Dairy is testing historical market limits
“We had 100,000 more cows year-over-year in December. That was the biggest year-over-year advance in some time,” shared Phil Plourd during USDA’s 97th Annual Agricultural Outlook Forum. “Its highest absolute cow numbers since the mid-1980s,” he said of the nation’s dairy cow herd.
What impact could this large dairy cow herd have on milk prices?
“We count 42 occasions going back to the year 2000 when we had daily milk production at 3% or more. In 34 of those occasions . . . 81% of the time . . . the Class III price was lower in the six subsequent months by an average of 18%,” Plourd said to those attending the Dairy Outlook portion of the event on Friday, February 19. That’s the production impact.
Online ordering from restaurants and grocery stores is here to stay, but thatâs just one way the pandemic has redefined the businesses that get food to consumers.
Trends that began as short-term adaptations now look like long-term business models as consumers embrace efficiency and convenience in their food purchases. The shifting market will also dictate where demand for farm products comes from in the coming years.
Food industry panelists discussed the changes Jan. 25 during Dairy Forum 2021, presented by the International Dairy Foods Association.
So far the pandemic has been kinder to supermarkets than to restaurants.
Grocery stores were among the few businesses that remained open to the public during the early months of the pandemic, and they saw their sales grow in 2020, according to Supermarket News.
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