As the year winds down, the dairy industry is reflecting on another year in the book. Dairy groups say it has been better than most, but they are not sure it will last.
“In the great recession, we saw just awful prices and we were really pleading with the new Secretary to do something about it. Different dynamic this year; we have much stronger prices, cheese prices have come off a bit from their highs of the summer, but margins are still very healthy. You know, corn and soybean prices, we’ve had a good harvest in the corn belt, so that means that input costs are moderate. So it’s been a good year for dairy farmers and I think the big question is how long will that last?” said Chris Galen.
Galen says right now it does not appear that production will increase in response to higher prices. He says that has been a struggle the last few years, which has allowed supply and demand to get tilted.
