposed by the National Milk Producers’ Federation (NMPF) would significantly alter classified pricing formulas by increasing prices paid to dairy farmers who produce milk for the fluid milk market, while undercutting those who’s milk goes to make cheese.
As part of the NMPF’s plan, the USDA would move the make allowance for cheddar cheese to 16.82 cents per pound of cheese, up from the current value of 16.5 cents. They would also raise the make allowance to produced dry whey to 19.56 cents per pound, up from 15.9 cents. The make allowance to produce butter would rise about one-half cent to 12.02 cents per pound and the cost of making nonfat dry milk rose from 14 cents to 15.7 cents per pound.
“For years, farmers in Wisconsin and Minnesota have suffered under outdated federal milk marketing orders that keep prices for milk that goes into fluid use high while paying farmers outside the Upper Midwest more for their milk through Class I dairy differentials,” Obey said. “Instead of considering proposals to bring regulation of dairy markets into the 21st century, USDA is considering a plan that would exacerbate the inequities and increase the market distortions caused by the archaic federal orders.”
Posted: January 31, 2007 at 7:01 pm
By News Editor
Drinkable yogurt is popular among the younger set — I haven’t seen too many ‘older’ folks kicking back with a Go’gurt! But, drinkable yogurt is the fastest growing food category in the world - wow!
Annual sales of drinkable yogurt rose 18.4 percent to $7.76 billion from mid-2005 to mid-2006, according to a survey by market research company AC Nielsen Global Services. Drinkable yogurt taps into the trend of consumers looking to eat and drink healthy foods, but not having time to stop and sit when they do it.
Posted: January 31, 2007 at 4:30 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
I’m attending the Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville, TN and blogging for the Cattlemen’s Beef Board on their blog, Beef Board Meeting.com. I’ll try to find some items of interest for you. Like this interview I did with Gary and Donna Sharp.
Gary and Donna Sharp are dairy producers and Gary likes to point out that that makes them beef producers as well.
Gary is serving on the Beef Board and is chairman of the dairy producer communications committee. Donna is a past Beef Board member and is currently serving on the board of the national dairy checkoff.
I interviewed both of them together right before the first lunch session here today. One of the things that Donna points out is how many issues affect both the beef and diary checkoff programs and that the staff of both stay in touch to provide a united front in addressing them.
You can listen to my interview with the Sharps here:
Gary & Donna Sharp Interview (5 min. MP3 File)
Posted: January 30, 2007 at 5:16 pm
By News Editor
Finally, among all of the BST news out there, we hear from Monsanto themselves. This week, the company released a study of 213 samples of 95 milk brands, taken from retailers in the 48 contiguous states. You may not be surprised by the results.
Third-party laboratories, funded by Monsanto, tested for certain hormones, nutrients and antibiotics. Their bottom line: Milk is milk, regardless of whether Posilac is used in its production.
The study included samples of milk labeled as being free of rBST, or recombinant bovine somatotropin, the scientific name for Posilac; organic milk, which carries a similar claim; and ordinary milk bearing no such label. It found:
• No difference in the levels of the hormones progesterone, insulin-like growth factor 1, or BST. Critics of Posilac have said it elevates these levels and can cause human health concerns as a result.
• No difference in nutrients such as protein, fat and lactose.
• No antibiotic residue, which is prohibited by the Food and Drug Administration. Posilac critics say its use leads to health problems in dairy cattle, which then must be treated with antibiotics that can end up in milk.
It intends to counter “rBST-free” labeling moves by major retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., processors such as Dean Foods Co. and, most recently, restaurant chain Starbucks Coffee Co. Some financial analysts estimate Posilac is worth about $250 million a year to Monsanto, which in its last fiscal year had total sales of $7.3 billion.
Posted: January 30, 2007 at 5:05 pm
By News Editor
The CowParade has captured the imagination of America since 1999. The recent Parade in Wisconsin shows how successful these arty cows have been in promoting the dairy industry.
More than 100 colorful cows grazed the Madison area and traveled to every corner of the state this past summer and fall as part of CowParade Wisconsin 2006. A survey conducted by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB) following the event confirmed the memorable success of CowParade Wisconsin. When compared to a similar survey of 300 geographically dispersed Wisconsin residents done just before the CowParade promotion, it was found that Wisconsinites’ awareness of the state’s $20.6 billion dairy industry and how it affects their quality of life improved dramatically thanks in part to the promotion.
· 94 percent of those surveyed agreed that Wisconsin is proud to be America’s Dairyland
· 92 percent indicated they “would miss seeing Wisconsin farms if too much land was developed into housing and commercial buildings”
· 89 percent felt “the dairy industry played a key developmental role in the state of Wisconsin”
· And, 88 percent said they were “proud to call Wisconsin the Dairy State.”
Noteworthy awareness increases between the two surveys were also seen in the level of agreement with the following statements:
· “Wisconsin dominates the cheese industry” – Up 9 percentage points
· “One of every five Wisconsin jobs is related to agriculture” – Up 8 percentage points
· “The dairy industry improves my quality of life” – Up 6 percentage points
Posted: January 29, 2007 at 7:40 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
Here’s the latest announcement from Cooperatives Working Together:
Cooperatives Working Together announced today that it accepted four export assistance bids last week for the sale of cheese and butter. The first three bids were from Dairy Farmers of America of Kansas City, MO: 185 metric tons (407,000 pounds) of Cheddar cheese to Japan, 19 metric tons (41,800 lbs.) of Cheddar cheese to El Salvador, and 19 metric tons (41,800 lbs.) of Mozzarella cheese to Morocco. The fourth bid was from Land O’Lakes of Arden Hills, MN, for 39 metric tons (85,800 lbs.) of butter to the United Kingdom. This is the first CWT-facilitated export to the UK.
CWT will pay an export bonus to the bidders, once completion of the butter and cheese shipments is verified.
Posted: January 29, 2007 at 6:00 pm
By News Editor
Young Jersey enthusists get out your resumes and apply for the ‘Fred Stout Experience.’ This sounds like an amazing opportunity to get some real-world marketing experience. Applications are due February 1st, visit the US Jersey website to learn more.
High school graduates who have a strong desire to pursue a career in managing and/or marketing Registered Jersey™ cattle are encouraged to apply for the 2007 Fred Stout Experience award.
The award is presented annually in memory of Fred J. Stout Jr., Mt. Carmel, Ill., a lifelong Jersey breeder and member of the Jersey Marketing Service staff from 1978 to 1997 who believed that the best learning experiences happen in the everyday world. This award provides partial support for a two- or three-month internship with Jersey Marketing Service, Reynoldsburg, Ohio.
Posted: January 29, 2007 at 5:43 pm
By News Editor
Looks like the Australian dairy industry is positive about working with their government on water issues.
The Australian dairy industry believes the Australian Government’s national water initiative announcement is consistent with its strong views on water utilisation in agriculture and dairy in particular. Australian Dairy Farmers (representing the nation’s dairy farmers) and industry services company Dairy Australia have jointly released a statement in which they expressed cautious optimism.
“The principles the industry applies to water use also embrace continuous improvement in the effective and efficient use of water. It would appear the government’s approach is consistent with ours. We look forward to seeing the detail of the proposal and to discuss how the dairy industry can make a further contribution to the long term sustainability of irrigation water use in Australia.
The Australian dairy industry uses almost 40 percent of the water utilised in food production across the nation and more than half of the nation’s dairy farmers irrigate all or part of their farm.
Posted: January 29, 2007 at 5:29 pm
By News Editor
I don’t think I can add much more to the very interesting tongue-and-check description below about the ad to the right. The author says it all!
Ah,yes. The wonderfully sexist attitude of those Europeans. Oops, we mean sexually liberated. Where else can you find a campaign that so openly fantasizes about how life would be if a man designed it? Oh wait, everywhere, but just go with us on this one. You know you’d never see a milk maid like this from Hood or Garelick or any other milk make in America. Maybe that’s because this ad isn’t for milk but for the Belgian men’s magazine Che.
Not that anyone actually gets their milk delivered to their house anymore but thank God we can at least fantasize about it vicariously through an ad campaign. Thanks, Che. Oops, thanks Duval Guillaume. They created the ad.
Posted: January 28, 2007 at 7:40 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
I’ve been meaning to get this posted for a while now. Lisa Perrin has a new gig with the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association. She’ll be their marketing communications manager.
She will oversee the 3-A-Day of Dairy Mom’s grassroots network events and other consumer programs. She also will be responsible for coordinating promotion programs on behalf of Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program and will work with state Departments of Agriculture on marketing programs of mutual benefit. Perrin will be based in Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association’s Harrisburg office.
Perrin was raised on a family dairy farm in Alexander, N.Y. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in animal science from Cornell University and completed the Cornell Dairy Fellows and Farm Credit programs. Most recently Perrin served as communications manager for Holstein Association USA, Inc. Additionally, she honed her commodity marketing skills with National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in Denver, Colo., and Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association in Reston, Va.
Posted: January 26, 2007 at 10:30 pm
By News Editor
Another research study published with positive outcomes for dairy.
A combination of calcium plus vitamin D during weight loss in overweight and obese women could improve blood cholesterol levels, says new research from Canada.
The new study, published in the current issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, lead author Geneviève Major from the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine at the university’s Faculty of Medicine reports that the combination of the vitamin and calcium may improve cholesterol levels during weight loss.
After 15 weeks of supplementation the researchers report that the calcium supplements significantly improved the total:HDL cholesterol ratio, reported to be the most specific lipid risk factor for CVD. Improvements in the ration of LDL (so-called ‘bad’ cholesterol) to HDL (so-called ‘good’ cholesterol) also improved. The improvements in blood lipid levels were independent of fat mass and waist circumference, they said.
Posted: January 26, 2007 at 10:03 pm
By News Editor
This group of British dairy farmers were definitely thinking outside the carton, err, box when they came up with this idea - a single’s ad on a milk carton! Calon Wen, a small milk cooperative in rural Wales, decided to print stickers with their farmer’s photos and place them on milk cartons to try and substain their community. Now that’s what I call creative marketing!
A group of dairy farmers are putting single’s ads on milk cartons in the hopes of finding Mr. or Mrs. Right in the far-flung countryside of Wales.
“My family thinks I’m nuts,” said 30-year-old farmer Iwan Jones, who appears on the cartons and hasn’t had a date in a year. “My friends think it’s hilarious — but everyone’s taking it with kind of a lighthearted attitude.”
Since the ads appeared Monday, the site has received 2,500 hits, or about 10 times the usual daily traffic.
“It’s a beautiful environment, but in terms of actually trying to meet somebody it’s not particularly easy — especially when you have to wake up at 5 o’clock in the morning to milk cows.”
Posted: January 26, 2007 at 9:35 pm
By News Editor
Lallemand has announced the approval of it’s revolutionary Levucell rumen yeast.
The milk production claim: “Increases milk production when fed as directed” has been approved for Levucell® SC 10ME and Levucell® SC 20, rumen specific yeast, by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Levucell® was granted approval by the CFIA in 2002. In addition, Levucell® SC 20 rumen specific yeast, is “approved for organic agriculture by GarantieBio-Ecocert”. Dairy trials showed an average increase in milk production of ranging from 1.5kg to 3.0kg /hd/day. Ultimately, Levucell means improved rumen health, increased milk production and a lower incidence of acidosis related problems.
Posted: January 26, 2007 at 1:48 pm
By Chuck Zimmerman
Dairy Markets Week in Review
The cash markets saw little that it didn’t already know in the data. Block cheese closed the week at $1.3475 per pound, up 6 cents, and 11 cents above that week a year ago when the blocks plunged 11 1/4 cents. Barrel closed Friday at $1.3650, up 5 3/4-cents on the week, and 15 1/2 above a year ago when barrel dropped a dime. Eight cars of block were sold on the week and six of barrel. Block cheese averaged $1.3309 in the NASS price survey, up 1.1 cent. Barrel averaged $1.3337, up 2 cents.
Butter closed the week of January 22 at $1.27, up 4 1/2-cents on the week, and a half-cent above a year ago when the CME price lost 7 1/2 cents. Twenty one cars were sold on the week. NASS butter averaged $1.1976, up 0.9 cent.
Provided courtesy of Dairyline.
Posted: January 24, 2007 at 5:58 pm
By News Editor
Alto Dairy welcomes Tim Potratz as their new Sale Manager.
Potratz brings with him a 22 year track record of successful sales and sales management to the foodservice and retail food industry. As Alto Dairy’s new sales manager, he will be responsible for increasing sales of value-added natural cheeses to the foodservice and retail marketplace. He will play an integral part in growing our sales to bring better returns to the dairy farmer owners of the cooperative.
Potratz is looking forward to this new opportunity. “Alto Dairy has a strong reputation in the community and industry,” he said. “I am excited to work with Alto’s management team to increase the sales of Alto’s award-winning cheeses and introduce their products to new markets.”
Posted: January 24, 2007 at 5:50 pm
By News Editor
When you sit down to big bowl of Cheerios, be sure to send up a silent ‘thank you’ to Lester Borchardt. Borchardt died yesteday at age 99, after a long career with General Mills.
Borchardt revolutionized the breakfast cereal industry. He had a big hand in developing the technologies that allow cereal companies — in his case, General Mills — to turn grain into cereals such as Cheerios and Kix, and he also played a key role in coming up with the process used to fortify milk with vitamin D.
He made his first mark in the corporate world in 1933. General Mills was looking for a way to fortify milk with vitamin D. General Mills executives had heard about research being conducted in Chicago on a different fortification process. This process used an electrical charge to convert ergosterol — part of the membrane of fungal cells found in milk — into vitamin D.
Borchardt turned the new fortification method from a “laboratory curiosity” to a commercially viable process. Borchardt also invented a device that could measure the moisture content of kernels of wheat, a new way of closing cereal bags and a process for treating materials under a high vacuum.
Posted: January 24, 2007 at 5:42 pm
By News Editor
I’ve always wondered just exactly what a Scooby snack was - now I know! String cheese! Sargento is launching several new product lines, one targeted to children and one to adults. “Scooby-Doobie-Doobie-Doo!”
In its first kids licensing venture, Sargento, Plymouth, Wis., has teamed with Warner Bros. Consumer Products on Scooby-Doo Mini String Snacks. Scooby’s likeness will appear on packages; a cross-promotion on Scooby-Doo DVDs and coupons support. “There is real growth in the kid market. They consume about 50% of all cheese snacks,” said Chip Schuman, senior director of marketing at Sargento.
Meanwhile, Sargento plans to keep adults interested with a new strategy for the branded cheese category: A line of rotating limited-edition flavors in small batches every two or three months, starting with Vermont Sharp White Cheddar in all formats (shreds, slices, cheese sticks). “We want to appeal to the food adventurers who are always looking for something new,” said Schuman. “That’s what sets us apart from Kraft.”
Posted: January 24, 2007 at 5:31 pm
By News Editor
National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), along with American Meat Institute, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the National Chicken Council, the National Pork Producers Council and the National Turkey Federation have asked the USDA to form a working group to study the impact of increased ethanol use on milk and meat producers.
Because of concerns about the economic health of dairy farmers, the NMPF is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to investigate the overall implications of the rising production of biofuels, such as ethanol, on food production in the United States.
In yesterday’s State of the Union address, President George W. Bush called for even greater development and use of corn-based ethanol. The U.S.’s ethanol production is expected to reach 7.5 billion gallons this year, and next year, ethanol could use nearly half of the nation’s annual corn production.
In the letter, NMPF, along with five other organizations representing the livestock sector, ask Secretary Mike Johanns to assemble a working group within the USDA’s Chief Economist’s office to study the emerging biofuels economy and its full implications for milk and meat producers, as well as consumers of those products. The groups share concerns that producers may face challenges in sustaining their operations along side a robust and growing ethanol economy.
Posted: January 23, 2007 at 6:45 pm
By News Editor
Basketball, milk and China? It seems an unlikely parntership, but yesterday the NBA announced an extensive marketing deal with Mengniu Milk, China’s top producer of milk by sales volume. We’ve been reading about how China’s large population is increasing the country’s milk consumption. This campaign will further that increase even more.
The league’s presence in China has increased steadily since the Washington Bullets played the national team in exhibition games there in 1979. It is raising its profile further in the run-up to the Olympic Games next year with a local partner that markets aggressively all over the country.
The deals underscore the explosive growth of milk-drinking in China, which has been jump-started by improvements in transportation and technology. To take advantage, both Mengniu and Yili have been promoting the benefits of milk — especially to young people. Mengniu, for example, sponsors a television show called “Among the Cities” that will capitalize on China’s pre-Olympic frenzy by searching for the country’s best amateur athletes. The program’s slogan: “Drink more milk and play more sports — everyone will be his own health champion.”
The NBA campaign will combine elements of American glitz — retired NBA great George Gervin will attend the news conference — with a grass-roots effort to create more milk drinkers. The company will provide a free carton of milk to children at 500 schools in poor and rural areas of China, along with educational materials promoting its products.
Posted: January 23, 2007 at 6:28 pm
By News Editor
It’s always heartening to hear about stronger milk prices for our producers. Click here to read the entire story.
Higher feed prices will be partially offset by higher milk prices. The U.S. dairy herd is expected to decline modestly from 9,115 million in 2006 to 9,040 million in 2007. Recent dairy cow slaughter has been above a year earlier. Some of this slaughter likely is herd liquidation, but most of it may be replacement as cow numbers continued to rise in November and December. Production per cow will continue its incremental upward trend, topping 20 thousand pounds per cow in 2007. According to the December Dairy Products report, November production of cheese, butter, and nonfat dry milk are ahead of year-earlier levels. Low unemployment and robust job creation during the fourth quarter of 2006, combined with rising wages and smaller increases in milk production, should provide a foundation for higher dairy product prices in 2007. Cheese prices finished 2006 at $1.247 per pound, 24 cents lower than 2005. The outlook is for the cheese price to strengthen in 2007 and the season-average price is forecast at $1.310 to $1.390 per pound.
Butter supplies will be ample in light of strong dry product demand. Butter price should stage a recovery in 2007. The butter price averaged $1.219 per pound in 2006, 32 cents lower than 2005. The 2007 price is forecast to climb to $1.235 to $1.345 per pound.
The 2006 Class IV price averaged $11.06 per cwt. In 2007, the price is forecast to rise to $11.35 to $12.25 per cwt. Class III price averaged $11.89 per cwt in 2006 and is expected to climb to $12.50 to $13.30 per cwt in 2007. The resulting reported allmilk price is expected to be $13.60 to $14.40 per cwt. for 2007, after averaging $12.91 per cwt. in 2006.
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