Wis. Milk Production Up

News EditorDairy Business, Industry News

According to a study released recently called the Wisconsin Cheese Plant Capacity and Future Milk Production report, increases in the state’s milk production may exceed the state’s ability to process it by 2012.

For years, milk production has lagged behind the statewide capacity of dairy processing plants, creating a deficit that was fulfilled by trucking in various forms of milk for the cheesemaking process, including condensed milk and nonfat dry milk. America’s Dairyland needs a large amount of milk to make its signature cheeses: in 2007 cheesemakers poured 24.5 billion pounds (2.8 billion gallons) of milk into their cheese vats.

Wisconsin milk production is growing. Both the number of cows and the amount each cow produces has increased in recent years. In 2007, Wisconsin cows produced 24.1 billion pounds of milk and 90 percent was made into cheese. If this increase continues, Wisconsin dairies could produce two billion more pounds of milk by 2012, Dr. Cropp estimates, positioning the state to reach its greatest peak in milk production in twenty years.

“The growth in Wisconsin’s milk production can be attributed to a positive business environment for the dairy industry. A recent survey of our own dairy producer members shows plans to invest $116 million this year alone in dairy building, expansion and modernization projects,” said Laurie Fischer, executive director of the Dairy Business Association.

According to the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association, investments are occurring on the processing side as well. Three new cheese plants entered production this year alone, and several other makers upgraded facilities. Growing milk supplies could push plants across the state to peak capacity, according to John Umhoefer, executive director, Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.

Weekly CWT Update

News Editorcwt, Export

Cooperatives Working Together (cwt) has announced its updated export bids.

The sole bid was from Dairy Farmers of America of Kansas City, MO, for the export of 18 metric tons (39,683 lbs.) of anhydrous milkfat to Panama.

CWT will pay an export bonus to the bidder, only when delivery of the product is verified by the submission of the required documentation.

With this accepted bid, CWT’s total 2008 export obligations are: butter, 16,400 metric tons (36 million lbs.); cheese, 1,315 metric tons (2.9 million lbs.); whole milk powder, 170 metric tons (374,000 lbs.); and anhydrous milkfat, 4,674 metric tons (10.3 million lbs.). The milk equivalent total of these products is 1.11 billion pounds.

Dairy Council Teams Up with NFL

News EditorDairy Checkoff, Health, Industry News

The National Dairy Council and the National Football League (NFL) are teaming up to promote healthy eating and exercise in schools across the country. A huge touchdown for America’s dairy farmers!

A marketing pact between the two groups will be announced next week, and its goal will be to tackle childhood obesity by educating kids about exercise and good nutrition. The dairy council, working with the league, will deploy the five-year, $250 million national school health program.

While the NFL will pocket a sponsorship fee, “The vast majority (of the money) is really tied to running these programs in schools and also tied to the National Dairy Council providing grants to schools that adopt these programs,” says NFL marketing director Peter O’Reilly.

Part of the deal is that NFL players will make school visits to tout exercise. The groups will also create a “playbook” that outlines activity ideas such as flag football.

This school year, the program will be launched in about 50 schools in seven test markets. It will expand to about 40,000 schools in the next few years, says Jean Ragalie, council executive vice president.

For five years, the group has worked with individual NFL teams to promote nutritionally sound fare such as low-fat and no-fat dairy products. The new agreement is broader and more “comprehensive,” says Ragalie. “We’ll work with all 32 teams plus the National Football League organization.”

Nestle USA Chief Resigns

News EditorIndustry News

Swiss food and drinks giant Nestle SA Americas chief Paul Polman has resigned.

Polman is leaving to become chief executive of rival company Unilever PLC, the Netherlands-based company said in a separate statement.

The 52-year-old Dutchman was tapped as a possible successor to Nestle CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, but lost out to Paul Bulcke last year.

Nestle said its Europe chief Luis Cantarell will take over the Americas region from Polman, who had been with the company for 29 years.

Straight Talk or Whirl of Change?

News EditorGovernment, Ice Cream, Media

Baskin-Robbins is joining in on the 2008 presidential election with two new flavors you can vote on! Straight Talk Crunch or Whirl of Change – which is your “flavorite”? Vote today!

Baskin-Robbins said in a press release: “Beginning Sept. 3, Americans can vote for their “flavorite” candidate in any Baskin-Robbins store nationwide or online. Flavor polls will close midnight, Oct. 20. Votes will be tallied and the winner of Flavor Debate ’08 will be announced on Oct. 21, possibly providing a taste for which candidate Americans will choose as the next president of the United States in November.”

The flavor that represents McCain, is Straight Talk Crunch, whose ingredients include caramel ribbon, chocolate pieces, candy red states, and crunchy mixed nuts swirled into white chocolate ice cream, Baskin-Robbins said.

The Obama flavor is Whirl of Change, which includes peanut-nougat ice cream whirled with chunks of chocolate-covered peanut brittle and a caramel ribbon, the chain said.

Dairyline Markets In Review

Chuck ZimmermanDairyline, Markets

DairylineDairy Markets Week in Review
The cash dairy markets gained ground the first week of September. Block cheese closed Friday morning at $1.7850 per pound, up 8 1/4-cents on the week, but 35 1/2-cents below that week a year ago. Barrel closed Friday at $1.7750, up 14 1/4-cents on the week but 29 1/2-cents below a year ago. Seven cars of block traded hands and 18 of barrel. The NASS-surveyed U.S. average block price fell to $1.7522, down 7.4 cents. Barrel averaged $1.7278, down 3.4 cents.

Butter closed at $1.66, up 4 3/4-cents on the week and 24 cents above a year ago. Two cars traded hands. NASS butter averaged $1.5870, down 3.9 cents. NASS nonfat dry milk averaged $1.3682, down 2.8 cents, and dry whey averaged 23.52 cents, 0.8 cent.

Provided courtesy of Dairyline.

AgNite Got Cheese

Chuck ZimmermanCheese

AgNite CheeseAgNite at the RNC was all about showcasing American food and agriculture.

One of the most interesting displays included 3 large blocks of cheese. These were donated by Associated Milk Producers Incorporated. They’re not something you’d have room in your refrigerator for since each block weighs 690 pounds!

The people working the display got a serious workout slicing off the blocks all evening long. I tried a little of each and it was delicious.

Be sure to check out the AgNite Photo Album for 200 pictures from the event.

National Dairy Council Guides Parents

News EditorHealth, Industry News, Milk, Nutrition

The National Dairy Council has released recommendations to help parents decipher the new American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) “Lipid Screening and Cardiovascular Health in Childhood,” in particular, the guidelines on the correct milk choice.

One change the report recommends is to consider the use of reduced-fat dairy foods, such as reduced-fat (2%) milk, for children between 12 months and 2 years of age for whom overweight or obesity is a concern or who have a family history of obesity, dyslipidemia or cardiovascular disease.

“Research continues to show that for infants and children, milk and milk products are fundamental to a healthy diet,” said Karen Kafer, Vice President of Nutrition Affairs/Health Partnerships at the National Dairy Council (NDC). “We are working in partnership with the AAP to educate parents with children of different ages and health circumstances how to choose the milk products best for them. We want parents to understand that milk is more than just an important source of calcium for their children; it also contains eight other essential nutrients that help build and maintain strong bones, muscles and teeth.”

The AAP continues to emphasize calcium recommendations from its 2006 Report on Bone Health which promotes 3 servings of dairy foods daily for children and 4 servings for adolescents.(2) Likewise, the Dietary Guidelines encourage children from ages 2-8 to consume 3 child-size servings from the milk group each day for a total of 2 cups; children age 9 and older should consume 3 cups per day.(3) Whole, reduced-fat (2%), low-fat (1%) and fat-free milk all provide the same package of vitamins and minerals; the only difference is the amount of fat.

Of the five important nutrients cited in the Dietary Guidelines as nutrients of concern because of inadequate intake by children and adolescents (calcium, potassium, fiber, magnesium and vitamin E), dairy foods are a major source of three — calcium, potassium and magnesium.(2)

“Since the overwhelming majority of children do not get the recommended 3 servings of low-fat or fat-free milk and milk products, increasing their consumption to recommended levels is key to improving their overall diet quality,” Kafer said.

The New Green Milk Jug

News EditorIndustry News, Markets, Milk

New eco-friendly milk jugs are making their way into the market, and while the changes make milk less expensive to ship and are better for the environment, some consumers are crying over the milk they spill as they adjust to the no spout carton.

The redesign of the gallon milk jug, experts say, is an example of the changes likely to play out in the American economy over the next two decades. In an era of soaring global demand and higher costs for energy and materials, virtually every aspect of the economy needs to be re-examined, they say, and many products must be redesigned for greater efficiency.

Wal-Mart Stores is already moving down this path. But if the milk jug is any indication, some of the changes will take getting used to on the part of consumers. Many spill milk when first using the new jugs.

Others, even those who rue the day their tried-and-true jugs were replaced, praised the lower cost, from $2.18 to $2.58 a gallon. Sam’s Club said that was a savings of 10 to 20 cents a gallon compared with old jugs.

Milk crates are necessary because the shape of old-fashioned milk jugs prohibits stacking them atop one another. The crates take up a lot of room, they are unwieldy to move, and extra space must be left in delivery trucks to take empty ones back from stores to the dairy. They also can be filthy, using thousands of gallons of water a day to clean the crates.

But with the new jugs, the milk crates are gone. Instead, a machine stacks the jugs, with cardboard sheets between layers. Then the entire pallet, four layers high, is shrink-wrapped and moved with a forklift.

More gallons fit on a truck and in Sam’s Club coolers, and no empty crates need to be picked up, reducing trips to each Sam’s Club store to two a week, from five — a big fuel savings. Also, Sam’s Club can now store 224 gallons of milk in its coolers, in the same space that used to hold 80. The whole operation is so much more efficient that milk coming out of a cow in the morning winds up at a Sam’s Club store by that afternoon, compared with several hours later or the next morning by the old method.

Princess Kay of the Milky Way Visits AgNite

Chuck ZimmermanAudio, Education

Kristy MussmanTuesday evening selected attendees to the Republican National Convention were invited to an event in downtown Minneapolis at The Depot called AgNite. The dairy industry was quite involved. For example, there was plenty of ice cream and cheese on hand at individual displays.

Also on hand was Princess Kay of the Milky Way. She’s Kristy Mussman, a 3rd generation dairy farm family member.

She’s still pretty overwhelmed by her selection as the 55th Princess Kay. “It’s an unbelievable feeling, knowing that one day I was just a dairy farmer’s daughter and then going through all the processes for dairy princesses and knowing that not only do I represent my family but I also represent the 4,700 other dairy farmers across the state of Minnesota. I am blessed to have that opportunity.”

Kristy says AgNite is a great opportunity since there are so many people attending who are willing to hear what people in agriculture have to say.

Listen to my interview with Kristy here: [audio:http://zimmcomm.biz/agnite/agnite-08-mussman.mp3]

Be sure to check out the AgNite Photo Album for 200 pictures from the event. Cindy and I were brought in by the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council (main organizer) to provide online interactive coverage of the event on our AgWired site as well as the AgNite Blog.