In the last couple of months, we have seen some solid footing return to the dairy markets. After years of nothing going their way, losses of dairy farms, and a market that was allowing producers to barely survive at best, it was nice to see good fortune return to those who stuck it out.
However, as we start 2025, the dairy industry faces many questions about the near future. One place where that starts is the voting on the Federal Milk Marketing Orders. The vote counting starts on January 15th, and all ballots need to be postmarked by December 31st. So, the clock is ticking on those ballots arriving. Leonard Polzin is a Dairy Markets and Policy Outreach Specialist, and he tells us more about that situation.
After the vote, there are other things that dairy producers are going to be watching closely. Like the rest of agriculture, proposed tariffs by the incoming Trump Administration are giving pause to the dairy farmers. Polzin says that it will be a wait-and-see proposition on how big of an issue they will be.
As with any facet of the ag industry, capacity and demand are always tricky, and it will continue to be that way for the dairy industry as well.
