The Northeast Dairy Leadership Team met in Binghamton, NY on February 2-3.
Most of the discussion centered on balancing issues. The northeast U.S. has a higher Class I utilization than other parts of the country, which is usually viewed as a strength for the region's farmers. The Federal Milk Marketing Order System ensures that Class I (i.e., fluid) buyers of milk get what they want when they want it. This leaves buyers of the other classes of milk (i.e., for manufacturing) subject to significant swings in the volume of milk available to them. Click here for links to the presentations. For a summary of the balancing issues from the perspective of a buyer of non-Class I milk, see slide 21 in the presentation by Joe Simmons of Kraft Foods.
Also presenting at the meeting was Gary Snider, a farm business consultant for Farm Credit of Western New York. Gary talked about how farmers can survive increasingly volatile markets, drawing on his experience working with about 30 large dairy farms in western New York.
