since 1876 w s l y cheese reporter 27, 2017.pdf · 2017-01-27 · inaugural acs survey looks at...

Inaugural ACS Survey Looks At Size, Scope Of US Artisan/Specialty/Farmstead Cheese

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CHEESE REPORTER

Glanbia, Three US Co-ops In Talks To Build Cheese Plant In Michigan

ners to benefit from the growing, large-scale milk pool in the state of Michigan,” Phelan added.

Michigan’s milk produc-tion increased from 6.75 billion pounds in 2005 to about 10.3 bil-lion pounds in 2015, and then increased by about 6 percent in 2016. Michigan’s milk production growth is expected to continue.

DFA is the largest dairy co-op in the US and is owned by more than 14,000 members on nearly 8,000 farms in 48 states. DFA is also diversified manufacturer of dairy products, food components and ingredients.

MMPA serves approximately 2,000 dairy farmers in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin; operates two manufacturing plants in Ovid and Constantine, MI, and handles about 5 billion pounds of milk annually. MMPA also recently acquired Deutsch Kase Haus in Middlebury, IN.

Foremost Farms has 1,300 dairy farmers in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota and Iowa. The co-op manufactur-ers cheese, specialty whey ingredi-ents and other dairy products.

Vol. 141, No. 32 • Friday, January 27, 2017 • Madison, Wisconsin

California’s Average Cheddar Manufacturing Cost Reached Record High Of 23.94 Cents Per Pound In 2015: CDFASacramento, CA—The weighted average cost to manufacture a pound of Cheddar cheese in Cali-fornia in 2015 was a record-high 23.94 cents per pound, up from 2014’s record of 23.55 cents per pound, according to the latest annual California manufacturing cost exhibit, which was released late last week by the California Department of Food and Agricul-ture (CDFA).

The current make allowance for Cheddar cheese used in Califor-nia’s Class 4b (cheesemilk) pricing formula is 19.88 cents per pound. The weighted average manufactur-ing cost for Cheddar has been over

• See Manufacturing Costs, p. 14

US Milk Production Rose 2.4% In December; 2016 Output Reached Record 212.5 Billion Pounds, Up 1.9% From 2015Washington—US milk produc-tion in the 23 reporting states during December totaled 16.779 billion pounds, up 2.4 percent from December 2015, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reported Tuesday.

November’s milk production estimate was revised up by 27 mil-lion pounds, so output was up 2.8 percent from November 2015, rather than up 2.6 percent as origi-nally estimated.

Production per cow in the 23 reporting states averaged 1,931 pounds in December, 35 pounds above December 2015.

The number of milk cows on farms in the 23 reporting states was 8.691 million head, 53,000 head more than December 2015 and 10,000 head more than November 2016.

For the entire US, Decem-ber milk production was an esti-mated 17.859 billion pounds, up 2.2 percent from December 2015. Production per cow for the entire US averaged 1,908 pounds in December, up 33 pounds from December 2015. The number of milk cows on farms in the entire US in December was 9.358 million head, up 38,000 head from Decem-ber 2015 and up 11,000 head from November 2016.

US milk production for all of 2016 is estimated at a record 212.512 billion pounds, up 1.9 per-cent, or 3.9 billion pounds, from 2015’s record output. Production

• See Milk Output Up, p. 24

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Change In Milk CowsDec. 2016 vs. Dec. 2015in 1000 head

Majority Of Cheese Makers Produce 50,000 Pounds Or Less; 92% Sell Only DomesticallyDenver, CO—The American Cheese Society (ACS) this week released a “Report of Key Find-ings” from its inaugural 2016 State of the US Artisan/Specialty Cheese Industry Survey.

For the survey, the ACS iden-tified and reached out to more than 900 artisan, farmstead, and specialty cheese makers operating in the US.

The survey was conducted on behalf of ACS by agricultural economists at the University of Connecticut and University of Georgia with funding provided by the American Cheese Education Foundation.

For this report, the word “arti-

san” or “artisanal” implies that a cheese is produced primarily by hand, in small batches, with par-ticular attention paid to the tra-dition of the cheese maker’s art, and thus using as little mecha-nization as possible in producing the cheese. In order to be clas-sified as “farmstead,” the cheese must be made with milk from the farmer’s own herd, or flock, on the farm where the animals are raised. And specialty cheese is defined as a cheese of limited pro-duction, with particular attention paid to natural flavor and texture profiles.

Many cheese makers reported that they fit more than one definition; 20 percent identified solely as artisan, 17 percent solely as farmstead, and 6 percent solely as specialty, while 28 percent

• See Artisan Cheese, p. 12

DFA, MMPA, Foremost Would Supply Milk; Glanbia Would Handle Commercial, Operational Aspects Of BusinessKilkenny, Ireland—Glanbia plc, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), Michigan Milk Producers Associa-tion (MMPA) and Foremost Farms USA today announced that they are in advanced discussions to cre-ate a stand-alone joint venture to build and operate a new cheese and whey production facility in Michigan.

Upon completion, the plant is projected to process 8 million pounds of milk per day. It is pro-posed that 50 percent of the joint venture would be owned by Glan-bia and the other 50 percent would be owned by DFA, MMPA and Foremost Farms.

Under the proposed joint ven-ture, DFA, MMPA and Foremost Farms would supply all the milk required by the plant, while Glan-bia would have full responsibility for all commercial, technical and operational aspects of the business.

If the project proceeds as planned, commissioning of the new facility is expected to take place in the second half of 2019.

“Glanbia is delighted to announce this exciting proposed project in the state of Michigan with DFA, Michigan Milk Pro-ducers Association and Foremost Farms,” said Brian Phelan, CEO of Glanbia Nutritionals.

“Consistent with Glanbia’s growth strategy, this proposed venture will build on our posi-tion as the number one producer of American-style Cheddar cheese and simultaneously expand our global position as a supplier of advanced technology whey protein to the nutritional sector,” Phelan continued.

Glanbia has deep roots in both Ireland and the US; it is the larg-est dairy processor in Idaho, and is also a partner in Southwest Cheese Company LLC, Clovis, NM. Southwest Cheese is 50 percent owned by Glanbia plc, with the balance primarily owned by DFA and Select Milk Producers.

“This proposed joint venture is a strategic move by all the part-

CHEESE REPORTER January 27, 2017

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the US dairy export business is a pretty significant, dynamic business these days, and a business that holds considerable promise for the future, if for no other reasons than because the global population keeps growing

Past Issues Read this week’s issue or past issues of Cheese Reporter on your mobile phone or tablet by scanning this QR code.

What Vilsack’s New USDEC Job Says About US Dairy Exports

D I C K G R O V E S

Publisher / EditorCheese Reportere: [email protected]: @cheesereporter

EDITORIAL COMMENT

Former US Secretary of Agricul-ture Tom Vilsack will be starting his new job, as president and CEO of the US Dairy Export Council, on February 1, 2017, and we can’t help but think his new job says something very positive about the future of US dairy trade.

Vilsack served as the one and only agriculture secretary under President Barack Obama. So that’s one way in which Vilsack has left his mark: he was the first agricul-ture secretary to serve for eight years (give or take a few days) since Orville Freeman, who was ag sec-retary from January 1961 through January 1969.

Freeman served under two Pres-idents, Kennedy and Johnson. So Vilsack was actually the first sec-retary to serve eight years under a single President since Freeman’s predecessor, Ezra Taft Benson, who was President Eisenhower’s only ag secretary.

At USDEC, Vilsack is replac-ing Tom Suber, whose career as USDEC’s president is noteworthy for at least two major reasons. First, Suber was the first president in USDEC’s history, being appointed to that job back in 1995, when USDEC was established.

Second, during Suber’s tenure as USDEC’s president, US dairy exports increased from $762 mil-lion back in 1994, the year before USDEC was formed, to a record $7.1 billion in 2014, before drop-ping to $5.2 billion in 2015 and likely around $4.7 billion in 2016 (final dairy trade figures for 2016 won’t be released for a couple of weeks, so for this column we’re tak-ing totals for the first 11 months of the year and estimating December exports to arrive at a total for the entire year).

It may be recalled that, back in the 1990s, a pretty fair chunk of US dairy exports were subsidized under the Dairy Export Incen-tive Program (DEIP), which was repealed under the 2014 farm bill (and hadn’t actually been active for several years prior to being repealed).

Also back in 1994 (and for many years before and after that year), the US ran pretty significant dairy trade deficits. That trade deficit was $175 million in 1994, and by 2005, when USDEC had been operating for a decade, the US dairy trade deficit had actually increased to about $716 million (although dairy exports had more than doubled in value since 1994).

So what does it mean for USDEC to hire the outgoing US secretary of agriculture to be its next leader? Certainly it would seem to speak pretty highly of the future poten-tial for US dairy exports.

As noted earlier, the last cou-ple of years haven’t been all that great for dairy exports. But maybe the dairy industry has gotten a bit spoiled in recent years with all of its export success.

After all, if you had told some-body back at the turn of the cen-tury that US dairy exports would top $4 billion every year between 2011 and 2016, they probably would have thought you were crazy (to put that in historical context, US dairy exports in 1999 were val-ued at around $917 million).

Despite two straight years of declines, the US is still a major dairy exporter, and dairy exports are still extremely important to the US dairy industry. And keep in mind that one key reason why US dairy export values have declined is because global dairy product prices have declined

In 2016, the US exported over 600 million pounds of cheese for the fourth consecutive year. Back in 1994, the year before USDEC was established, US cheese exports didn’t even total 50 million pounds.

Despite exports declining in value for two straight years, the US probably set volume records in several dairy product categories in 2016. For example, nonfat dry milk exports probably totaled around 1.25 billion pounds, the fourth straight year in which they topped 1 billion pounds.

Back in 1994, the US exported around 108 million pounds of

NDM, and quite a bit of those exports were subsidized under the DEIP.

Whey protein concentrate exports also likely set a record in 2016, topping 300 million pounds for the first time. How much WPC did the US export back in 1994? Astonishingly, the answer is less than 1 million pounds.

Here’s one more example: US lactose exports in 2016 might not have set a new record, but they did top 700 million pounds for the fourth straight year. USDA figures for 1994 and 1995 aren’t available, but in 1996, the US exported about 164 million pounds of lactose.

In short, the US dairy export business is a pretty significant, dynamic business these days, and a business that holds consider-able promise for the future, if for no other reasons than because the global population keeps growing and, as more consumers move into the middle class, demand for dairy products will keep growing.

But it’s also a mighty challeng-ing business. Even as US dairy exports have reached new heights, US exporters have faced a vari-ety of challenges in countries and regions ranging from the European Union and Canada to Japan and China.

And the US dairy export busi-ness looks like it will get more challenging in the months and years ahead. On Monday, on his first full workday as President, President Trump withdrew the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. A US International Trade Commission report released last May concluded that, had TPP been implemented, US dairy exports to TPP members would have increased $2 billion relative to the baseline.

So what does it mean when somebody serves for almost eight years as US secretary of agricul-ture, then takes the helm at the US Dairy Export Council? It says the US dairy export business is a dynamic, exciting business with tremendous potential in the future.

CHEESE REPORTERJanuary 27, 2017

For more information, circle #1 on the Reader Response Card on p. 30

Trump Withdraws US From Trans-Pacific Partnership, Freezes New RegulationsNMPF, USDEC Urge Trump Not To Stop Pursuing Pacific Rim Opportunities, Protect Ag Trade With MexicoWashington—President Trump on Monday signed a memorandum directing the US Trade Represen-tative (USTR) to withdraw the United States as a signatory to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Trump’s memorandum also directed the USTR to “begin pur-suing, wherever possible, bilateral trade negotiations to promote American industry, protect Ameri-can workers, and raise American wages.”

NAFTA “has opened a major door to Mexico

that we don’t want slammed shut.”

—Jim Mulhern, NMPF

Trump has also indicated that he plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the pact’s other signatories, Mexico and Canada.

In response, the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and US Dairy Export Council (USDEC) are urging the Trump administration not to retreat from pursuing new trade opportunities in the Pacific Rim, and to protect the agricultural trade relation-ship between the US and Mexico. NMPF and USDEC had supported the TPP because it contained ben-efits for US dairy farmers.

A retreat from TPP “must not lead to a retreat from economic engagement with growing Asian markets for American dairy prod-ucts,” said Jim Mulhern, NMPF’s president and CEO. “While we recognize that TPP as it now stands has no path forward, we urge the Trump administration to look for future opportunities to increase our dairy exports in Asia and around the world.

“Our competitors have been successfully negotiating trade agreements over the past several years,” Mulhern continued. “This puts the US agriculture sector at a competitive disadvantage if we don’t pursue our own initiatives.”

The TPP “was far from perfect, but was beneficial to the US dairy sector because in addition to new market access, it also made signifi-cant progress in focusing on other barriers, including sanitary/phyto-sanitary standards, as well as the abuse of geographical indications to block competition in common food categories,” said Matt McK-

night, USDEC’s acting chief of staff.

He said one approach the Trump administration could take is to replace TPP — which includes the US and almost a dozen additional countries ranging from Japan and Mexico to New Zealand and Aus-tralia — with bilateral agreements with countries such as Japan, Viet-nam and others in Southeast Asia.

USDEC and NMPF on Mon-day joined 130 other food and farm organizations in calling on Trump to preserve and expand upon the gains the US food and agricul-ture sector has achieved within the North American market and strengthen US competitiveness

around the world.In addition to USDEC and

NMPF, the letter to Trump was signed by, among others, the Inter-national Dairy Foods Association, National Council of Farmer Coop-eratives, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, American Farm Bureau Federation, Hilmar Cheeese, Land O’Lakes, Milk Specialties Global, Schreiber Foods, Perry’s Ice Cream, United Dairymen of Arizona, and Ata-lanta Corporation.

The organizations that signed the letter are organized as part of the US Food and Agriculture Dialogue for Trade. In their let-ter, they noted that US food and agricultural exports have produced a trade surplus for almost 50 years, and that, over the past 25 years, the share of US production that is

exported has steadily risen in terms of both value and volume.

A key part of this success comes from collaboration with Mexico and Canada. Together, the US, Canada and Mexico make up “one of the most competitive and suc-cessful economic regions in the world. The success of this trading relationship has come largely from economic cooperation, integra-tion, and policy alignment.”

In the 20 years since NAFTA was implemented, the US food and agriculture industry has become increasingly efficient and inno-vative, the letter continued. The market integration provided by NAFTA has increased competi-tiveness in the face of a rapidly changing global economy.

• See Trump Urged, p. 21


from our archives

50 YEARS AGOJan. 27, 1967: New York—Plas-tic packaging of cheese is preferred by a majority of grocery and drug executives, a recent study reported this week. Plastic packages would cut breakage losses 70 percent, and would save up to 30 percent in freight costs.

Madison—The Wisconsin Depart-ment of Agriculture recently pro-posed new regulations as a method of strengthening the state’s dairy plant security law. The proposals, if adopted, would put into the admin-istrative code of the department what its security investigator now attempt to do “by rule of thumb” in deciding whether a dairy plant is soundly established enough to war-rant an operating license.

25 YEARS AGOJan. 24, 1992: Washington—Cheese and dairy industry rep-resentatives blasted a petition requesting the duty-free import into the US of Goya cheese, a hard cheese similar to Parmesan, at a hearing before the General-ized System of Preferences sub-committee of the Office of the US Trade Representative here this week.

Lake Buena Vista, FL—There were very few people besides the Bush administration that were publicly opposed to legislating an increase in the dairy price support level last year, “which suggests to me that we have got-ten it too low...for the good of the industry,” US Rep. Charles Stenholm (D-TX) said here this week at the 1992 Dairy Forum.

10 YEARS AGOJan. 26, 2007: Brussels, Bel-gium—Mariann Fischer Boel, the European Commission’s ag and rural development chief, believes the EU’s milk quota system should not be renewed when it expires in 2015. Fischer Boel thinks she can see “growing opposition” among EU member states to the idea of extending the quota system, which has been in place since the mid-1980s.

Buffalo, NY—The Lactalis American Group, Inc. this week announced that it has reached an agreement to purchase Mozzarella Fresca, Inc., a Concord-CA-based manufacturer of fresh Mozzarella and other soft Italian-style cheeses. This acquisition will create a third Lactalis subsidiary.

Favorable Factors For US Dairy ExportsDairy Situation & Outlook by Bob Cropp

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USDA’s milk production report estimated December milk produc-tion to be 2.2 percent higher from a year ago, the result of 0.4 percent more cows and 1.8 percent more milk per cow. This brings total milk production for the year to 212.5 billion pounds, 1.9 percent more than 2015. The increase in milk production was driven primarily by more milk per cow which was 1.7 percent higher than 2015. The average number of milk cows was just 0.2 percent higher than 2015.

December milk production showed the similar regional pat-tern as recent past months. Com-paring December milk production to a year earlier showed continued relatively strong increases in milk production in the Northeast and Midwest.

Of the 23 reporting states 10 had fewer cows, three had less milk per cow and six had lower total milk production.

Milk prices ended the year much improved over prices during the first half. The Class III price aver-aged just $13.48 for the first half, but improved to $16.25 for the second half. Class III was $16.76 for November and the high for the year of $17.40 for December. The Class IV price averaged $13.18 for the first half and $14.36 for the second half and the high for the year of $14.97 for December.

The Class III price improved with CME butter prices above $2.00 per pound since mid-December, higher cheese prices and higher dry whey prices. Dry whey prices were in the $0.20’s per pound the first seven months of the year and improved to $0.40

by December. Butter above $2.00 per pound and nonfat dry milk which averaged $0.89 per pound in November reached $1.02 the end of December improved the Decem-ber Class IV price.

Good sales of butter and cheese and improved exports held up prices. Compared to a year ago, November exports were up 10 per-cent for cheese, 131 percent for butterfat, 32 percent for nonfat dry milk/skim milk powder, and 47 per-cent for whey products. The vol-ume of November exports was the highest in 18 months and on a total solids basis were equivalent to 15.8 percent of US milk production.

Forecasts are for improved milk prices in 2017. USDA is forecast-ing the average number of milk cows to increase 0.4 percent and milk per cow to increase 1.8 per-cent resulting in 2.2 percent more milk to be produced. With that rel-atively strong production increase how much milk prices increase will depend upon continue good but-ter and cheese sales and continued growth in dairy exports. Contin-ued growth in the economy and improved consumer confidence spells well for good sales.

Milk production for four of the major exporters—EU, New Zea-land, Australia and Argentina—is expected to be lower than a year ago and not expected to show increases any time before the second half of the year. The US is the only major exporter experiencing higher milk production. World demand is also improving with more activity from China, Southeast Asia and others.

The world supply and demand is slowly tightening and world

dairy product prices are increas-ing. These are favorable factors for growth in US dairy exports.

The January Class III price will fall from the December high but the January Class IV price will be higher. Butter has fallen from its January high of $2.30 per pound to $2.2175 and is expected to fall some more. CME 40-pound block Cheddar started January at $1.67 per pound, peaked at $1.75, but has fallen to $1.64. Cheddar bar-rels started January at $1.595 per pound, peaked at $1.6975 and have fallen to $1.48. Dry whey prices continue to strengthen, trading as high as $0.48 per pound giving sup-port to the Class III price. Nonfat dry milk prices have also fallen to $0.995 per pound, but should show strength in the months ahead.

The January Class III price could be about $16.50 and the Class IV price near $16.00. But, unless cheese prices rebound the Class III could fall below $16 for Febru-ary. But, Class III should stay in the $16’s through May or June and then move into the $17’s for the remainder of the year. The Class III price could average more than $2.00 higher than 2016. The Class IV price could be in the $16’s first quarter than in the $17’s for the remainder of the year.

Any changes in expected milk production, sales or exports could result in quite different prices. Dairy producers may want to use some price risk management tools to take advantage of relatively high Class III and Class IV futures. Cur-rently Class III futures are averag-ing $17.52 for the year and Class IV futures $17.19.



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ACS Cheese Contest Adds Separate Sub-Categories For Sheep’s Milk Cheeses, Drinkable Yogurt ClassDenver, CO—Due to noted pro-duction growth of sheep’s milk cheese, the American Cheese Society announced it has created special sub-categories in its 2017 ACS Judging & Competition for products made exclusively with sheep’s milk.

For over a decade, ACS has ded-icated an entire contest category to cheeses made with 100 percent sheep’s milk. However, members

have requested that they would like to be able to enter other cat-egories and have sheep milk recog-nized, without being paired with mixed or other milks.

The ACS Contest Committee has separated sheep milk entries into their own sub-categories based on the style of cheese or cultured product.

Yogurt producers will also have separate options for entering their drinkable yogurts, as well as the new class KV – Yogurt and Cul-tured Products with flavor added – all milks.

For more details and a full list of contest categories, visit www.cheesesociety.org.

Farm, Ag Groups Ask Trump To Remove Financing, Ag Trade Barriers With CubaWashington—More than 100 national and state agriculture and farm-related organizations earlier this month asked then-President-elect Donald J. Trump to prioritize the removal of private financing and trade barriers for agricultural commodity exports to Cuba.

“Your support in removing outdated financing and trade bar-riers for exporting agricultural products and equipment to our island neighbor could signifi-cantly strengthen a US industry which supports 17 million jobs across the country, and can pro-vide the Cuban people with high-quality American-grown food,” the groups and companies said in a letter to Trump and then-Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

The letter was signed by, among others, National Milk Produc-ers Federation, American Farm Bureau Federation, National Farm-ers Union, and National Council of Farmer Cooperatives.

Cuba imports nearly 80 percent of its food to feed a population of 11 million people and upwards of 3 million tourists annually, the letter noted.

Cuba’s $2 billion agriculture import market “could provide tre-

mendous benefits for farmers across the country and help American agribusiness offset recent losses,” the letter added.

In addition to the size of the Cuban market, its proximity to US ports “allows for considerably lower shipping costs and shorter delivery times than our foreign competitors. The logistical advan-tages alone should make Cuba a common-sense partner for two-way commerce,” the letter continued. “Instead, the federal government overreach has put American farm-ers at a global disadvantage. US agriculture continues to lose out to our foreign competitors and our net sales have been steadily declin-ing since 2009.”

Because of trade restrictions, the US has fallen from its position as the number one supplier of agricul-tural products to Cuba from 2002 to 2012, to now the number five supplier, after the European Union, Brazil, Argentina and Vietnam.

“The US needs to be num-ber one again,” the letter said. “Especially given many of Cuba’s imports, including rice, poultry, dairy, soy, wheat, and corn make up more than 70 percent of what they import and they’re all grown right here in the US by hardwork-ing American farmers.”

The letter urged Trump and Pence not to take steps to reverse progress made in normalizing rela-tions with Cuba.


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Organic Trade Association Withdraws Federal Order Proposal, May Resubmit It In FuturePublic Record Lacks Any Explanation As To Why USDA Hasn’t Acted For Over 15 Months: OTAWashington—The Organic Trade Association (OTA), on behalf of its members, earlier this month formally withdrew its request for a hearing to amend the 10 federal milk marketing orders to provide a credit to organic fluid milk han-dlers against their monthly federal order pool obligations, dependent upon the price paid to farmers for organic milk.

OTA had submitted its pro-posal for a hearing on a modified “Wichita Option” for organic milk on September 29, 2015, and modi-fied its proposal two months later.

“OTA reserves the right to resubmit its proposal, and would like to emphasize that its with-drawal of this proposal in no way reflects OTA’s acceptance of the delay this proposal faced in the pre-hearing process,” the OTA said in a January 12, 2017 letter to Elanor Starmer, administrator of USDA’s AMS, which oversees the federal order program.

OTA continues to maintain that USDA must abide by the statutory and regulatory timelines mandated by Congress in 2008 regarding federal order amendatory proceedings, the OTA added.

Under those supplemental rules of practice, within 30 days of receiving a proposal to amend a federal order, USDA will either: issue a notice providing an action plan and expected timeframes for the different steps in the formal rulemaking process for completion of the hearing not more than 120 days after the date of the issuance

of the notice; request additional information from the person sub-mitting the proposal to be used in deciding whether a hearing will be held. If the information requested is not received within a specified timeframe, the request will be denied; or deny the request.

A month after receiving the OTA’s proposal, USDA asked the organization for additional infor-mation on several issues, includ-ing any studies and analyses that support how the proposal would increase the supply of certified organic milk; an analysis of how the proposal is consistent with the requirement in the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, as amended, that similarly situated handlers face the same regulated minimum raw milk prices; any studies or analyses suggesting that the measures in the proposal would encourage that the monies gener-ated from this partial regulation could be directed to organic dairy farmers; any additional studies or analyses on how the proposal may impact conventional milk produc-ers; and information about any alternative solutions that OTA considered that may increase the supply of organic milk.

In its response submitted to USDA a month later, the OTA attempted to address “as com-pletely as possible” the agency’s inquiries, but noted that some of those requests fall into the cate-gory of information or “evidence” that would be provided only during a hearing, if one is noticed.

The OTA said it was “unaware” of previous requests in amendatory federal order proceedings from USDA to provide this level of evidentiary detail prior to a hear-ing since the record evidence of

a hearing “is what is necessary for any decision.”

After the OTA submitted its response, USDA informed OTA, roughly every 30 days, that it was continuing to review the market concerns raised and information provided in its proposal, as well as gather additional information to properly consider the proposal.

“The public record lacks any explanation as to why OTA has received no action from USDA for over 15 months,” the OTA said in its letter withdrawing the proposal. “Going forward, OTA may con-sider resubmission, particularly if future proposals submitted by other dairy farmer or processor groups fail to receive the same level of pre-hearing scrutiny that delayed the consideration of OTA’s proposal for over 15 months,” the OTA’s letter concluded.

In its original proposal, the OTA explained that it was seeking “to remedy the current disorderly marketing conditions that result from USDA certified organic milk contributing money to producer settlement funds without any evi-dence that the FMMOs can pro-vide an adequate supply of organic milk to organic processors.”

The proposal drew opposition from a number of organizations and cooperatives, including the National Milk Producers Federa-tion, Pennsylvania Association of Milk Dealers, Northeast Dairy Foods Association, Dairy Farm-ers of America, Agri-Mark, Inc., Land O’Lakes, Prairie Farms Dairy, Michigan Milk Producers Associa-tion, Upstate Niagara Coopera-tive, Northwest Dairy Association, Southeast Milk, Inc., and Dairy Producers of New Mexico.


C h e e s e m a r k e t i n g P r a c t i c e

Thoughts for the Coming Year

Dan StronginASQ CMQ/OEUncorporate Consultant

The independent supermarket chain Andronico’s sold itself to Safeway, a large chain, itself once independent but now part of the consolidated Albertson’s chain. I worked at Andronico’s, which was based in Berkeley, CA, for over 11 years as the director of foodservice and delicatessen.

Those were grand days, when the economy was flush, and the company was growing. It grew from three stores to eight while I was there and our department was reg-ularly in the trade press as a stellar example of innovators in grocery, along with the rest of the store. We sold gobs of cheese, and were the first supermarket in Northern Cali-fornia to have an American Arti-san and Farmhouse Cheese section. We were making good money. We had a great management team and long-term loyal employees.

So what happened? What went wrong? And how does it apply to cheese? Conventional wisdom

from the chains making headway against the independents and vice-versa.

But when it doesn’t consumers lose, family fortunes are lost and big chains are consumed by bigger chains, all at the cost of innova-tion. The simple truth is, despite best intentions, the dynamic of large organizations with intense investment in inventory is to be change-averse.

California lost two independent chains recently, which is huge. It is a loss for the system, for those involved, even for Safeway, per-haps. The chains need healthy independents to keep them hon-est. Otherwise their inertia weighs them down and they begin to erode their customer base.

Based on my experience, some-thing more than just the normal ups and downs of the cycle is involved. When a company forgets who they are, and who they serve. When they forget what niche of consumers, they put themselves at risk. This often happens to inde-pendents that play the extremes and not the middle. There is a les-son in this for the cheese industry.

What do I mean by play the extremes? Anything that is out of your core identity as a business. For example, slotting allowances and incentives make good money, but too much reaching for them erodes your core. Using them for the ben-efit of your customer base would be closer to playing the middle. Deliv-ering good products or services that your customers want or need is dead on middle. When companies seek the extremes at the cost of the middle, they may die slowly, but they are walking dead.

I left Andronico’s in part because I could see trouble ahead. The company had asked me to change my buying habits and buy more on low price, rather than quality and good service. They were playing

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the extremes, mistaking the sud-den growth in sales at the time as an opportunity for robust growth. They were mistaking luck for skill. In a robust economy growth is easy, sales are up, and you can slip on service or quality without losing sales, but what happens when the economy goes sour, as it always does?

The company grew too quickly, putting stores too close to each other, competing with itself. They thinned the ranks of those who knew what the stores once stood for, opening stores rapidly, spread-ing experienced people around, bringing in new managers with different outlooks, and the stores inevitably lost some of what made it special. 2008 sealed its doom. A sudden and frightful drop in the economy, when they had a great deal invested in risky expansion perhaps, but disregarding their consumer base for certain, who had since moved on to Whole Foods or to the many single-unit specialty stores that rise when the indepen-dent chains lose their way.

Playing the middle would be to remain focused on their consum-ers. On serving them, and finding the things that would delight them. And carefully taking advantage of the opportunities that arise, only if they allow you to remain who you are. I told that to the company when leaving, and I am sharing it with you now. I feel deeply for the owners and all those who worked with and supplied them.

Dan Strongin is a former president of the American Cheese Society, chef and busi-ness coach for small to medium value added businesses, and the owner of the sites learn.managenaturally.com, and the Facebook group Enjoy Cheese. His online course: “Cheese: How to Buy, Store, Taste, Pair, Talk About and Serve”, is available at enjoycheese.net. Dan can be reached via email at [email protected].

would say that there is a constant competition between the chains and the independents. The chains, like most large organizations, are conservative by nature. They resist change if it involves investing or changes in the use of investments already made. The independents drive innovation, testing new ideas that the chains are reluctant to try, until such time the independents prove they can be profitable.

To succeed as an independent requires agility, and a commitment to change, because as soon as they prove an innovation works, the chains will create a version of it. To survive on low price is difficult as they lack the buying power of the larger chains. They must sur-vive on different products and bet-ter service as they will make less profit on their mainline grocery items.

In turn, the independents follow the small gourmet stores, copying their innovations once they see if consumers buy them. It is a system that works fairly well to rejuvenate the industry. When it functions well, there is a cycle that varies

Tickets On Sale For 11th California Artisan Festival March 24-26Petaluma, CA—The 11th annual California Artisan Cheese Festi-val has been scheduled for March 24-26 here in and around the Sher-aton Sonoma County.

Several new elements will be introduced, from educational ses-sions and tastings included in every Artisan Tour, to a Friday night Ultimate Best Bite featuring local cheese makers, cheese mongers and chefs. The festival will also include a Saturday night cheese and cock-tail party, and two high-end Chee-semaker Dinners in Sonoma.

Saturday will be dedicated to educational seminars, tastings and pairing demonstrations led by some of California’s best cheese makers, marketers, authors, retailers and educators.

Tickets for are now on sale at www.artisancheesefestival.com.For more information, circle #8 on the Reader Response Card on p. 30


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Senate Ag Committee To Hold First Farm Bill Field Hearing, Feb. 23 In KSWashington—US Sens. Pat Rob-erts (R-KS), chairman of the Sen-ate Agriculture Committee, and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), the panel’s top Democrat, announced this week that the committee will hold its first field hearing on Thursday, February 23, in Manhat-tan, KS, on the upcoming farm bill reauthorization.

“It’s time to get to work on another farm bill, and we’re head-ing straight to the heartland to talk directly to producers,” said Rob-erts, who earlier this month was tapped to lead the Senate Agricul-ture Committee during the 115th Congress.

“As we begin to have discus-sions about the next farm bill, we will need input from farmers and families all across the country,” Stabenow said.

The 2014 farm bill was signed into law in February 2014. The bill’s dairy title established a new, voluntary Margin Protection Pro-gram for dairy producers (MPP-Dairy), and also established a new Dairy Product Donation Program.

Since it was launched in 2014, the MPP-Dairy program has come under some criticism from dairy producers and some dairy orga-nizations. At its annual meeting last fall, leaders of National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) said the MPP-Dairy program is the right program for dairy’s future, but it needs fixing to be truly effective.

NMPF is working with its mem-bers, as well as others in the dairy producer community, improve-ments in the MPP-Dairy program, and then NMPF will advocate for those changes to be made by Con-gress at the earliest opportunity, Jim Mulhern, NMPF’s president and CEO, said at NMPF’s annual meeting.

Randy Mooney, NMPF’s chair-man, said at NMPF’s annual meeting that he also believes MPP-Dairy is “the right program for dairy farmers,” but it’s not working the way NMPF intended it to, so NMPF is going to try to get it fixed.

The Senate Agriculture Com-mittee’s field hearing will take place at the McCain Auditorium on the Kansas State University campus.

Comment Deadline Extended On Requests To Reduce Shipping Requirements On Upper Midwest Federal OrderMinneapolis, MN—The deadline for submitting comments on two requests to reduce the shipping requirements on the Upper Mid-west federal milk marketing order from 10 percent to 7.5 percent and to increase the diversion limits from 90 percent to 92.5 percent is being extended to March 1, 2017.

The original comment deadline had been January 30, 2017.

On December 23, 2016, Vic Halverson, administrator of the Upper Midwest order, received a request from the Upper Midwest Marketing Agency (UMMA), on behalf of its members, to reduc-ing shipping requirements in the Upper Midwest order from 10 per-cent to 7.5 percent, and to increase the diversion limits from 90 per-cent to 92.5 percent.

Members of UMMA are Asso-ciated Milk Producers, Inc., Bon-gards’ Creameries, Dairy Farmers of America, Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery, First District Associa-tion, Foremost Farms USA, Land O’Lakes, National Farmers Orga-nization, and Plainview Milk Prod-ucts Cooperative.

One day later, Halverson received a similar request from Central Milk Producers Coopera-tive (CMPC), whose members are Dairy Farmers of America, Farm-First Dairy Cooperative, Foremost Farms, Land O’Lakes, National Farmers Organization, Scenic Central Milk Producers Coopera-tive Association, and Swiss Valley Farms Cooperative.

UMMA and CMPC are both proposing to reduce the minimum Class I shipping requirement from supply plants to distributing plants in the Upper Midwest order from 10 percent to 7.5 percent. That reduction would remain all year, consistent with the current Upper Midwest order practice of main-taining a uniform requirement. The diversion limits for distrib-uting and bottling plants would increase from 90 percent to 92.5 percent.

In their requests, UMMA and CMPC cited the following data to establish the context for their request: declining Class I utiliza-tion; declining monthly Class I receipts; declining number of dis-tributing plants in the Upper Mid-west order; declining fluid milk sales; rising monthly milk produc-tion; and the burden of depooling (for more details, please see “Upper Midwest Order Seeks Comments On Requests To Reduce Shipping Requirements,” on page 5 of our Jan. 6, 2017 issue).

For more information, visit www.fmma30.com.


Ireland’s Ornua To Acquire UK Cheese Ingredients Company F.J. Need (Foods)Dublin, Ireland—Ornua (formerly the Irish Dairy Board) this week announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire F.J. Need (Foods) Limited, a cheese ingredi-ents company based in Cheshire, United Kingdom.

Established more than 40 years ago, the family-run cheese com-pany includes a cheese cutting, grating and slicing facility, two cheese brands (Spinneyfields and Giovanni Bisogno) and a distribu-tion fleet.

The acquisition is central to Ornua’s strategy of further strengthening its core businesses in Germany, North America and the UK. F.J. Need’s strong competen-cies will also strengthen Ornua’s UK business’s capabilities in the post-Brexit environment, Ornua noted.

F.J. Need supplies a range of British and Irish cheese ingredi-ents to the foodservice and food manufacturing sectors. Ornua has been supplying Irish cheese to F.J. Need for many years and Ornua said the acquisition will strengthen this important supply channel.

F.J. Need’s cheese production facility currently produces 16,000 tons per annum. Ornua believes that there is significant potential to expand this capacity to take advantage of the rapidly grow-ing foodservice market for cheese ingredients both in the UK and in international markets.

This potential for expansion into new sectors, including lever-aging Ornua’s existing export routes to market, is a key benefit identified by Ornua in concluding

the transaction.“This acquisition will be another

important milestone in Ornua’s growth as a global supplier of qual-ity dairy products,” commented Kevin Lane, Ornua’s CEO. “We are buying an excellent family dairy business which allows us to significantly strengthen our pres-ence in the UK ingredients sector.

In other Ornua developments, Ornua’s UK-based nutritional ingredients business, Ornua Nutri-tion Ingredients (ONI) and Eas-iYo, a homemade, fresh yogurt brand from New Zealand, have entered into a supply partnership. This will see ONI utilize a new, purpose-built production facility at its headquarters in Leek, UK, to blend and pack Irish dairy powders into the full range of EasiYo natu-ral and flavored yogurt mixes for the UK and European markets.

This will be the first time that EasiYo has been produced outside of New Zealand and marks a major step forward in the brand’s inter-national development, ONI noted.

EasiYo’s taste, thick texture and healthy goodness has made it one of the world’s best-selling brands of homemade yogurt, according to ONI.

Today it has a strong consumer following in New Zealand, Austra-lia and the Far East, with ambitious plans to increase its presence in its largest market, the UK and conti-nental Europe, with a major busi-ness development and marketing drive to increase its distribution and sales.

Central to this will be an initial five-year “end-to-end” partnership between ONI and EasiYo that has seen a joint investment of around 850,000 euros to establish a new, dedicated blending facility at Leek incorporating new, high-speed, sachet-packing lines.

Fort Collins, CO—In an effort to support research in the area of maintaining and improving the health of cows on organic dairy farms, USDA’s National Insti-tute of Food and Agriculture has awarded a $1.4 million grant to a team of researchers at three uni-versities.

In a collaborative initiative, researchers from Colorado State University, the University of Min-nesota and Kansas State University will test and develop new treat-ment strategies for organic dairies and take what they have learned to other producers and dairy prac-titioners across the US.

“Dairy is the second largest segment of organic agriculture,” noted Dr. Pablo Pinedo, a DVM who is an assistant professor in the CSU animal sciences department. “So, we need to continue develop-ing science-based approaches for prevention and treatment of dis-ease. We need procedures based on studies that are supported by rigorous research. Our long-term goal is to contribute to a better health that will result in better cow welfare.”

One challenge facing organic dairy researchers is that organic

dairies are typically much smaller than conventional dairies, making it hard to find animal populations of a suitable size for studies.

To help overcome this chal-lenge, Pinedo and his team are partnering with Aurora Organic Dairy, which will open the doors to its large herd in Colorado for this study.

“We are looking forward to working together with CSU to accomplish the goals set up by the different research trials,” said Juan Velez, chief agricultural officer at Aurora Organic Dairy. “Cow health and welfare are priorities for us.”

Over the next three years, the study will focus on health con-cerns such as mastitis prevention, calf care and fly management. The team will also examine the eco-nomic impact of organic animal care.

“This grant will allow us to pro-duce research focused on enhanc-ing animal care, which is significant to this industry,” Pinedo said. “We will evaluate these animals throughout their entire life cycle, from calves to cows, so that we can help them thrive and live healthy, productive lives.”

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EU Task Force Recommends Various Ways To Improve Food Supply Chain For FarmersGreater Transparency, Use Of Contracts Among IdeasBrussels, Belgium—A European Union (EU) Agricultural Mar-kets Task Force (AMTF) recently presented its report on how to improve the position of farmers in the supply chain to EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan.

Amid concerns that farmers are bearing the brunt of price volatil-ity and prolonged periods of low prices, the AMTF’s report con-cludes that the policy framework governing the supply chain “can and should be further improved.”

Among other things, the report recommends that the European Commission take further steps to increase market transparency — defined as the availability of rel-evant market information (e.g. concerning prices, weather, pro-duction, trade, consumption and stocks) for all market participants — so as to foster effective condi-tions of competition along the sup-ply chain.

The report recommends, among other things, mandatory price reporting for dairy and several other commodities to cover exist-ing information gaps in the chain, and dissemination of the collected data in duly aggregated form to increase transparency. The Com-mission market observatories and dashboards, including the EU Milk Market Observatory, are “commendable steps in the right direction,” but there is room for improvement, in particular as regards the timeliness and the standardization of data collected from EU member countries.

The uptake of EU risk manage-ment tools by farmers has been modest, the report said. Less than 0.5 percent of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) budget is used for this (while direct pay-ments account for 60 percent).

Ideas mentioned in the report include the mandatory inclusion of risk management measures in member countries’ rural develop-ment programs.

Futures markets can be an important risk management tool for farmers in times of increased price volatility, the report said. Properly functioning futures mar-kets carry the potential of usefully underpinning a market-oriented agricultural policy.

In the EU, futures markets are liquid and widely used in the grains, oilseed, processing potato and sugar sectors. Futures mar-kets for milk powder, butter and pigmeat are fairly recent “innova-tions” in Europe; they have existed for little more than six years and are therefore still in an introduc-tory or growth phase, the report said.

Among the report’s recommen-dations: require/encourage EU member countries to make funding available under their rural devel-opment programs for practical training for farmers/cooperatives on how to use futures; and ensure that price monitoring systems pro-mote the identification and timely dissemination of representative spot market prices for given prod-ucts which can be used as reliable and accurate reference values that cash-settled futures contracts can incorporate.

Also, the report recommends developing and spreading the word about specifications for the main products that should benefit from

the existence of viable futures mar-kets (for example, an EU standard for certain types of cheeses could help to develop cheese futures).

Unfair Trading PracticesThe report uses the terms “con-tractual relations” and “trading practices” in referring to the com-mercial relations between the operators in the food supply chain. At their core lie sales arrangements normally based on a contract or a longer-term contractual frame-work established between the par-ties concerned.

Unfair trading practices (UTPs) can be defined as practices that grossly deviate from good com-mercial conduct and are contrary to principles of good faith and fair dealing. Examples of such prac-tices are unduly late payments,

unfair shifting of business risk to the other party, unilateral or ret-roactive changes to contracts and unfair termination of contracts.

The report recommends that framework legislation be intro-duced at the EU level to cover certain baseline unfair trading practices, such as maximum pay-ment periods, as well as to man-date effective enforcement regimes in EU member countries, such as an adjudicator. Such enforcement regimes should include the power to conduct own-initiative investi-gations, as well as the possibility for victims of unfair trading practices to lodge anonymous complaints.

A mixed approach of statutory and voluntary rules including at the EU level, as far as agricultural

• See EU Task Force, p. 18



Artisan Cheese(Continued from p. 1)

said that all three definitions suit their businesses. Some 17 percent are both artisan and farmstead, 10 percent artisan and specialty, and just 2 percent said they are both farmstead and specialty.

Artisan, farmstead, and specialty cheese makers can be found across the US, the report noted. Of the over 900 cheese makers invited to participate in the study, 39 percent were in the West, 23 percent in the Midwest, 21 percent in the South, and 16 percent in the Northeast.

Cheese makers in the US have been in operation, on average, for 15 years. While regional averages offer some insight, survey respon-dents included many young busi-nesses in their first or second year of production.

As a result, the median length of time in operation also offers valuable insights. Across the US, years in operation ranged from one to 107 years (and two companies reported starting production prior to 1900). The median, however, was nine years for the Midwest, South, and Northeast, and 10 years for the West.

Some 74 percent of cheese mak-ers indicated annual production of 50,000 pounds or less, and only 5 percent indicated production over 1 million pounds per year.

Related to that, on the low end of the market, 24 percent of cheese

producers reported revenues under $50,000 annually; on the high end, 4 percent gross over $100 million. The rest fall in between.

Almost one-quarter of cheeese producers indicated that they are not currently operating at a profit. Among those who are profitable, the average profit margin is 23 per-cent.

Cheese makers reported pro-ducing many styles of cheese; 63 percent made fresh unripened cheese, 57 percent make uncooked pressed cheese, 47 percent make surface mold ripened cheese, 45 percent make washed curd cheese, 44 percent make brined or pickled cheese, 41 percent make cooked pressed cheese, 37 percent make surface bacteria ripened cheese, 26 percent make internal mold-ripened cheese, 21 percent make pasta filata cheese, 11 percent make whey cheese, 2 percent make processed cheese and 12 percent make other cheese.

While 58 percent of cheese pro-ducers solely produce cheese, the other 42 percent produce and sell a variety of other dairy products as well, including yogurt (21 per-cent), pasteurized fluid milk/milk products (13 percent), unpasteur-ized fluid milk/milk products (12 percent), ice cream (11 percent), other cultured products (7 per-cent), butter (7 percent) and egg nog (4 percent).

The majority of cheese makers (59 percent) indicated that they

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produce their own milk from ani-mals on the same farm where their cheese is produced.

Another 16 percent use milk from a single off-site dairy farm owned by a different producer; 11 percent use milk from multiple off-site dairy farms owned by differ-ent producers; 7 percent use milk from their own animals but those animals are housed on a different farm than where their cheese is made; and 4 percent purchase co-mingled milk from a milk aggrega-tor or cooperative.

Some 62 percent of cheeses pro-duced are made with pasteurized milk, while 38 percent are made with unpasteurized milk. Among those cheeses made with unpas-teurized milk, 6 percent are made with milk that receives some kind of heat treatment.

Milk types used for cheesemak-ing include, from most to least common: cow (75 percent), goat (44 percent), sheep (20 percent), buffalo (3 percent) and yak (less than 1 percent).

Cheese makers reported using a variety of surfaces for aging their cheese, including wood (24 per-cent), plastic mats (22 percent), plastic (14 percent), stainless (11 percent), coated metal (2 percent) and other (2 percent).

Some 92 percent of cheese mak-ers indicated their cheese is sold only in the US. Of the 8 percent of cheese makers reporting inter-national sales, 3 percent indicated sales in Europe and Asia, 2 percent indicated sales in South America and Australia/New Zealand, and 1 percent indicated sales in Canada and Central America.

The most common sales chan-nels for cheese makers are direct sales to retailers (82 percent), direct sales to restaurants (75 percent), to consumers in person at farmers markets (70 percent), through distributors (60 percent), through their own physical store (51 percent), through wholesalers (40 percent), at festivals and shows (36 percent), through their own virtual store (website; 32 percent), and through community supported agriculture (27 percent).

Almost one-quarter of cheeese producers

indicated that they are not currently operating

at a profit. Among those who are profitable, the average profit margin is

23 percent.

There is considerable variation in the size of cheese production facilities.

More than two-thirds of cheese makers operate in facilities that are 3,000 square feet or smaller, and almost one-tenth operate in facili-ties that are less than 500 square feet.

The average square footage for a plant making fresh, unripened cheese was 3,198; by comparison, for facilities producing internal mold-ripened cheese, the aver-age square footage increased to 4,222.

For more information, circle #14 on the Reader Response Card on p. 30 For more information, circle #15 on the Reader Response Card on p. 30


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Dairy Proteins May Be Answer To Controlling Insulin, Blood Glucose Levels

Universal Cheese And Drying, International Packing SentencedPittsburgh, PA—Universal Cheese and Drying, Inc., and International Packing, LLC, have each been sentenced in federal court to 36 months’ probation and have each been ordered to forfeit to the US $500,000 on the compa-nies’ convictions relating to their introduction of adulterated and misbranded cheese products into interstate commerce, Acting US Attorney Soo C. Song announced.

According to information pre-sented to the court, the defendants packaged and sold cheese under various labels at the Castle Cheese facility in Slippery Rock, PA.

The defendants had knowledge of the Food and Drug Administra-tion’s (FDA) regulations and stan-dards of identity for Parmesan and Romano cheese and were aware that the products did not conform with FDA standards of identity for real Parmesan and Romano, but represented to customers that the products contained 100 per-cent real Parmesan and Romano, according to information pre-sented to the court.

The defendants also knew that the cheese products were mis-branded because they did not bear labels that accurately reflected the products’ ingredients, according to information presented to the court. The defendants likewise knew that the cheese products were also adulterated in that certain ingredients had been substituted or omitted and other ingredients had been added. The defendants used proceeds from the sale of the misbranded and adulterated cheese products to continue the operation of the cheese manufacturing and packaging at the Slippery Rock facility.

Davis, CA—In a peer-reviewed paper, Gonca Pasin, Ph.D., exec-utive director of the California Dairy Research Foundation, and nutrition scientist Kevin B. Com-erford, Ph.D., report that milk and other dairy products are the only animal proteins to consistently show beneficial effects on glucose production and insulin secretion.

To understand why dairy has different effects than beef, pork or poultry, the authors suggest look-ing beyond nutrition labels and into the food matrix. The food matrix approach simply means considering the complexity of food rather than looking at one particu-lar nutrient. And milk is a very complex food.

While a glass of milk and an ounce of beef both provide about the same amount of protein, once consumed, some major differences between these protein sources become apparent, the authors noted. A cut of beef comes from muscle tissue and is made up of structural proteins, while milk evolved to be a food source for developing offspring and contains proteins with immunological, hor-monal, and nutritional functions.

As a result, milk contains unique types of proteins that are more bio-logically active in the human body than those from animal tissue.

“Not all protein sources are cre-ated equal in their abilities to mod-ulate insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity,” the authors explained.

One protein group that appears to have a particularly strong influ-ence on insulin production is whey, which has demonstrated effects on insulin secretion. The same branched-chain amino acids from whey proteins that play a role in stimulating protein synthesis in

muscle tissue also stimulate the pancreas to produce insulin.

Also, whey proteins can posi-tively influence insulin sensitivity. The authors report on a study that found milk consumption in sub-jects with type 2 diabetes resulted in a five-fold greater increase in insulin response than would be expected based on its glucose response.

What could explain this discrep-ancy? One suggestion is that the amino acid chains from whey pro-teins interact with chemical and hormonal signals from fat cells. In type 2 diabetics, these signals pre-vent insulin from moving glucose from the bloodstream and into the cells. However, whey proteins may interfere with these signals, allow-ing the insulin to effectively do its job.

Despite having unique proteins, dairy is often lumped in with other animal proteins in long-term pro-spective cohort studies that inves-tigate the association between diet and risk of developing type 2 dia-betes. But as the authors explain, studies that ignore the “vastly het-erogeneous nature of large food groups and simply assess plant

protein versus animal protein will undoubtedly miss critical caveats underlying the unique relation-ships between different protein sources and type 2 diabetes risk.”

“Not all protein sources are created

equal in their abilities to modulate insulin

secretion and insulin sensitivity.”

Gonca Pasin, Ph.D., and Kevin B. Comerford, Ph.D

When protein type is assessed individually, dairy proteins have the same lower risk association as plant proteins. The epidemiologi-cal evidence repeatedly has found that a higher intake of dairy foods, including milk, cheese and yogurt, reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

It is unlikely that whey protein is working alone, the authors said. Calcium, magnesium, and even the presence of probiotics in fer-mented dairy products may add to or work synergistically with whey protein to positively influence blood glucose regulation.



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Manufacturing Costs(Continued from p. 1)

20 cents per pound for five con-secutive years.

Over the 2006-15 period, the weighted average Cheddar manu-facturing cost has ranged from 19.21 cents in 2010 to 2015’s record of 23.94 cents per pound.

The cost exhibit for Cheddar cheese has limitations due to con-centration issues and confidential-ity of proprietary information, the CDFA noted. For the 2015 study period, manufacturing cost data were collected and summarized from four California cheese plants.

The volume total (due to confi-dentiality reasons, total cheese vol-umes cannot be displayed) includes both Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, but the costs reflect only costs for 40-pound Cheddar blocks. Two plants processed 500-pound barrels or 640-pound blocks; pack-aging costs and packaging labor for 40-pound blocks were substituted for these plants.

To obtain the weighted aver-age, individual plant costs were weighted by their cheese process-ing volume relative to the total volume of cheese processed by all plants included in the cost study.

For all cheese, the weighted average yield was 13.31 pounds of cheese per hundredweight of milk. The weighted average mois-ture was 37.04 percent and the weighted average vat tests were 4.73 percent fat and 9.62 percent solids not fat (SNF).

Cheddar manufacturing costs in California in 2015, with compari-sons to 2014, were as follows:

Processing Labor (defined as labor costs associated with process-ing of product, including wages, payroll taxes and fringe benefits): 6.40 cents per pound, up 0.59 cents per pound.

Process ing Non-Labor (includes costs such as utilities, repairs and maintenance, laundry, supplies, depreciation, plant insur-ance, outside storage, and rent): 8.62 cents per pound, up 0.04 cents per pound.

Packaging (includes all non-reusable items used in the packag-ing of the product, such as boxes, bags, cartons, liners, tape, glue and stretch wrap): 2.39 cents per pound, down 0.05 cents per pound.

Miscellaneous ingredients (includes salt, color and rennet): 2.51 cents per pound, down 0.30 cents per pound.

General and administrative (includes expenses in the man-agement of the company, such as office supplies, short-term interest, dues and subscriptions, accounting fees, headquarter charges, office clerical wages and executive sala-ries): 3.42 cents per pound, up 0.04 cents per pound.

Return on investment (calcu-lated by subtracting accumulated depreciation from the original cost of assets, with the remaining book value multiplied by Moody’s “BAA” corporate bond index): 0.60 cents per pound, up 0.07 cents per pound.

Butter Manufacturing CostsThe weighted average cost of man-ufacturing butter in California in 2015 was 18.42 cents per pound, down from 2014’s record high of 18.43 cents per pound. Over the 2006-2015 period, the weighted average cost of manufacturing but-ter in California has ranged from a low of 13.16 cents per pound in 2007 to 2014’s record high.

The current make allowance for butter in both the Class 4a (butter-powder) and 4b pricing formulas is 16.35 cents per pound.

For this study, manufactur-ing cost data were collected and summarized from seven Califor-

nia butter plants. Those seven plants processed 575.44 million pounds of butter in 2015, rep-resenting 99.9 per-cent of the butter processed in Cali-fornia.

The volume total includes both bulk butter and cut but-ter, but the costs reflect only costs for bulk butter (25-kilogram and 68-pound blocks). To obtain the weighted average, individual plant costs were weighted by their butter processing volume relative to the total volume of butter processed by all plants included in this cost study.

Butter manufacturing costs in California in 2015, with compari-sons to 2014, were as follows:

Processing Labor: 6.92 cents per pound (with a low of 4.32 cents per pound and a high of 17.04 cents per pound), down 0.16 cents per pound.

Processing Non-Labor: 7.05 cents per pound (with a low of 5.61 cents per pound and a high of 16.05 cents per pound), up 0.47 cents per pound.

Packaging: 1.30 cents per pound (with a low of 1.20 cents per pound and a high of 1.45 cents per pound), down 0.03 cents per pound.

Miscellaneous Ingredients: 0.34 cents per pound (with a low of 0.28 cents per pound and a high of 0.44 cents per pound), unchanged.

General and Administrative: 1.79 cents per pound (with a low of 1.03 cents per pound and a high of 2.30 cents per pound), down 0.39 cents per pound.

Return on Investment: 1.02 cents per pound (with a low of 0.29

cents per pound and a high of 1.84 cents per pound), up 0.10 cents per pound.

Nonfat Dry Milk CostsThe weighted average cost of man-ufacturing nonfat dry milk in Cali-fornia in 2015 was a record high 20.78 cents per pound, up from 20.11 cents per pound in 2014. Over the 2006-2015 period, the weighted average cost of manufac-turing NDM in California ranged from a low of 15.68 cents per pound in 2007 to a high of 20.78 cents per pound in 2015.

The current make allowance for NDM in the Class 4a pricing for-mula is 17.63 cents per pound.

For this study, manufacturing cost data were collected and sum-marized from nine California NDM plants. Those nine plants processed 687.1 million pounds during 2015, representing 97.4 percent of the NDM processed in California.

The volume total includes all grades of NDM packaged in any container size, but the costs reflect only costs for 25-kilogram and 50-pound bags of NDM. To obtain the weighted average, individual plant costs were weighted by their NDM processing volume relative to the total volume of NDM pro-cessed by all plants included in the cost study.

Nonfat dry milk manufacturing costs in California in 2015, with comparisons to 2014, were as fol-lows:

Processing Labor: 5.23 cents per pound (with a low of 3.35 cents per pound and a high of 14.42 cents per pound), up 0.63 cents per pound.

Processing Non-Labor: 11.38 cents per pound (with a low of 8.56 cents per pound and a high of 27.86 cents per pound), up 0.05 cents per pound.

Packaging: 1.52 cents per pound (with a low of 1.43 cents per pound and a high of 1.59 cents per pound), unchanged.

General and administrative: 1.33 cents per pound (with a low of 0.82 cents per pound and a high of 4.15 cents per pound), down 0.12 cents per pound.

Return on Investment: 1.32 cents per pound (with a low of 0.38 cents per pound and a high of 2.28 cents per pound), up 0.11 cents per pound.

15

17

19

21

23

25

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

2015

Column2California Cheddar CheeseManufacturing CostsWeighted Avg, in cents per pound of cheeseSource: California Dept. of Food & Ag.



Gap Between California Butter Sales Prices, CME Butter Prices Widened During 12-Month Period Ending July 2016Sacramento, CA—During the August 2015-July 2016 period, the gap between California weighted average butter sales prices and CME butter prices was more than twice as wide as during the same period a year earlier, according to a recent report from the California Department of Food and Agricul-ture (CDFA).

During the 12-month period ending July 2016, California weighted average butter sales prices averaged 12.11 cents per pound lower than CME butter prices. During the 12-month period end-ing July 2015, California weighted average butter sales prices had averaged 5.0 cents per pound lower than CME butter prices.

California weighted average butter sales prices during the entire 24-month period were 8.56 cents per pound lower than CME butter prices.

For this report, data were col-lected and audited from seven Cal-ifornia butter plants. Those plants reported monthly sales volume and sales revenue for salted bulk butter for the 24-month period starting in August 2014 and running through July 2016, representing 100 per-cent of the salted bulk butter sold by these audited California plants.

The CME butter prices used in this report are the simple average of the daily butter price per pound, using the 26th of the prior month through the 25th of the current month. The weighted average Cal-ifornia butter prices represent the calendar monthly price per pound received by each plant and then weighted by sales volume.

For the 12-month period ending with July 2015, California weighted average butter sales prices were 5.0 cents per pound lower than CME butter prices. During that period, California prices were higher than CME prices in three months: November 2014 (California prices were 8.12 cents per pound higher); December 2014 (California prices were 7.52 cents per pound higher) and January 2015 (California prices were 0.53 cents per pound higher).

During the other nine months, CME butter prices were higher than California butter sales prices by anywhere from 3.6 cents per pound in March 2015 to 16.07 cents per pound in September 2014.

California weighted average butter sales prices were lower than CME butter prices during the entire 12-month period ending with July 2016; differences ranged from 3.07 cents in February 2016 to 27.97 cents in November 2015. For more information, circle #18 on the Reader Response Card on p. 30

Cheese, Dairy Companies Honored With Good Food Awards For ExcellenceSan Francisco, CA—Outstanding cheese and dairy companies were chosen here this week to receive Good Food Awards for taste, authenticity and responsible food manufacturing practices.

In its seventh year, Good Food Awards were given to winners in 14 categories: beer, cider, char-cuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, confections, honey, pantry and others.

A total of 193 companies received awards out of 2,059 entrants. Emily Shartin of Tomales Bay Foods, served as chair of the cheese category committee. Other committee members were Mau-reen Cunnie, head cheese maker at Cowgirl Creamery, and Debbie Fox, member of the California

Artisan Cheese Guild.The cheese judging panel

included experts from academia, industry, retail, foodservice and distribution.

Award winners in the cheese category include: Boxcarr Hand-made Cheese, Cedar Grove, NC, Cottonseed; Briar Rose Cream-ery, Dundee, OR, Classic Chevre; Dutch Girl Creamery, Lincoln, NE, Rosa Maria; Farms for City Kids, Reading, VT, Reading; Grafton Village Cheese, Grafton, VT, Bear Hill; Lark’s Meadow Farms, Rexburg, ID, Alto Valle; Laura Chenel’s, Arcata, CA, Ash-Rinded Buchette; Laurel’s Crown, Othello, WA, Bebé; Nicasio Valley Cheese Company, Nica-sio, CA, Foggy Morning; Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Com-pany, Point Reyes, CA, Original Blue; Sequatchie Cove Creamery, Sequatchie, TN, Coppinger; Split Creek Farm, Anderson, SC, Feta Marinated in Olive Oil; Tulip

Tree Creamery, Indianapolis, IN; Trillium; Uplands Cheese, Dodgeville, WI, Pleasant Ridge Reserve; and Vermont Creamery, Websterville, VT, Bonne Bouche.

Artisan caramels also won big in the Confections category, with companies taking home awards, including: Big Picture Farm, Townshend, VT, Farmstead Choc-olate Covered Caramels; Fat Toad Farm, Brookfield, VT, Vanilla Bean Goat’s Milk Caramel Sauce; French Broad Chocolates, Ashe-ville, NC, Sorghum Caramels; GerDan Chocolates, Raleigh, NC; The Chocolate Maker’s Stu-dio, Portland, OR, Fennel Pollen Caramel Bar; Little Apple Treats, Sonoma, CA, Apple Pie Spice; Vermont Amber Organic Toffee, White River Junction, VT, Fennel Seed Toffee, and Theo Chocolate, Seattle, WA, Walla Walla Sweet Onion Caramel.

For a full list of 2017 winners, visit www.goodfoodawards.org.


The Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA) has hired ED JAQUAY to lead plant opera-tions and supply chain manage-ment as director of operations. In this role, Jaquay will be responsi-ble for leading plant management at MMPA’s three dairy process-ing facilities and overseeing the supply chain. He has extensive experience in the cheese and dairy industry, most recently serv-ing as general manager, Northeast operations with Proliant Dairy Ingredients. Jaquay also previ-ously worked for Great Lakes Cheese Company and Leprino Foods. Leading the supply chain department is THERESE TIER-NEY, who was recently promoted from the milk sales department. Tierney has 26 years of experience in retail management with focus in inventory control. She joined the MMPA milk sales team five years ago, and recently held the position of supply chain manager. In her new post, Tierney will lead the management of plant produc-tion models, oversee manufactur-ing schedules and develop action plans to resolve issues.

KEVIN ABERNATHY has been tapped as general manager of the Milk Producers Council (MPC), succeeding ROB VANDEN-HEUVEL, who has been named the new vice president of industry and member relations for Califor-nia Dairies, Inc. Vandenheuvel has served as MPC general man-ager for more than nine years. Abernathy most recently worked as MPC’s director of regulatory affairs for the past five years. Before that, he spent seven years as executive director of the Cali-fornia Dairy Campaign, and was a member of the USDA’ Air Qual-ity Task Force. Abernathy served on several state and local environ-mental committees, and began his career as western states territory manager for Brown Equipment.

SUZANNE FANNING has been named vice president of national product communications for the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB). In her new role,

PERSONNEL Fanning will work with national media and develop programs to drive awareness about Wisconsin cheese. She will manage the web-sites, publications, and events and serve as a national spokesperson for WMMB.

JANET HELMS has been appointed national director of the American Humane Farm Pro-gram, the first and largest inde-pendent, third-party welfare and audit effort in the US providing the American Humane Certified seal to qualified producers. Helms most recently served as senior dairy technical services veterinar-ian for Zoetis, working with other veterinarians in Oregon, Wash-ington and Utah to improve the health of dairy cows in the North-west. Previous roles at Zoetis and Pfizer included several positions where Helms worked to com-ply with regulatory guidelines of FDA, USDA and the EPA.

ADAM FLESS, former director at KKR Capstone, is joining Paine & Partners, LLC in the newly-created position of managing director-portfolio performance. In his new role, Fless will work with clients to identify and execute opportunities to strengthen oper-ations, create value and ensure new investments. Fless worked as director at KKR from 2010 until now. Before that, he was a director at AlixPartners, LLC from 2004 to 2010, and began his career as an associate at A.T. Kearney.

CHIP POTTER has been named executive director of the Research Chefs Association (RCA), responsible for leading all Associ-ation operations, including mem-bership recruitment, marketing and communications, technology and financial management. Potter will also manage RCA’s Culinol-ogy Education Foundation. Most recently, he was vice president of the National Automatic Mer-chandising Association. Potter also worked in several strategic marketing positions in the food industry, including as vice presi-dent of marketing for Dawn Food Products, Inc. and director of mul-tiple divisions for Kraft Foods.

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US Championship Cheese Contest Deadline Is Fast ApproachingMadison—The Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (WCMA) is issuing a final call to enter its US Championship Cheese Contest (USCCC) before the deadline on Wednesday, Feb. 1.

The contest is set for March 7-9 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

“We’ve had a strong early response to the contest, with entries pouring in from across the country,” said WCMA events manager Kirsten Henning. The WCMA has also noticed a spike in first-time competitors entering their products for judging.

“With more cheeses and new cheeses in the mix, the 2017 USCCC promises the most robust competition in event history,” she continued.

The contest has long been country’s largest technical cheese, butter and yogurt competition. In 2015, Guggisberg Cheese of Millersburg, OH, came away with Best of Show, beating out a record 1,892 entries.

This year, USCCC features new categories for flavored butter, snack cheese, and for cheeses made of milk from animals other than cows, sheep, or goats.

The USCCC judging team, made up of cheese graders, cheese buyers, dairy and food science professors and researchers hailing

from 18 states, provides feedback on each product’s flavor, body and texture, salt, color, finish, and packaging.

The contest’s MyEntries system is a secure worksite which offers permanent storage of each year’s entries, and instant product scores and scoresheets. The entry fee for online submissions is $60 per prod-uct, a discount of $10 off the paper entry fee.

To enter, visit www.uschampion-cheese.org by Feb. 1.

Volunteers Needed For B-TeamThe Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association (WCMA) is inviting volunteers to join its “B Team” to help execute the upcoming 2017 US Championship Cheese Con-test.

Volunteers are needed for both entry check-in at the WOW Logis-tics warehouse in Little Chute, WI, on Friday, March 3 from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and during the judg-ing portion of the contest, set for March 7-8 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, WI.

All volunteers will receive lunch and an official B-Team Volunteer hat for their service.

Volunteer applications are available online at www.uschampi-oncheese.org.

For more information on enter-ing the contest or to volunteer for the B-Team, contact WCMA events manager Kirsten Henning at (608) 828-4550 or via email: [email protected].



European Commission Grants GI Status To Brillat-Savarin Cheese From FranceBrussels, Belgium—The European Commission earlier this month granted protected geographical indication (GI) status to Brillat-Savarin cheese from France.

Brillat-Savarin is a soft cheese made from lactic curd, and pro-duced from cow’s milk and cow’s milk cream. It is first placed on the market no sooner than three days after renneting.

When it is first placed on the market, Brillat-Savarin has the fol-lowing characteristics, among oth-ers: a total dry extract greater than or equal to 40 percent; fat content greater than or equal to 72 percent of the dry matter; and a salt con-tent of less than 2 percent.

Organoleptic characteristics of Brillat-Savarin include, among others: fresh cream or butter fla-vors predominate; a slightly acidic (lactic taste) and slightly salty fla-vor; a melt-in-the-mouth texture; and a soft, smooth paste.

Stretching from the north of the department of Saone-et-Loire to the department of Seine-et-Marne, the geographical area for the pro-duction and maturing of Brillat-

Savarin is a territory which for the past 50 years has continued to produce a lactic-curd cheese that is enriched with fat and possibly coated with surface mold.

Production of soft cheese made from predominantly lactic curd in the geographical area dates back to the medieval era, during which time this technique was specially adapted to the pace of life in the Cistercian abbeys.

The link between Brillat-Sava-rin and its geopraphical area is based on its quality and reputation. This quality is linked to skills that are particularly difficult to imple-ment on a large scale.

Production of Brillat-Savarin requires special know-how, which combines expertise in lactic tech-nology and fat enrichment. Before renneting, the milk is matured for a long period at a restricted tem-perature in order to develop suit-able acidification conditions. This gives Brillat-Savarin its aromas of fresh cream or butter.

The balance between the enzy-matic and acid coagulations helps to create a greatly demineralized curd, which must be treated with great caution in order not to break it. The addition of fat results in greater water retention within the curd, which reduces its cohesive-ness and makes it more fragile.

Traver, CA—Vintage Cheese Company here recently announced that it has acquired Tumalo Farms of Bend, OR, and will begin selling Tumalo Farms’ goat milk cheeses to their combined customer base.

The official acquisition took place in November 2015. Both companies have been working together for the last seven months to move the Tumalo Farms opera-tion from Central Oregon to Cen-tral California, where Vintage Cheese Company has its produc-tion facility.

Vintage Cheese has focused the last several months on implement-ing Tumalo Farms’ recipes under the guidance of Flavio DeCastil-hos, founder of Tumalo Farms and began production of the cheeses early this year.

With the sale, there will be no change in business, and distribu-tors will continue to be able to order Tumalo Farms cheese.

The company’s decade-old brand, recipes and customer base have all been obtained by Vintage.

Vintage Cheese began making cheese in 2011 and has grown into one of the largest open vat, hand-made, artisanal cheese companies on the West Coast. The combined list of products includes 25 differ-ent cheeses from cow to mixed milk varieties.

DeCastilhos will remain with Vintage Cheese for the next two years in an advisory capacity to help with customer transition and production training.

“It is very bittersweet to say goodbye to the company that my team and I have built over the years,” DeCastilhos said. “How-ever, I am extremely confident in Vintage Cheese to take on Tumalo Farms and continue to represent

the brand in its highest regard.”“Knowing that distributors and

wholesalers will get the same great artisan cheeses without any disrup-tion is very important to me,” he continued.

This acquisition allows Vintage Cheese Company to add a proven line of artisanal, award-winning goat cheeses and national recogni-tion to its existing lines of Jersey cow and sheep milk cheeses.

The larger production facil-ity and access to a larger source of goat’s milk allows for increased production of Tumalo Farms’ line of products, while still maintaining the open vat, handmade operation that made both companies success-ful.

Vintage Cheese’s extensive HACCP program combined with easier access to independent audit certification and convenient ship-ping location will also provide easier and faster access to a larger market distribution network at lower shipping costs.

“We are thrilled to take on Tumalo Farms and continue the success of its predecessor, continu-ing to make the same great cheese that has made Tumalo Farms what it is today,” said Ryan Davis of Vintage Cheese.

“We’re ready to fill these big shoes using the best available ingredients and most talented cheese makers, resulting in unfor-gettable cheeses,” Davis said.

“We believe the combined set of products gives us an excellent opportunity in the artisanal cheese market,” he continued.

Tumalo Farms was founded in 2004 by DeCastilhos, who also co-founded Healtheon/WedMD, introducing online healthcare to the market.

Post Acquisition,Vintage Cheese Co. Now Producing, Selling Tumalo Farms’ Chevre


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Where The Dairy IndustryDoes Businessonl ine reg is t r at ion i s now open

ADPI/ABI Annual Conference April 23 - 25, 2017

Don’t miss the conference that industry publications have called the “key rendezvous for the world’s dairy industry!”

Why Join Us?* “The ADPI/ABI Annual Conference is a gathering

that is truly unique in the dairy industry. This meeting is designed to facilitate doing business and plenty of business gets done each year in Chicago. The Annual Conference offers excellent program content, expert industry speakers and outstanding opportunities to strengthen existing business relationships and to establish new ones.”

* “This unique meeting is a can’t miss event for anyone in the processed dairy ingredient industry -- relevant presentations, excellent networking and the opportunity to conduct business with our key customers and critical suppliers.”

126 N. Addison Ave., Elmhurst, IL 60126 l www.adpi.org l [email protected] l 630-530-8700

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Current Dairy Topics & TrendsEvery ADPI/ABI Annual Conference offers sessions featuring leading industry speakers who discuss current dairy trends and topics.

Industry Award PresentationsThe ADPI/ABI Annual Conference recognizes outstanding achievement within the dairy industry with industry award presentations.

Networking OpportunitiesNetwork with over 1,000 senior level executives from manufacturers, marketers, suppliers, distributors and brokers of manufactured dairy products.

EU Task ForceContinued from p. 11

products are concerned, would be appropriate and timely, the report said.

Use Of ContractsThe term “contractualization” refers to the widespread use of contracts to regulate sales between farmers and their customers, the report explained.

Contracts, especially of the long-term and forward kind, can help farmers manage their cash flow and risk, afford them planning security and facilitate investments, the report said. But contractualiza-tion should not be perceived as a tool beneficial only to agricultural producers; it can provide benefits for their contract partners and consumers by enhancing commu-

nication and transmission of mar-ket signals along the supply chain.

Dedicated supply chains, such as in the areas of marketing products or developing joint standards for animal welfare or other types of quality, can present a sustainable way of building trust, meeting con-sumer demand and creating added value, not least for producers, the report said. Longer-term tripartite contracts between farmers, pro-cessors and retailers provide farm-ers with a reasonable income and allows retailers to market products according to quality specifications and to offer traceability assurance and transparent product informa-tion to the consumer.

There are also recent examples of contracts by cooperatives which guarantee prices for suppliers and take into account their production costs.

For example, Irish milk proces-sor and ingredient supplier Glan-bia recently adopted a new Fixed Milk Price Scheme, which follows a number of earlier anti-volatility schemes. The scheme is open to milk suppliers that have signed a milk supply agreement. The vol-untary scheme locks in a certain minimum milk base price based on a given quantity. Volumes will be decided depending on the number of applications for the scheme.

In cooperation with the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Rabo-bank and Finance Ireland, Glanbia Cooperative Society created a new 100 million euro fund which offers flexible and competitively priced loans to Glanbia milk suppliers. An innovative feature is the fund’s flexibility to adjust repayment terms for the loans in line with the manufacturing milk price.

The report recommends, among other things, that the European Commission make written con-tracts mandatory if the agricul-tural producer requests this from his customer/contract partner; and identify, share and promote best practices concerning contractu-alization in the supply chain, in particular those related to dedi-cated supply chains and tripartite arrangements.

Regarding producer coopera-tion, the report brings to light a lack of clarity concerning the rules which apply to collective action by producers.

The Commission should “unam-biguously” exempt joint planning and joint selling from competi-tion law if carried out by a rec-ognized producer organization or association of producer organiza-tions, the report said. Safeguards should ensure that competition is not eliminated and CAP objec-tives, such as reasonable consumer prices, are not jeopardized.

Fonterra Develops New White Butter Product To Meet Growing Demand From Manufacturers In Middle EastWellington, New Zealand—Fon-terra’s Research and Development Center, alongside its global ingre-dients business, NZMP, has devel-oped a white butter product to meet demand from manufacturers in the Middle East market.

Although Fonterra said its butter is renowned amongst Middle East consumers for its golden appear-ance thanks to grass-fed cows, a niche segment of manufacturers prefer white butter as a processing ingredient for their food products.

These Middle Eastern food manufacturers have tradition-ally sourced butter from grain-fed cows, which produce milk and dairy products with a pale color, Fonterra explained.

Casey Thomas, Fonterra’s dairy foods category director of NZMP, said Fonterra seized an opportunity to respond to customer needs by developing a high quality white butter ingredient through a manu-facturing process where it is now able to reduce the golden appear-ance of the butter without impact-ing its quality.

“While our yellow butter already sees great success in this market, we saw an opportunity to tap into this new area for customers to use in a variety of applications such as spreadable jar cheese, recombined Cream cheese, and could soon be used in ice cream,” Thomas said.

“This innovative approach is already seeing strong results,” added Santiago Aon, NZMP gen-eral manager of Middle East and Africa.


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Licensed US Cheese Imports In 2016 Totaled 231.7 Million Pounds, Highest Level Since ‘07Licensed Butter Imports Fell Slightly In 2016, Licensed Imports Of Butter Substitutes RoseWashington—Licensed US cheese imports last year totaled 231.7 mil-lion pounds, up 3.3 percent, or 7.4 million pounds, from 2015, accord-ing to figures released earlier this month by USDA’s Foreign Agri-cultural Service (FAS).

That’s the highest level for licensed US cheese imports since 2007, when they totaled 245 mil-lion pounds. Since 2000, licensed cheese imports have ranged from a high of 275.9 million pounds in 2002 to a low of 162.4 million pounds in 2011.

The annual tariff-rate quota (TRQ) for cheese is 299.1 million pounds. Last year, the cheese TRQ was 77.5 percent filled, up from a fill rate of 75.2 percent in 2015.

During 2016, licensed cheese imports ranged from a low of 15.2 million pounds in September to a high of 30.1 million pounds in December.

Licensed imports of other cheese-nspf (not specifically pro-vided for) in 2016 totaled 101.3 million pounds, up 4.8 million pounds from 2015. During 2016, licensed imports of other cheese-nspf ranged from a low of 6.0 mil-lion pounds in September to a high of 12.7 million pounds in Decem-ber.

Licensed imports of Swiss and Emmenthaler cheese last year

totaled 50.8 million pounds, down 3.3 million pounds from 2015. During 2016, licensed Swiss and Emmenthaler imports ranged from a low of 3.5 million pounds in July to high of 5.2 million pounds in March.

In 2016, licensed Cheddar cheese imports totaled 24.7 mil-lion pounds, up 1.8 million pounds from 2015. During 2016, licensed Cheddar imports ranged from a low of 417,593 pounds in August to a high of 4.3 million pounds in December.

Licensed imports of American-type cheese last year totaled 1.4 million pounds, down 228,439 pounds from 2015.

Last year, licensed Italian-type cheese imports totaled 25.4 million pounds, up 5.6 million pounds from 2015. During the year, licensed Italian-type cheese imports ranged from a low of 753,575 pounds in June to a high of 6.5 million pounds in December.

Licensed Edam and Gouda imports in 2016 totaled 14.7 mil-lion pounds, up 197,454 pounds from 2015. During 2016, licensed Edam and Gouda imports ranged from a low of 775,955 pounds in February to a high of 1.7 million pounds in September.

Last year, licensed Blue Mold cheese imports totaled 6.4 million pounds, up 106,359 pounds from 2015. Licensed imports of Gruyere-processed in 2016 totaled 6.4 mil-lion pounds, down 365,451 pounds from 2015. And 2016 licensed

imports of other cheese-nspf-low-fat totaled 814,823 pounds, up 773,529 pounds from 2015.

Licensed butter imports in 2016 totaled 14.9 million pounds, down 176,557 pounds from 2015.

During 2016, licensed but-ter imports ranged from a low of 628,157 pounds in July to a high of 2.25 million pounds in Decem-ber.

The TRQ for butter is 15.3 mil-lion pounds. Last year, that TRQ was 97.1 percent filled, down from a fill rate of 98.3 percent in 2015.

Licensed imports of butter sub-stitutes in 2016 totaled 13.3 mil-lion pounds, up 272,006 pounds from 2015. During the year, licensed imports of butter substi-tutes ranged from a low of 245,137 pounds in October to a high of 3.1 million pounds in February.

The TRQ for butter substitutes is 13.4 million pounds. Last year, that TRQ was 99.4 percent filled,

Domino’s Pizza Will Donate $1 Million To National Future FarmersAnn Arbor, MI—Domino’s Pizza has made a commitment to donate $1 million over the next five years to the National Future Farmers of America (FFA) Organization.

The five-year commitment began early this year. Each year, the money will help fund colle-giate scholarships to students look-ing to further their education after high school.

Funds will also be used for super-vised agriculture experiences for students in grades seven through 11 who demonstrate financial need, and are planning activities

outside of class to develop experi-ence and skills in ag-related areas.

Money will also be used to assist ag literacy and advocacy programs, along with FFA’s Live to Serve platform that supports hunger and environmental initiatives in local communities and states.

There’s no Domino’s without the farmers across the US work-ing hard every day to produce the food we serve, said Tim McIntyre, Domino’s executive vice president of communication and investor relations.

Building a relationship with Domino’s is very important to FFA, and we appreciate its gen-erous financial support, said Mark Poeschl, CEO, National FFA Organization and Foundation.

up from a fill rate of 97.3 percentin 2015.

Licensed imports of dried whole milk last year totaled 7.2 million pounds, down 15,446 pounds from 2015. The TRQ for dried whole milk is 7.3 million pounds; last year, that TRQ was 98.7 percent filled, down from a fill rate of 98.9 percent in 2015.

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Licensed US Cheese Imports2000 - 2016millions of pounds


Caloris Receives Patent For Mobile Mechanical Vapor Recompression EvaporatorWashington—The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently awarded a patent to Caloris Engineering LLC for its CALORIS AGILIXTM Mobile Evaporator.

Artur Zimmer, CEO and co-founder of Caloris Engineering, is listed as the inventor on US Patent 9,487,415 for a mobile mechanical vapor recom-p r e s s i o n evaporator . Mechanical Vapor Recom-pression (MVR) generates heating vapors by mechanically recom-pressing the water vapors evapo-rated from the product or waste stream being processed by the evaporator.

“The unique layout of this com-plete MVR evaporator makes it the first ‘plug-and-play’ unit to be able

to be transported to remote areas for resolving temporary evapora-tion needs,” Zimmer said.

The CALORIS AGILIX Mobile Evaporator is a complete wastewa-ter evaporation system mounted onto a single flatbed trailer so it can reach almost any location. Appli-cations include draining waste-water ponds, evaporating fracking fluids from oil and gas wells, and a wide spectrum of other remedial needs, the company said.

Featuring forced circulation evaporator technology, the CALO-RIS AGILIX Mobile Evaporator

can be hooked up to the power grid or to a fuel-powered electric generator, meaning it can be used virtu-

ally anywhere, Caloris Engineer-ing noted. It can begin continuous operation within hours of arriving on site and is monitored remotely.

A unique low headroom hori-zontal vapor separator is the key to the very compact configuration of the entire unit on one trailer, the company explained.

The CALORIS AGILIX Mobile Evaporator is capable of evaporat-ing water at rates of up to 20,000 pounds per hour (40 gallons per minute). Depending on the appli-cation, the CALORIS AGILIX Mobile Evaporator can run at an efficiency of up to 16 gallons of water evaporated per kilowatt of electric power consumed.

The evaporator is available for purchase or rent.

For more information, visit http://caloris.com/caloris-agilix-mobile-evaporator/.

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DuPont Nutrition, Health Expands Kansas City Area Lab That Serves Cheese IndustryNew Century, KS—DuPont Nutrition & Health this week announced what it is calling a sub-stantial investment in a laboratory that serves the North American cheese industry.

In addition to expanded physi-cal space at the Kansas City metro area lab, new equipment has been installed, including three bio-fermenters to simulate external pH control starter production, an incubator for growing cultures, a cheese vat for making cheese, and two environmental cabinets for aging cheese.

Previously, testing at the facility was limited to a lab environment. With these upgrades, the facility is now equipped to test cultures in real world environments, as well as to manufacture and age cheese, according to DuPont.

“This expansion of our research and development capabilities brings us closer than ever to our customers and enables us to inno-vate in collaboration with them,” said Roald Mason, director of dairy sales, North America. “These improvements not only allow us to optimize our current cultures offer-ings and tailer them to our indi-vidual customers, but also equip us to develop new retail and finished products.”

The company has also added two professionals to its cheese industry innovation team who have more than 35 years of combined cheese industry experience. Brian Bar-tholomew has joined the DuPont cheese innovation team as senior applications specialist and James Musetti joined in the application technologist role.

“These moves reinforce our com-mitment to the cheese and dairy industry,” said Cathy Miller, direc-tor of innovation, North America.

For more information, visit www.food.dupont.com.

MilliporeSigma Acquires BioControl Systems Inc.Billerica, MA—MilliporeSigma recently announced it has acquired BioControl Systems Inc., based in Bellevue, WA.

BioControl has been a leader in rapid microbiology tests for food safety for more than 30 years. It offers diverse third-party validated product portfolio lines, which include industrial microbiology testing, rapid detection methods for foodborne pathogens, the quan-titative measurement of microor-ganisms, and hygiene monitoring.

BioControl primarily sells its products to food manufacturers, ingredient suppliers, contract test-ing labs and government labs.

Ingredion To Acquire TIC Gums; Deal Expected To Close By End Of 2016Westchester, IL—Ingredion Incorporated, a global provider of ingredient solutions for the dairy and other industries, announced recently that it has entered into a stock purchase agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares of TIC Gums Incorporated, a privately held US-based com-pany that provides texture and sta-bility systems for the food industry.

“As a leader in texture systems for decades, TIC Gums has grown significantly over the past sev-eral years through its deep R&D

expertise and a differentiated and focused approach to the customer experience,” said Ilene Gordon, Ingredion chairman and CEO. “The team has an excellent track record in developing and deliver-ing proprietary, customized system.

“This acquisition propels us into a new era of on-trend tex-ture development with even more solutions for organic and clean-label demands,” Gordon contin-ued. “Combined with Ingredion’s global presence and portfolio of starch-based texturizers, there’s even more opportunity for robust growth and expansion.”

“TIC Gums’ and Ingredion’s strengths complement each other perfectly. We share a vision

around the importance of texture and stabilization in food and bev-erage formulation,” said Gregory Andon, president of TIC Gums. “By coming together, we will truly be able to focus on the correct technical solutions for our custom-ers whether they be starch, gum or systems containing both.

TIC operates production facili-ties in the US and one in China, and R&D labs in both countries.

Ingredion is a a global ingredient solutions company making sweet-eners, starches and ingredients from plant sources such as corn, tapioca, rice, sago and potato. The company provides solutions and innovates for almost 60 industry sectors, including dairy.

Call 608-246-8430 or email: [email protected] to subscribe orfor questions regarding the Cheese Reporter App


Trump UrgedContinued from p. 3

With a few key sector excep-tions that still require attention, North America intraregional food and agricultural trade is now free of tariff and quota restrictions, help-ing US farmers and food processors expand exports, the letter noted.However, barriers still exist for US exporters, and the groups signing the letter said they look forward to working with the Trump adminis-tration on reducing the non-tariff barriers that continue to inhibit US exports to the North American marketplace, as well as to address-ing the remaining tariffs impeding access for some US export sectors.

NAFTA “has opened a major door to Mexico that we don’t want slammed shut,” Mulhern said. US dairy exports to Mexico have topped $1 billion in value for six consecutive years.

“TPP as it now stands has no path

forward, we urge the Trump administration

to look for future opportunities to

increase our dairy exports in Asia and around the world.

—Jim Mulhern, NMPF

By contrast, Canada “has habit-ually and deliberately worked to undermine dairy trade. We have been very vocal in the past year that Canada is not living up to its dairy market access opportunities for the United States. This issue must be on the table in any discus-sion about the future of NAFTA,” Mulhern said.

With the US withdrawing from the TPP, “it is critical that the new administration begin work immediately to do all it can to develop new markets for US agri-cultural goods and to protect and advance US agricultural interests in the critical Asia-Pacific region,” said Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federa-tion. He also said that any regego-tiation of NAFTA “must recognize the gains achieved by American agriculture and assure that US ag trade with Canada and Mexico remains strong.”

Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union (NFU), said NFU was “pleased that the Trump administration has decided to formally withdraw the US” from the TPP,” and said NFU looks for-ward to working with the adminis-tration and Congress “to promote fair trade solutions that work for family farmers and ranchers and the US economy.”

Regulatory FreezeSeparately, last Friday, Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, issued a memorandum for the heads of executive departments and agen-cies communicating Trump’s plan for managing the federal regulatory process at the outset of Trump’s administration.

Specifically, Priebus asked department and agency heads to, among other things: Send no regulation to the

Office of the Federal Regist-ter (OFR) until a department or agency head appointed or des-ignated by Trump reviews and approves the regulation. With respect to regulations

that have been sent to the OFR but not published in the Federal Register, immediately withdraw them from the OFR for review and approval. With respect to regulations

that have been published in the OFR but have not taken effect, as permitted by applicable law, tem-porarily postpone their effective date for 60 days.

Several regulations with sig-nificance for the dairy industry will be reviewed by the Trump administration, according to the International Dairy Foods Asso-ciation, including the recently issued National Organic Pro-gram regulations, changes to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Risk Management Plan, and the advanced notice of proposed rulemaking for the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard.

According to an alert from the international law firm Covington & Burling LLP, the Priebus mem-orandum does not direct federal agencies to stop working on new regulations; it does not impact comment periods for dockets that are currently open nor does it pre-vent agencies from considering comments already submitted.

It also does not impact regu-lations that have already taken effect, Covington & Burling


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noted. From a food regulatory perspective, this means that the regulatory freeze will not impact the regulations that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued under the Food Safety Mod-ernization Act (FSMA) in 2015 and 2016, nor will it impact the Nutrition Facts label final rule, as the effective date for all of those regulations has already passed.

The regulatory freeze could potentially delay the publication of any additional regulations that FDA or USDA complete in the near future, including guidance documents, such as further guid-ance on the implementation of FSMA or the revised Nutrition Facts label requirements, Coving-ton & Burling noted.

The law firm also noted that, while the regulatory freeze is, on its face, limited in scope, there may be other avenues through which the Trump administration could pre-vent, restrict, or delay the imple-mentation of food regulations that are already in effect.

Zingerman’s Partners With World’s Best Cheeses To Bring Product To East CoastAnn Arbor, MI—Zingerman’s Creamery has paired with World’s Best Cheeses for cheese distribu-tion throughout the East Coast.

Since 2001, Zingerman’s has specialized in soft-ripened cheeses using cow and goat’s milk sourced from small, regional farmers.

World’s Best Cheeses has been family-owned and operated for over 30 years.

“We’re honored to be repre-sented on the East Coast by World’s Best,” said Zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weinzweig.

“Their distribution network will allow us to get our cheeses to spe-cialty shops, restaurants, caterers and cafes without having to have them incur shipping costs from the Midwest,” Weinzweig said.

For more information, visit www.zingermanscreamery.com.


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Usefulness Of E. Coli As Hygiene Indicator For Raw Milk Cheese Is ‘Questionable’: IDFBrussels, Belgium—Testing for E. coli in fresh cheese made from unpasteurized milk is only of “limited value” to a manufacturer attempting to implement an appro-priate HACCP plan, according to a “Factsheet” recently released by the International Dairy Federation (IDF).

“The usefulness of E. coli as a hygiene indicator for raw milk cheese is questionable,” the Fact-sheet stated. Testing for E. coli only makes sense if the purpose is to verify the safety of the finished cheese, for instance to verify that the decline in numbers has taken place during aging (sampling and testing at the end of the ripening period).

Whether such routine testing provides useful information to the manufacturer will depend on what other tests are performed. In this regard, it may be noted that many studies indicate that the decline rate of pathogens tends to be greater for Listeria and Salmonella than for E. coli.

In the case of cheese made from pasteurized milk, the purpose of testing for E. coli is to verify general hygiene, the Factsheet explained. As the pasteurization of milk can be considered an effective means of control, any E. coli pres-ent are likely to result from heat treatment failure (e.g., organisms passing through because of foul-ing), biofilm development in the post-heating equipment or from other post-heating sources (ingre-dients, water, etc.) or the process-ing environment (food contact and non-food contact surfaces).

Whatever the reason is for E. coli being present, only a root cause analysis will help to identify where and when the contamina-tion occurred in the cheesemak-ing process, according to the Factsheet.

In firm and hard ripened cheese and in many ripened soft cheeses (pH less than 4.7 and high lac-tate contents), E. coli present will grow during the cheesemaking process and will peak within the first weeks of ripening; hence, an opportune time to sample cheeese is typically after one to two weeks of ripening. For the verification of general hygiene, it makes little sense to test finished cheese (ready for sale) as the numbers decline

with age.Where the numbers of E. coli

do not decline with age, samples could be taken one to two weeks after ripening or later.

In the case of cheese made from unpasteurized milk, the purpose of testing for E. coli would be quite different from cheese from pasteur-ized milk, the Factsheet noted.

It is most likely that the unpas-teurized milk used will contain E. coli that can grow to relatively high numbers in the fresh raw cheese curd.

To protect public health, there are regulations limiting the permis-sible number of E. coli in unpas-teurized milk. Pasteurization will inactivate E. coli, therefore, the regulatory limits are less for pas-teurized milk.

During cheesemaking, there is an approximately 10-fold increase in bacterial numbers in the cheese, not due to growth, but due to concentration of the bacteria in the curd, the Factsheet said. For hygiene monitoring, the limit of E. coli in cheese should therefore be 10 times higher than the limit in milk.

Also, E. coli has the potential to grow in milk, irrespective of whether pasteurized or not, but not during ripening of hard cheese due to ecological competition of microbial food cultures, avail-ability of nutrients, water activity and acidity. The regulatory limit in cheese is therefore classically higher than that for liquid milk.

Coliforms can be found in the aquatic environment, in soil and on vegetation, and are present in large numbers in the feces of warm-blooded animals, the Fact-sheet explained. While coliforms themselves are not normally the cause of serious illness, they are easy to culture, and their presence can be used to indicate that other pathogenic organisms of fecal ori-gin may be present.

Escherichia coli are a group of mostly harmless bacteria that inhabit various ecological niches, and classically the human digestive system, the Factsheet explained. They are part of the larger group of coliform bacteria, which are con-sidered to be a more global indi-cator of hygiene in food process environments. Coliforms are part of a family of bacteria, Enterobac-

teriaceae (EB), which are ubiq-uitous in the environment. This family is considered to be a more global indicator of hygiene in food process environments.

Indicator organisms are a group of organisms (coliforms, EB or a specific species such as E. coli) that are more likely to be found through testing because they appear at relatively high numbers or more often compared to the target microorganism of concern. They are harmless bacteria that can be easily measured and cor-relate with the likelihood of the presence of the microorganism of concern.

The presence of indicator organ-isms in foods or in the processing environment can be used to assess the hygienic status and quality of the food product or the adequacy of control measures in place.

A copy of the fact sheet can be downloaded by visiting IDF’s web-site, at www.fil-idf.org.


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Parker Products Breaks Ground For New Facility In Fort Worth, TXFort Worth, TX—Parker Prod-ucts, a provider of inclusions and other specialty ingredients for the dairy and food industries, recently broke ground on a new 90,000-square-foot facility here.

The food ingredient and flavor systems company has been located in Fort Worth since it was founded in 1926, and its new facility will remain in the city.

Parker Products will move all of its operations to the new location once construction is completed; that’s expected to be in early 2018. The new facility will triple the company’s total production capac-ity and serve as the hub of Parker’s kill-step validation and food safety initiatives.

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Milk Output Up(Continued from p. 1)

per cow in 2016 averaged 22,770 pounds, up 377 pounds from 2015.

During the fourth quarter of 2016, US milk production totaled 52.529 billion pounds, 2.4 percent higher than the fourth quarter of 2015. That was the largest percent-age increase in milk production during any of 2016’s four quarters; previous increases were 2.1 percent in the first quarter (which had an extra day due to leap year); 1.2 per-cent in the second quarter; and 1.7 percent in the third quarter.

California’s December milk production totaled 3.38 bil-lion pounds, up 0.5 percent from December 2015, due to 10,000 fewer milk cows but 20 more pounds of milk per cow. Califor-nia’s fourth-quarter milk produc-tion totaled 9.901 billion pounds, up 0.9 percent from 2015’s fourth quarter. The state’s third-quarter output had been down 0.9 percent from a year earlier.

Wisconsin’s December milk production totaled 2.52 bil-lion pounds, up 1.7 percent from December 2015, due to 1,000 fewer

milk cows and 35 more pounds of milk per cow. Wisconsin’s Octo-ber-December milk production totaled 7.432 billion pounds, up 2.2 percent from a year earlier. The state’s July-September output had been up 2.7 percent from the same period in 2015.

December milk production in New York totaled 1.246 bil-lion pounds, up 3.6 percent from December 2015, due to unchanged milk cow numbers but 70 more pounds of milk per cow. New York’s fourth-quarter milk produc-tion totaled 3.68 billion pounds, up 4.1 percent from 2015’s fourth quarter. The state’s third-quarter output had been up 4.3 percent from 2015’s third quarter.

Idaho’s December milk produc-tion totaled 1.197 billion pounds, up 2.7 percent from December 2015, due to 13,000 more milk cows and 10 more pounds of milk per cow. Idaho’s October-Decem-ber milk production totaled 3.614 billion pounds, up 3.4 percent from a year earlier. The state’s third-quarter output had been up 5.2 percent from 2015’s third quarter.

December milk production in Texas totaled 953 million pounds,

up 11.7 percent from December 2015, due to 29,000 more milk cows and 95 more pounds of milk per cow. Texas’ fourth-quarter milk production totaled 2.796 bil-lion pounds, up 10.5 percent from a year earlier. The state’s July-Sep-tember output had been up 6.9 per-cent from the same period in 2015.

Pennsylvania’s December milk production totaled 919 mil-lion pounds, up 1.7 percent from December 2015, due to 5,000 fewer milk cows but 45 more pounds of milk per cow.

Michigan’s December milk pro-duction totaled 910 million pounds, up 3.9 percent from December 2015, due to 13,000 more milk cows and 15 more pounds of milk per cow. Michigan’s fourth-quarter milk production totaled 2.695 bil-lion pounds, up 4.5 percent from 2015’s fourth quarter. The state’s July-September output had been up 5.2 percent from the same period in 2015.

December milk production in Minnesota totaled 816 mil-lion pounds, up 1.1 percent from December 2015, due to 1,000 more milk cows and 15 more pounds of

milk per cow. Minnesota’s Octo-ber-December milk production totaled 2.388 billion pounds, up 1.6 percent from a year earlier. The state’s third-quarter output had been up 1.4 percent from 2015’s third quarter.

New Mexico’s December milk production totaled 668 million pounds, due to 100 more pounds of milk per cow. New Mexico’s fourth-quarter milk production totaled 1.958 billion pounds, up 3.9 percent from 2015’s fourth quarter.

Washington’s December milk production totaled 547 million pounds, down 0.2 percent from December 2015, due to 2,000 fewer milk cows but 10 more pounds of milk per cow.

All told for the 23 reporting states in December, compared to December 2015, milk production was higher in 17 states, with those production increases ranging from 0.2 percent in both Arizona and Ohio to 11.7 percent in Texas; down in five states, with those declines ranging from 0.2 percent in Washington to 2.8 percent in Oregon; and unchanged in Florida.

All told for all 50 states during the fourth quarter, compared to the quarter of 2015, milk production was higher in 26 states, with those increases ranging from 0.1 percent in Washington to 12.5 percent in Alaska; lower in 22 states, with those declines ranging from 0.4 percent in Illinois to 15.8 percent in Rhode Island; and unchanged in Georgia and New Jersey.

STATE Dec Dec % Change 2015 2016 Change Cows

California 3364 3380 0.5 -10000

Wisconsin 2477 2520 1.7 -1000

Idaho 1165 1197 2.7 13000

New York 1203 1246 3.6 nc

Texas 853 953 11.7 29000

Pennsylvania 904 919 1.7 -5000

Michigan 876 910 3.9 13000

Minnesota 807 816 1.1 1000

New Mexico 624 668 7.1 6000

Washington 548 547 -0.2 -2000

Ohio 458 459 0.2 -4000

Iowa 411 424 3.2 4000

Arizona 410 411 0.2 1000

Indiana 348 350 0.6 1000

Colorado 315 338 7.3 7000

Kansas 263 288 9.5 8000

Vermont 226 229 1.3 -2000

South Dakota 209 218 4.3 6000

Oregon 213 207 -2.8 -2000

Florida 218 218 - -3000

Utah 180 177 -1.7 -3000

Illinois 162 160 -1.2 -1000

Virginia 147 144 -2.0 -3000

millions of pounds 1,000 head

Milk Production by State

16,000

16,500

17,000

17,500

18,000

18,500

J F M A M J J A S O N D

US Milk Production2016 vs. 2015in millions of pounds



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Texas’ Caprino Royale Sells Goat Herd, Plans To Open Under New Name ShortlyMeridian, TX—Farmstead cheese production under Caprino Royale, Inc. was halted last year after the compnay sold its goat herd with plans for a new business strategy, operational facility and a new name – Relevation Artisan Cheese.

Owners Eric and Karen Tip-pit began making cheese as Cap-rino Royale at their small farm in Waco, TX, about 45 miles from Meridian, home of the new plant.

We were given some land and we did our research – it took a cou-ple of years, Eric Tippit said.

“We started looking at farm-stead cheese companies and the first one we went to was going out of business,” Tippit said.

However, “each one we visited was more successful than the last, and we finally ended up at one that was making a living with a good business model,” he said.

We started with nothing, and then made the leap to establish a 1,200 square-foot, state-inspected facility, Tippit said.

With a herd of roughly 50 Nubian goats, Caprino Royale kicked off production with fresh cheeses sold at the nearby Dallas farmers’ market – the largest farm-ers’ market in Texas.

I started giving chefs our cheese to play with, and then they started showing up at our table asking for more, Tippit said. That was the beginning of the company’s high-end restaurant trade.

“For a small company like ours – just two people – it proved to be too much,” he said. “We were milking twice a day, 365 days. We tried to find help – we tried interns, employees, everything.”

“We put ads out all over the country and we couldn’t find any-one. People either wanted to make cheese or they wanted to work with animals, but they didn’t want to do both,” Tippit said.

“You have to like cheese. You’d be surprised how many cheese makers I’ve run into that don’t really like cheese. I don’t get that.”

Around mid-2013, Caprino Royale shifted production to the hard aged cheese market, purchas-ing new equipment and creating additional aging space.

“Once we had a supply, we ended up selling to specialty food distributors,” Tippit said.

Once volume ramped up, the company started purchasing cow’s milk – going through several dair-ies until the Tippits found one they really liked – and began experi-menting with mixed milk cheese varieties.

Shortly after, we realized that while goat milk production drops, cow’s production stays pretty con-sistent, so we jumped into making exclusively cow’s milk cheeses.

The new cheeses were extremely well-recieved, which cemented the decision to sell the goat herd.

Through blind luck, Tippit was able to find suitable facility in Meridian, just a 15 minute drive from the company’s dairy of choice.

“We crunched the number and called our distributors, who said they were sad to see the goat cheese go, but were still on board,” Tippit said.

The farm, herd and dairy equip-ment were liquidated, and the money was used to purchase the new 2,200-square foot plant. Ren-novation began in late November 2016 and is slated for completion by early March.

“We doubled production space and increased aging space, with room to grow,” Tippit said. “We’re also in the process of adding a

small retail venue.”Most of our business is whole-

sale, but we’re located along a tourist route, Tippit said. They’ll drive right past our front door.

Output will remain small, top-ping out at roughly 125 pounds of cheese weekly. One variety will be Camembert per a distributor’s request, along with Blue cheese and three aged International Styles.

One benefit of moving from goat to cow’s milk is less consumer education, according to Tippit.

It was all about educating, he said. People would look at you and say “Ewww...goat cheese,” and I’d give them a sample. Nine times out of 10, they’d buy some. That’s how we built our customer base.

Restaurants and chefs didn’t need convicing, though. If you made a good product, they were interested, he continued.

“For the most part, price didn’t scare them away. Now with cow’s milk, the price point is a lot lower,” he said. “We had to adjust our vol-ume to make up the difference in price margins, but it’s not as hard now as it once was.”

Advice To Farmstead CompaniesTippit’s running joke is that he will consult for $70 per hour at two hours minimum, which will be plenty of time to talk someone out of starting a farmstead cheese operation.

It’s a hard life, but I’m glad I did it, he said. I learned about milk in a way I would’ve missed out on if I was simply making cheese, he said. To make excellent cheese, you need to know the whole picture.

“Honestly, the first thing I would tell people is not to borrow money. This lifestyle is going to pay back to you – and the bank – that level of investment,” Tippit said.

Right now, there’s so many peo-ple who stop by and want to start a cheese business, we’re thinking of putting a tip jar by the gate, Tippit joked.

“When you add the term ‘farm-stead’ to anything, it means more work. In the whole world of farm-ing, dairying in the toughest, in my opinion,” he said. “It never slows down and it never shuts off. At one point, I didn’t take a day off for seven years straight.”

“Oh, and be aware that you probably won’t get rich,” he said.

For more information, contact www.revelationcheese.com.


THE LATEST IN CHEESE & DAIRY PRODUCTS

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TABLETOP EXHIBITSThe largest WCIC exhibit floor ever with 272 supplier partners exhibiting their latest ideas and technology. Exhibits: April 12 – 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

CDR WORKSHOPS»» Innovations in

Cheese Making with CDR

»» New Frontiers in Milk Proteins, Whey Proteins

»» At-the-Vat Artisan Workshops

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NETWORKING AND MORE»» Industry Recognition

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»» Auction of Championship Cheeses

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VISIT WWW.CHEESECONFERENCE.ORG FOR COMPLETE EVENT INFORMATION.

JOIN US FOR THE NATION’S PREMIER CHEESE, BUTTER AND WHEY INDUSTRY EVENT!

2017 WISCONSIN CHEESE INDUSTRY CONFERENCE

MADISON, WISCONSIN | ALLIANT ENERGY CENTER | WWW.CHEESECONFERENCE.ORGAPRIL 12 & 13, 2017

Velveeta Stuffed Grill Cheese, Cheesy Bites Join Frozen Snack Category

Chicago—The Kraft Heinz Com-pany is bring Velveeta to the frozen snack aisle with its new Velveeta Stuffed Grilled Cheese and Velveeta Cheesy Bites.

The Cheesy Bites come in both Original and Salsa con Queso fla-vors, and the Velveeta Stuffed Grilled Cheese can be easily microwaved and ready to eat in one minute.

Velveeta Stuffed Grilled Cheese comes in boxes of two or six sand-wiches, and the two flavors of

Velveeta Cheesy Bites are pack-aged in 6-ounce and 18-ounce boxes. They are now sold at gro-cery and mass retailers nationwide.

For more information, visit www.krafthenizcompany.com.

Holland’s Landana Adds Extra Aged Variety To Line Of Organic Gouda CheesesSan Francisco, CA—Landana unveiled a new, extra aged addi-tion to its organic cheese line here at this week’s Winter Fancy Food Show.

This organic, Dutch-style Gouda cheese is aged for at least six months on wooden shelves and has a surprisingly creamy texture, the company said.

Landana Organic is under the umbrella brand Landana. Last year, the company introduced Landana Organic Mild.

For more details, visit www.landanacheese.com.

Yoplait Revives Custard, Introduces Dippers, Greek 100 Protein YogurtMinneapolis, MN—Yoplait is bringing back fan favorite Yoplait Custard, and will introduce two new products: Greek 100 Protein and Yoplait Dippers.

Now made with whole milk, Yoplait Custard is returning to shelves with a new look, no col-ors or flavors from artificial sources and no high fructose corn syrup. Flavors include Vanilla, Straw-berry, Blueberry, Banana, Lemon and Caramel.

The new Yoplait Greek 100 Pro-tein with 14 to 15 grams of pro-tein and 100 calories, has replaced Yoplait Greek 100. The three fla-vor varieties are Strawberry, Black Cherry and Peach.

Finally, new Yoplait Dippers combine nonfat Greek yogurt with crunchy dippers in one pack-age. Flavor combinations include Vanilla Bean yogurt with honey oat crisps; Raspberry chocolate chunk yogurt with chocolate-driz-zled pretzels; Caramelized Banana yogurt with chocolate pretzels; Coffee Chocolate Chunk yogurt with cinnamon crisps; Toasted Coconut yogurt and honey oat crisps; and Chipotle Ranch yogurt with tortilla chips.

For more information about these new products, visit

www.yoplait.com.

Single-Serve, Whole Milk Drinkable Yogurt Now Available From Siggi’sNew York—Icelandic-style yogurt maker Siggi’s has recently intro-duced single-serve, whole-milk drinkable yogurt in Vanilla, Straw-berry and Blueberry flavors.

Each 8-ounce serving features 8 grams of protein, 10 billion probi-otic cultures and a simple ingredi-ent list.

“From day one, it has been our mission to bring consumers better quality yogurt options with simple ingredients and not a lot of sugar,” said company founder Siggi Hil-marsson.

“Knowing consumers are always looking for a healthy snack when they are on the go, it was a natural move for us to give them a single-serve, convenient and nourishing choice,” he continued.

We’re excited to provide our customers with a new, great-tasting yogurt in a format that is easy to grab when they are going out the door, Hilmarsson said.

The product is rolling out to grocery stores shelves nationwide this month.

For more information, visit www.siggisdairy.com.For more information, visit www.cheeseconference.org


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Minerva Dairy’s Cinnamon Honey Amish Roll Flavored Butter Is Now AvailableMinerva, OH—Minerva Dairy is launching the latest flavor – Cin-namon Honey – in its signature line of Amish Roll Butter early this year.

The hand-wrapped roll butter provides consumers with a way to infuse recipes with culinary butter infused with the flavors of cinna-mon and honey.

We’re proud to continue the expansion of our Amish Roll But-ter line to offer this new flavor, said Minerva Dairy CEO Adam Mueller.

“As a fifth generation-owned and run business, excellence marks

all that we do – from our tradi-tional products to the innovative,” Mueller said.

Minerva’s Amish Roll Butter line also includes Sea Salt with 84% Butterfat, Smoked Maple-wood, Maple Syrup, seasonal Pumpkin Spice, and Garlic Herb.

For more information, visit www.MinervaDairy.com

Sargento Launches Sweet Balanced Breaks With Cheese, Fruit & ChocolatePlymouth, WI—Starting this year, consumers can enjoy a combina-tion of natural cheese, dried fruits and dark chocolate with Sargento Foods’ Sweet Balanced Breaks

Snacks.A creamy

Mild Ched-dar and G r e e k yogurt drops are said to go perfectly with chewy

raisins and crunchy sea-salted almonds in this treat for your taste buds.

The four combinations come in a package of three 1.5-ounce snacks, including Cheddar, roasted

almonds, raisins and Greek yogurt-flavored drops; Monterey Jack, dried cranberries and dark choc-olate-covered peanuts; Monterey Jack, dried cranberries, dark choco-late chunks and banana chips; and Cheddar, milk chocolate chunks, raspberry-flavored dried cranber-ries and graham crackers.

Convenient individual-sized snack trays come in a 3-count package, each containing less than 200 calories per servings and seven grams of protein.

Sweet Balanced Break Snacks started shipping to retail store locations in early 2017.

For more details, visitwww.sargento.com

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Alemar Cheese Creates Blue Earth Brie As Alternative To CamembertMankato, MN—A new grassy, buttery and versatile Brie is now available from the Alemar Cheese Company here.

Alemar’s Blue Earth evolved and developed as an alternative for the company’s Bent River Cam-embert.

We’ve always had a few Brie hoops around to catch leftover Bent River curd, said owner Keith

Adams. At about two-a n d - a - h a l f pounds, the wheels took twice as long to r ipen . The size and extra ripening time in larger hoops gave the Brie a unique flavor profile.

Blue earth is sold in wheels and half-wheels.

For more details, visitwww.alemarcheese.com

Thai Sweet Chili, Salted Caramel & Ginger Pineapple From RondeléNew York—Starting now through April 30, President Cheese will offer it’s Asian-inspired rondelé Thai Sweet Chili spreadable cheese. The company’s Ginger-Pineapple flavor fusion will be on

store shelves from May 1 through Aug. 31, designed to add a tropical twist to summer picnics.

Finally, from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31, 2017, President will release a current cultural favorite – rondelé Salted Caramel, for a sweet end to the year.

For more information, visit www.presidentcheese.com.


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Cheese Reporter Ad.pdf 1 2/25/15 5:07 PM

SANITATION SUPERVISOR

NORTHWEST ILLINOISNuestro Queso, an award winning Hispanic cheese company is seeking a 2nd shift Sanitation Supervisor to join our team!

Responsibilities include: n Supervising 10 hourly employees through all processes of cleaning and maintaining high level sanitation n Work with Quality Manager to develop and implement SOP’s n Encourage, train and mentor hourly employees nEstablish goals and objectives to meet sanitation, cleanliness, quality and food safety requirements

Qualifications include: n High school diploma or equivalent n 3+ years’ experience in dairy manufacturing sanitation n Ability to communicate in English in all forms (reading, writing and speaking) n Computer skills including Microsoft Word, Excel and Access. n Ability to learn internal computer system

If you are interested in joining a fast growing company that offers competitive benefits including medical, dental, vision, life, 401K to name a few plus very competitive wages!

If you are interested in learning more about this position or interested in applying, please email questions and/or resume to [email protected]

Syracuse, NY—The New York State Cheese Manufacturers’ Asso-ciation will return here March 6-7 for its 2017 annual meeting at the Doubletree Syracuse Hotel.

Association president Tom East-ham of Empire Cheese, Inc. will kick off the two-day event Mon-day morning with the presidential address and business meeting.

Along with regular program events like the Tuesday awards luncheon and cheese judging con-test, Cornell University’s Margaret Smith will discuss GMOs and con-sumer push-back on technology.

Dairy Farmers of America’s (DFA) Ed Gallagher will provide the New York State dairy industry outlook, and Matt Davison with the Institute for Excellence & Eth-ics will talk about corporate ethics and integrity.

Cornell’s Martin Wiedmann will cover current and future challenges for dairy food safety, and Dairy Market Analyst’s Matt Gould will discuss the current trends and forecast regarding the supply and demand of cheese and other dairy products.

Lisa Ford of Cayuga Marketing,

LLC, will cover animal wellbeing from farm to fork, and Cornell’s Sam Alcaine will lead a session entitled “What’s Fermenting in Extension Research.”

Cornell’s David Barbano will cover new milk analysis tools for farm management, along with a session on cheese yield evaluations and how to improve the quality of cheese composition data.

Casey McCue of the New York State Agriculture & Markets Divi-sion of Milk Control and Dairy Services will deliver this year’s company story.

The registration deadline is Feb. 22, and cost to attend is $325 for members and $425 for non-mem-bers.

Exhibit space is also available at the cost of $100 for Association members and $200 for non-mem-bers. Each exhibit table is six feet long.

Online registration is available at www.nyscheesemakers.com/events.

For questions about the meet-ing, contact Janene Lucia at (607) 227-5833 or via email:[email protected].

New York State Cheese Manufacturers Meeting, March 6-7 In Syracuse

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MSA 200 WESTFALIA SEPARATOR. Just arrived. Perfect Bowl condition - NO PITTING. Two for sale. Call Great Lakes Separators at (920) 863-3306 or e-mail [email protected].

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SEPARATOR NEEDS - Before you buy a separator, give Great Lakes a call. TOP QUALITY, reconditioned machines at the lowest prices. Call Dave Lam-bert, Great Lakes Separators at (920) 863-3306; [email protected].

FOR SALE: 1500 and 1250 cream tanks. Like New. (800) 558-0112. (262) 473-3530.

1. Equipment for Sale

FOR SALE: Car load of 300-400-500 late model open top milk tanks. Like new. (262) 473-3530

2. Equipment Wanted

WANTED TO BUY: Westfalia or Alfa-Laval separators. Large or small. Old or new. Top dollar paid. Call Great Lakes Separators at (920) 863-3306 or email [email protected]

3. Cheesecloth

CHEESECLOTH FOR ALL YOUR CHEESEMAKING NEEDS- Grade 60 (32x28) White Cheesecloth: $241*/Case. 36” Wide x 60 Yards. All con-structions, medical grade. Microfiber and dairy wipers too. Contact Lucy Bauccio at Monarch Brands by emaill-ing [email protected] or call 267-238-1643

4. Walls, Flooring

EPOXY OR FIBERGLASS floors, walls, tank-linings, and tile grouting. Installed by M&W Protective Coating Co. LLC. For information, please call (715) 234-2251.

4. Walls, Flooring

EXTRUTECH PLASTICS Sanitary POLY BOARD© panels provide bright white, non-porous, easily cleanable surfaces, perfect for non-food con-tact applications. CFIA and USDA accepted and Class A for smoke and flame. Call 888-818-0118 or epiplas-tics.com.

5. Real Estate

DAIRY PLANTS FOR SALE: http://dairyassets.webs.com/acquisitions-mergers-other. Call Jim at 608-835-7705

6. Promotion & Placement

PROMOTE YOURSELF - By con-tacting Tom Sloan & Associates. Job enhancement thru results oriented professionals. We place cheese mak-ers, production, technical, maintenance, engineering and sales management people. Contact Dairy Specialist David Sloan, Tom Sloan or Terri Sherman. Tom Sloan & Associates, Inc. PO Box 50, Watertown, WI 53094. Call: (920) 261-8890 or FAX: (920) 261-6357; or email: [email protected]

8. Help Wanted

DAIRY SALES PERSON: A fast grow-ing Western US cheese processor is in need of another sales person. The com-pany is looking for an aggressive sales person with knowledge of the industry and current contacts for retail and food service accounts. We are looking to expand our customer base with particu-lar attention to new food service outlets. Send resume to: Box J175 c/o Cheese Reporter, 2810 Crossroads Drive, Suite 3000, Madison, WI 53718 or email: [email protected]

The “Industry’s” Market Place for Products, Services, Equipment and Supplies, Real Estate and Employee Recruitment

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Reduces wire cutable product into uniform portions for dicing, shredding,melting, or blending.

Call NOW at 1-888-243-6622Email: [email protected]

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Hydrauflake ChunkerFrozen Block Flaker

Designed to chunk frozen cheese and butter blocks in preparation for further processing.

Call NOW at 1-888-243-6622Email: [email protected]

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3001EW TU-WAY Exact Weight Cheese Cutter

Designed to cut cheese blocks into portions for packaging or further processing.

8. Help Wanted

LICENSED CHEESE MAKER and Pro-duction Supervisor for Fond du lac, WI production. For more information, con-tact [email protected] or call 608-592-2700

PLANT MANAGER: for a small-medium size Dairy Plant in Pittsburgh, PA. 7 -10+ years in food production, milk intake, P&L, proven leadership, change mgmt. For more information, contact [email protected] or call 608-592-2700

9. Consultants

10. Cheese & Dairy Products

FOR SALE: 42,000 pounds of Organic White Kosher Cheddar Cheese. 7 - 9 months in age. Call (920) 946-7107 or email [email protected] for pricing information.

KEYS MANUFACTURING: Dehydrators of scrap cheese for the animal feed industry. Contact us for your scrap at (217) 465-4001; email [email protected].

12. Milk

SHEEP MILK: The Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative has sheep milk available for the 2017 season. $70.00 CWT. Lowest price ever. Call Emily: 715-360-8552 or email: [email protected]

14. Warehousing

REFRIGERATION, DRY & FROZEN STORAGE SPACE AVAILABLE: We’ve added cooler space and a heated dry storage area. Contact: Eric at SUGAR RIVER COLD STORAGE at Call 1-877-283-5840 or email [email protected]

Cheesemaker / Apprentice CheesemakerDoor Artisan Cheese Company, LLC. is a new Artisan Cheese Company located in beautiful Egg Harbor, WI in Door County.

Our company will specialize in manufacturing small batch artisan cheeses using inspiration from cheeses all over the world. We are looking for a passionate chee-semaker and Apprentice Cheesemaker who respects the art and science of chee-semaking. This person will work directly with a Master Cheesemaker in creating nu-merous styles of cheeses, many of which will be Traditional and American originals.

We have a brand-new state of the art building with all new equipment that will allow for diverse styles of cheese to be created. This will be a great opportunity for the right person to be able to craft unique original cheeses and to work in an exciting and fast paced work environment.

We offer a full benefits plan including Major Medical Health, Vacation and Perfor-mance bonus plan. If interested in this dream opportunity, please submit resume to:

Michael C. BrennenstuhlDoor Artisan Cheese Company, LLC8103 N Hwy 42, Egg Harbor, WI 54209Email: [email protected]: (920) 883-5340

Dairy Ingredients Account ManagerMichigan Milk Producers Associa� on is seeking a Dairy Ingredients Account Manager to join our team in Novi, Mi.

MMPA is the 10th largest dairy coopera� ve in the United States with approximately 2,000 dairy farmer members in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin. This is your chance to join an industry leader! We off er long term stability and growth as well as excellent benefi ts including a pension plan!

To apply, please send your resume to [email protected]

Quality Control/Food Safety ManagerExciting opportunity for an experienced quality control/food safety manager to im-plement and establish the food safety initiatives at our new Southwest Wisconsin cheese manufacturing facility.

You will have a major role in our quality and food safety programs. Candidates should have at least 5 years experience at a food or dairy manufacturing facility. Must have knowledge of HACCP management. SQF experience and SQF certifica-tion and GMP experience desired. Responsibilities include: n Serve as primary quality control and food safety assurance resource for problem identification, resolution, documentation and continuous improvement. n Ability to work with our production team to design, implement and document SOP for process control, testing and inspection. n Supervise the cleaning of plant equipment within GMP guidelines and regulatory standards. n Supervise,educate and train employees to achieve our quality initiative goals.

Qualifications include: n Experience with GMP development, documentation and implementation n Strong understanding of FDA, food safety and state regulations n Associate’s degree in Food Science of Bachelor of Science n Three to five years experience in a food safety environment n Understand plant production systems, quality systems, FSMA, plant safety, etc.

If you are interested in joining a new, progressive company with a very competitive wage and benefits package, please send resume to:

[email protected] mail to:Box J-170

c/o Cheese Reporter2810 Crossroads Drive, Suite 3000, Madison, WI 53718


Circle, copy and FAX to (608) 246-8431 for prompt response

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TYPE OF BUSINESS:___Cheese Manufacturer___Cheese Processor___Cheese Packager___Cheese Marketer(broker, distributor, retailer___Other dairy processor (butter, cultured products)___Whey processor___Food processing/Foodservice___Supplier to dairy processor___Other________________

JOB FUNCTION:___Company Management___Plant Management___Plant Personnel___Laboratory (QC, R&D, Tech)___Packaging___Purchasing___Warehouse/Distribution___Sales/Marketing___Other_______________

For information about the adver-tisements or new product infor-mation, circle the number below which corresponds to the ad or article in which you are interested.

Issue Date: 1/27/17

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PLEASE SEND ME MORE INFORMATION ON:___Subscribing to Cheese Reporter___Cheese Reporter’s Reference Books

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January 25, 2017—AMS’ National Dairy Products Sales Report. Prices included are provided each week by manufacturers. Prices collected are for the (wholesale) point of sale for natural, unaged Cheddar; boxes of butter meeting USDA standards; Extra Grade edible dry whey; and Extra Grade and USPH Grade A nonfortified NFDM. •Revised

WEEK ENDINGStyle and Region Jan. 21 Jan. 14 Jan. 7 Dec. 31

40-Pound Block Cheddar Cheese Prices and Sales Weighted Price Dollars/PoundUS 1.7098 1.7044 1.7429 1.7690Sales Volume PoundsUS 13,374,784 15,757,754 14,397,358 12,825,900

500-Pound Barrel Cheddar Cheese Prices, Sales & Moisture Contest

Weighted Price Dollars/PoundUS 1.7287 1.7190 1.7439 1.7644 Weighted Price Adjusted to 38% Moisture US 1.6489 1.6390 1.6579 1.6813 Sales Volume PoundsUS 11,640,854 13,700,563 9,571,316 9,501,625Weighted Moisture Content PercentUS 35.00 34.97 34.77 34.94

Butter

Weighted Price Dollars/PoundUS 2.2711 2.2330• 2.2737 2.1629Sales Volume PoundsUS 3,198,101 4,350,861• 3,721,184 2,260,406

Dry Whey Prices

Weighted Price Dollars/PoundsUS 0.4454 0.4372• 0.4254• 0.4133•Sales Volume US 8,335,506 7,470,180• 5,360,515 4,902,118•

Nonfat Dry Milk

Average Price Dollars/PoundUS 1.0285 1.0242 1.0139 0.9967Sales Volume PoundsUS 18,513,110 16,088,314• 11,746,311• 11,788,346

DAIRY PRODUCT SALESDairy Product Stocks in Cold StorageTOTAL STOCKS AS REPORTED BY USDA (in thousands of pounds unless indicated) Public Stocks in All December 31, 2016 Warehouse Warehouses as a % of Stocks Dec 31 Nov 30 Dec 31 Dec 31 Nov 30 Dec 31 2015 2016 2016 2015 2016 2016

Butter 155,082 161,203 174,933 113 109 150,048

Cheese American 701,073 713,231 728,945 104 102 Swiss 24,587 24,749 24,572 100 99 Other 420,426 444,666 453,087 108 102

Total 1,146,086 1,182,646 1,206,604 105 102 792,168

385.6353 355.8 366.4 368.9

420.4453.1 453.1

630.8 611 635.6 618.3 627.8

699.8728.9

325

400

475

550

625

700

775

850

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 1983 2016

American-Typevs Other NaturalCheese StocksDec 31 of Selected Years in millions of pounds

1,099,675

Dec Record Highs

$0.70

$0.80

$0.90

$1.00

$1.10

$1.20

$1.30

$1.40

$1.50

$1.60

$1.70

$1.80

$1.90

$2.00

$2.10

$2.20

Central & East

Western

NDM Prices Since 2014High Range (Low/Medium Heat): Mostly

High Range NDM Mostly Prices are at their highest levels since April 2015 for Central & East and since January 2015 for Western

DAIRY FUTURES PRICESSETTLING PRICE *Cash SettledDate Month Class III* Class IV* Dry Whey* NDM* Butter* Cheese*1-20 January 17 16.77 16.29 43.525 103.000 225.875 1.70201-23 January 17 16.76 16.26 43.525 102.700 225.000 1.70001-24 January 17 16.76 16.20 43.525 102.425 225.000 1.70201-25 January 17 16.74 16.20 44.250 102.425 225.000 1.70201-26 January 17 16.75 16.20 44.250 102.350 225.000 1.6990

1-20 February 17 16.96 16.42 46.500 104.250 226.000 1.70801-23 February 17 16.66 16.32 46.750 103.625 224.025 1.67801-24 February 17 16.70 16.32 46.500 102.900 224.025 1.67901-25 February 17 16.57 16.32 46.775 103.250 222.000 1.66401-26 February 17 16.58 16.07 46.775 100.000 220.600 1.6660

1-20 March 17 17.40 16.59 47.450 105.375 226.600 1.74501-23 March 17 17.15 16.45 47.475 104.025 224.925 1.72101-24 March 17 17.14 16.30 47.450 103.700 224.750 1.72001-25 March 17 16.98 16.30 47.250 104.000 222.900 1.70301-26 March 17 17.04 16.08 47.075 100.000 221.750 1.7150

1-20 April 17 17.67 16.86 48.100 108.000 227.750 1.76401-23 April 17 17.49 16.71 48.100 106.900 227.750 1.74801-24 April 17 17.50 16.64 47.950 105.450 228.000 1.75101-25 April 17 17.28 16.50 47.600 105.450 225.000 1.72801-25 April 17 17.34 16.17 47.000 101.625 223.275 1.7350

1-20 May 17 17.73 17.06 48.300 110.425 229.000 1.77001-23 May 17 17.61 16.92 48.300 108.800 228.000 1.76301-24 May 17 17.62 16.73 48.300 112.000 228.000 1.76101-25 May 17 17.34 16.73 47.750 107.500 225.500 1.73801-26 May 17 17.41 16.39 47.500 103.800 234.475 1.7540

1-20 June 17 17.86 17.26 49.250 112.500 229.025 1.78501-23 June 17 17.80 17.13 48.750 111.025 229.000 1.78001-24 June 17 17.80 16.90 48.075 114.000 228.000 1.77801-25 June 17 17.59 16.85 47.850 109.500 226.000 1.76501-26 June 17 17.63 16.58 47.050 106.000 225.000 1.7660

1-20 July 17 17.92 17.46 49.200 114.450 230.000 1.79101-23 July 17 17.92 17.32 48.850 113.350 229.250 1.78501-24 July 17 17.85 17.20 48.525 116.400 229.000 1.78901-25 July 17 17.71 17.20 48.250 111.575 226.025 1.78201-26 July 17 17.72 16.87 47.000 107.925 226.000 1.7820

1-20 August 17 17.95 17.68 49.250 116.125 230.000 1.78601-23 August 17 17.90 17.55 49.425 115.000 230.000 1.79101-24 August 17 17.94 17.50 49.025 113.475 229.000 1.79301-25 August 17 17.84 17.50 48.500 113.200 226.350 1.79001-26 August 17 17.83 16.92 47.150 109.900 226.400 1.7900

1-20 September 17 17.93 17.68 49.775 117.350 228.000 1.79001-23 September 17 17.90 17.50 49.775 116.050 227.800 1.78801-24 September 17 17.95 17.40 49.525 115.025 228.025 1.79001-25 September 17 17.85 17.40 49.000 114.675 226.125 1.78801-26 September 17 17.86 17.05 47.150 111.925 226.125 1.7890

1-20 October 17 17.82 17.77 50.000 118.250 226.000 1.78001-23 October 17 17.83 17.61 50.000 116.725 226.000 1.77901-24 October 17 17.84 17.50 48.925 116.000 226.000 1.77901-25 October 17 17.70 17.50 49.450 116.000 225.025 1.77201-26 October 17 17.69 17.15 47.125 112.750 225.025 1.7730

1-20 November 17 17.68 17.73 50.000 119.275 224.025 1.76801-23 November 17 17.67 17.63 50.000 118.000 223.525 1.76001-24 November 17 17.70 17.40 49.750 117.175 223.525 1.76001-25 November 17 17.61 17.40 49.475 117.175 223.525 1.76001-26 November 17 17.58 17.23 47.750 114.150 223.525 1.7630

Interest - Jan. 26 31,672 4,632 5,153 7,230 5,210 22,604

$1.25

$1.35

$1.45

$1.55

$1.65

$1.75

$1.85

$1.95

J F M A M J J A S O N D J

40-Pound Block Avg

CME vsAMS

CHEESE REPORTERJanuary 27, 2016 Page 31

DAIRY PRODUCT MARKETSAS REPORTED BY THE US DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

WHOLESALE CHEESE MARKETS

WEEKLY COLD STORAGE HOLDINGSSELECTED STORAGE CENTERS IN 1,000 POUNDS - INCLUDING GOVERNMENT

DATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BUTTER CHEESE

01/23/17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,987 83,51101/01/17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12,740 81,357Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,247 2,154

NATIONAL - JAN. 20: Milk remains readily available for cheese makers across the country. Ice storms in the Midwest caused some milk shipment delays early in the week, but most contacts report abundant supplies of milk. Plentiful milk has kept the production levels in the West and Midwest fully active, and northeastern production is also increasing. Super Bowl orders have started to come in and Northeast and West pizza cheese producers are reporting solid demand. Midwest reports on demand vary. Some cheese producers are in a seasonal slowdown, while others are seeing solid demand, stronger than this time last year. Inventories are long on barrels and blocks in the Midwest and West, and buyers are trying to keep cheese stocks low in the Northeast.

NORTHEAST- JAN. 25: Cheese production, overall, translates to increases along sea-sonal patterns, as volumes align with milk receipts. Cheese stocks within the region are mostly adequate. Cheese cutters/packagers are busy as retail orders remain fairly strong, while bolstered by preparations for Super Bowl weekend festivities. Foodservice interest is holding well. The market undertone is unsettled.

Wholesale prices, delivered, dollars per/lb:Cheddar 40-lb blocks: $2.1675 - $2.4525 Process 5-lb sliced: $1.7200 - $2.2000Muenster: $2.1525 - $2.5025 Swiss Cuts 10-14 lbs: $3.0950 - $3.4175

MIDWEST AREA - JAN. 25: Reports on milk availability for Central cheese producers vary. Some cheese makers are finding available milk on the spot market, and their dedicated milk supplies will suffice for the weeks to come. However, others are seeing tighter milk sup-plies in their areas. Following recent trends of readily available milk for most cheese makers, cheese production continues at fully active levels. With most Cheddar styles, demand has been fair to relatively strong. Pizza cheese producers are reporting fair demand during the Super Bowl season. Cheese inventories remain available and some extra cheese is being offered on the spot market. Cheese buyers report being sufficiently stocked. For 8-ounce blocks, the Midwest average price is $2.17, 3 cents below the national average price.

Wholesale prices delivered, dollars per/lb: Process 5# Loaf: $1.6775 - $2.0375Brick/Muens 5# Loaf: $2.0725 - $2.4975 Cheddar 40# Block: $1.8000 - $2.1950Monterey Jack 10#: $2.0475 - $2.2525 Blue 5# Loaf: $2.3400 - $3.3275Mozzarella 5-6# (LMPS): $1.8725 - $2.8125 Grade A Swiss 6-9#: $2.6125 - $2.7300

WEST - JAN. 25: Western cheese production is active and cheese makers report good supplies of milk used for manufacturing. Cheese demand has remained fairly steady after a strong holiday season. Price fluctuations are prompting buyers in export markets to make a few more purchases. Domestic retail, cut and wrap, and food service demand has remained solid. And, the demand for cheese destined for pizzas is strong amid the football playoffs and Super Bowl. Inventories for fresh cheese blocks are in good supply, but do not appear to be overly heavy. Barrel stocks are still long. The US weighted average advertised retail price for an 8-ounce pack of natural shredded cheese is $2.22, up $.10 from last week. Packs aver-age $2.55 in the Southwest and $1.91 in the Northwest. One year ago, the national price was $2.39. For 8-ounce blocks, the US price is $2.20, up $.04 from last week. Blocks aver-age $2.36 in the Southwest and $1.67 in the Northwest. One year ago, the national price was $2.33. In the West, wholesale prices are down $.0375 for Process, and down $.0150 for Cheddar block, cuts, and Monterey Jack. Swiss cut wholesale prices are unchanged. According to the NASS Cold Storage report, US stocks of cheese at the end of December 2016 were 1.207 billion pounds, up 2% from November 2016 holdings, and up 5% from December 2015. American stocks were 4% more, and other natural stocks were 8% more.

Wholesale prices delivered, dollars per/lb: Process 5# Loaf: $1.6650 - $1.9225Cheddar 40# Block: $1.8325 - $2.2775 Cheddar 10# Cuts: $2.0125 - $2.2325Monterey Jack 10#: $2.0225 - $2.1825 Grade A Swiss 6-9#: $2.6725 - $3.1025

FOREIGN -TYPE CHEESE - JAN. 25: Although

Selling prices, delivered, dollars per/lb: Imported DomesticBlue: $2.6400 - 5.2300 $2.2325 - 3.7200Gorgonzola: $3.6900 - 5.7400 $2.7400 - 3.4575Parmesan (Italy): 0 $3.6225 - 5.7125Romano (Cows Milk): 0 $3.4225 - 5.5725Sardo Romano (Argentine): $2.8500 - 4.7800 0Reggianito (Argentine): $3.2900 - 4.7800 0Jarlsberg (Brand): $2.9500 - 6.4500 0Swiss Cuts Switzerland: 0 $3.3125- 3.4550Swiss Cuts Finnish: $2.6700- 2.9300 0

NATIONAL - JAN. 20: Moderate to heavy cream volumes continue clearing into churns throughout the country. Accordingly, butter production remains active this week, following typical seasonal patterns. At least part of the current output is dedicated to print butter production in order to keep up with cur-rent needs. Demands from retailers and food-service are fair to good. Some traders/buyers are surprised about the current strong spot prices as bulk inventories are readily avail-able in the market. In fact, large amounts of bulk butter are moving into storage.

NORTHEAST - JAN. 25: With the volume of cream offered to manufacturing remaining plentiful, butter churns are run-ning at near capacity levels in some pro-duction venues. Some suppliers are moving cream volumes long distances in order to clear loads. The likelihood of butter output rates slowing, in the near-term, is doubtful as some processors look to build bulk butter inventories. Print butter interest is mostly light, typical for this time of year. Wholesal-ers are ordering as needed some feel prices may in time, move lower. Some buyers are not sure how to plan for summer storage needs at this time. Overall, buying demand is fair. The market undertone is unsettled as prices inch lower.

CENTRAL - JAN. 25: Following the trend of recent weeks, cream supplies for

butter makers remain abundant. Spot cream offers are available, but some butter produc-ers are sufficiently stocked with cream on hand. Available cream means butter pro-duction continues to run at fully active lev-els. Bulk butter is building into storage. Print production, which had been slow in previous weeks, is starting to strengthen as some butter makers begin, or are in the midst of, spring holiday preparations. Reports on demand are on the fair to strong side. Some contacts report demand is improving from earlier in the month, but remains behind last year’s mark. US butter stocks as of Dec. 31, 2016 were 174.9 million pounds, up 13% from last year and up 9% from last month. Bulk stocks in all warehouses were 155.1 million pounds last year at this time.

WEST - JAN. 25: Heavy cream supplies continue moving into butter production as some processors continue clearing surplus cream. Accordingly, butter output remains strong this week. At this point, cream demand from churners is light. A few processors had to shift operational schedules toward more print as they are having some issues with bulk machines. Butter production related to the Super Bowl has been completed and shipments to several retail outlets and res-taurants are on the way. Bulk inventories con-tinue building into cold storage. Bulk butter pricing in the West this week is 4 cents below to 5 cents above

ORGANIC DAIRY - RETAIL OVERVIEW

This week, total conventional dairy advertisement volumes increased 18%, and organic dairy ads increased 6%. Among the larger percentage changes in ad volumes this week for conven-tional dairy products, the products, volume percentage change, and national weighted average advertised prices are: 1-pound butter, up 53%, $3.31; 8-ounce Cream cheese, down 37%, $1.71; and 48- to 64-ounce ice cream, up 63%. $3.23. The collective number of conventional cheese ads decreased 3%. The US advertised price for 8-ounce conventional cheese blocks averaged $2.05, while organic 8-ounce blocks averaged $3.37, an organic premium of $1.32. Ads for conventional 8-ounce shred cheese averaged $2.19, while organic 8-ounce shreds averaged $3.85, an organic premium of $1.66. Organic milk advertisements increased 13%, while ads for conventional milk decreased 12%. The weighted average price for organic half-gallon milk is $3.82. For a conventional half-gallon of milk, the average price is $2.29. The organic milk premium is $1.53. Conventional yogurt ads increased 31%, but organic yogurt ads decreased 54%.

National Weighted Retail Avg Price: Cottage Cheese 16 oz: $3.26Cream Cheese 8 oz: $2.50Cheese 8 oz block: $3.37Cheese 8 oz shred: $3.85Greek Yogurt 4-6 oz: $1.11

Greek Yogurt 32 oz: $5.47Yogurt 4-6 oz: $1.25Yogurt 32 oz: $4.49Sour Cream 16 oz: $3.25Milk half gallon: $3.82Milk gallon: $5.98

RETAIL PRICES - CONVENTIONAL DAIRY - JANUARY 27Commodity

Butter 1#

Cheese 8 oz block

Cheese 1# block

Cheese 2# block

Cheese 8 oz shred

Cheese 1# shred

Cottage Cheese

Cream Cheese

Ice Cream 48-64 oz

Flavored Milk ½ gallon

Flavored Milk gallon

Milk ½ gallon

Milk gallon

Sour Cream 16 oz

Yogurt (Greek) 4-6 oz

Yogurt (Greek) 32 oz

Yogurt 4-6 oz

Yogurt 32 oz

US NE SE MID SC SW NW

3.31 3.37 3.27 3.00 2.99 NA NA

2.05 2.08 2.08 2.08 1.55 1.83 2.00

4.36 5.97 2.99 4.13 2.99 4.17 3.76

6.20 NA NA NA 4.99 6.60 5.99

2.19 2.43 2.10 2.07 2.00 1.97 2.17

3.52 3.50 3.78 3.15 NA 2.74 NA

1.88 2.09 1.45 1.74 1.62 1.45 1.63

1.71 1.65 1.50 1.70 1.45 1.99 2.24

3.23 3.21 3.08 3.82 3.01 2.97 3.23

1.98 2.50 NA 1.83 NA NA 1.08

3.49 NA NA NA NA NA NA

2.29 2.50 NA 1.99 NA NA 1.83

2.55 2.75 2.59 2.03 3.39 2.41 1.89

1.71 1.80 1.69 1.68 1.36 1.42 1.76

.98 1.01 1.00 .85 .98 .92 1.00

4.77 4.67 4.99 NA 4.93 4.99 4.16

.56 .52 .75 .42 .53 .45 .45

2.40 3.01 2.49 2.50 2.58 NA 1.67

Butter 1# 3.31 3.37 3.27 3.00 2.99 NA NA

Cheese 1# block 4.36 5.97 2.99 4.13 2.99 4.17 3.76

Cheese 8 oz shred 2.19 2.43 2.10 2.07 2.00 1.97 2.17

Cottage Cheese 1.88 2.09 1.45 1.74 1.62 1.45 1.63

Ice Cream 48-64 oz 3.23 3.21 3.08 3.82 3.01 2.97 3.23

Flavored Milk gallon 3.49 NA NA NA NA NA NA

Milk gallon 2.55 2.75 2.59 2.03 3.39 2.41 1.89

Yogurt (Greek) 4-6 oz .98 1.01 1.00 .85 .98 .92 1.00

Yogurt 4-6 oz .56 .52 .75 .42 .53 .45 .45

US: National Northeast (NE): CT, DE, MA, MD, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT;Southeast (SE): AL, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV; Midwest (MID): IA, IL, IN, KY, MI, MN, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI; South Central (SC): AK, CO, KS, LA, MO, NM, OK, TX; Southwest (SW): AZ, CA, NV, UT; Northwest (NW): ID, MT, OR, WA, WY

NATIONAL - CONENTIONAL DAIRY PRODUCTS

WHOLESALE BUTTER MARKETS

NDM - CENTRAL: This week, low/medium heat NDM prices were steady to lower in the mostly series. NDM price weakness was seen this week at the CME. However, the market tone is primarily firm. Production is maintaining strong output, with increases in milk volumes. Buying interest remains fair to good across domes-tic and export accounts. Some cheese makers are turning to condensed skim. Most NDM inventories are adequate for commitments. Sources report f.o.b. spot exchanges were limited in a somewhat quiet this week. High heat NDM prices switched lower at the top of the range.

NDM - EAST: Prices for low/medium NDM are mixed in the regional pricing series. Less trading activity is occurring at the low end of range Production is steady. Inventories are in balance to short of buyer interest. Most plants report that additional supplies will be available in the coming month. Demand is fair to good and clear-ing most current offerings. Interest in con-densed skim is active, as supplies remain heavy. The low/medium heat NDM under-

tone is unsettled. High heat NDM prices are steady to lower, as a few buyers were able to secure f.o.b. spot loads. High heat demand is active, but supplies are limited.

NDM - WEST: For some buyers/end users, the recent NDM spot pricing down-ward trend at the CME is starting to make sense with the market, as large supplies are readily available. Meanwhile, some manufacturers and brokers are anticipat-ing a rebound in prices in the short term, as the typical high demand for spring season approaches. With lower NDM val-ues, trading in the spot market is more active, compared to a few weeks ago. Some manufacturers’ NDM offers from recent production can be found priced at or above the top price of the range. On the other hand, some processors are try-ing to clear 2016 NDM supplies, offering loads at prices close to the bottom of the range. Demand from the food processing industry is fair to good. Low/medium heat NDM production is active as many western balancing plants continue clearing large condensed skim volumes into dryers.

DRY DAIRY PRODUCTS - JANUARY 26


CME CASH PRICES - JANUARY 23 - 27, 2017Visit www.cheesereporter.com for daily prices

CHEDDAR CHEDDAR AA GRADE A 500-LB. BARRELS 40-LB. BLOCKS BUTTER NFDM

MONDAY $1.5000 $1.6500 $2.2175 $1.0000 January 23 (-3½) (-4¾) (-3¼) (-½)

TUESDAY $1.4800 $1.6400 $2.2175 $0.9850 January 24 (-2) (-1) (NC) (-1½)

WEDNESDAY $1.4600 $1.6400 $2.1975 $0.9850 January 25 (-2) (NC) (-2) (NC)

THURSDAY $1.4475 $1.6450 $2.1850 $0.9350 January 26 (-1¼) (+½) (-1¼) (-5)

FRIDAY $1.4475 1.6875 $2.2200 $0.9475January 27 (NC) (+4¼) (+3½) (+1¼)

Week’s AVG $1.4670 $1.6525 $2.2075 $0.9705 Change (-0.1199) (-0.0513) (-0.0375) (-0.0495)

Last Week’s $1.5869 $1.7038 $2.2450 $1.0200AVG

2016 AVG $1.4300 $1.4600 $2.1950 $0.7130 Same Week

MARKET OPINION - CHEESE REPORTER

For more information, circle # 33 on the Reader Response Card on p. 30

Cheese Comment: Five cars of blocks were sold Monday, the last on an offer at $1.6500, which set the price. Tuesday’s block market activity was limited to an uncov-ered offer of 1 car at $1.6400, which reduced the price. Four cars of blocks were sold Wednesday, all on offers, the first 3 at $1.6300 and the last at $1.6400, which left the price unchanged. Thursday’s block market activity was limited to an unfilled bid for 1 car at $1.6450, which raised the price. Friday’s block market activity was limited to a bid-based sale of 1 car at $1.6875, which raised the price. The barrel price declined Monday on bid-based sales of 4 cars at $1.5000, fell Tuesday on a bid-based sale of 1 car at $1.4800, dropped Wednesday on bid-based sales of 2 cars at $1.4600, and declined Thursday on an offer-based sale of 1 car at $1.4475.

Butter Comment: The butter price declined Monday on an offer-based sale of 1 car at $2.2175, fell Wednesday on an uncovered offer of 1 car at $2.1975, declined Thursday on an unfilled bid for 1 car at $2.1850 (following a sale at $2.1800), then increased Friday on an offer-based sale of 1 car at $2.2200.

NDM Comment: The NDM price dropped Monday on bid-based sales of 2 cars at $1.0000, fell Tuesday on an offer-based sale of 1 car at 98.50 cents, declined Thursday on an offer-based sale of 1 car at 93.50 cents, then increased Friday on an unfilled bid for 1 car at 94.75 cents.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

‘04 1.4320 1.7132 2.1350 2.2204 2.0363 1.9300 1.7458 1.5408 1.7656 1.6475 1.9238 1.7083‘05 1.5775 1.6145 1.5527 1.4933 1.4044 1.5313 1.6210 1.6861 1.6988 1.6204 1.4260 1.3552‘06 1.3368 1.1930 1.1663 1.1632 1.1755 1.1643 1.1645 1.3035 1.3170 1.3206 1.2915 1.2405‘07 1.2248 1.2187 1.3218 1.3725 1.4825 1.5019 1.4913 1.4464 1.3783 1.3020 1.3590 1.3190‘08 1.2246 1.2088 1.3454 1.3905 1.4750 1.5001 1.5385 1.6279 1.6973 1.7320 1.6165 1.2007‘09 1.1096 1.1097 1.1770 1.2050 1.2526 1.2235 1.2349 1.2000 1.2199 1.2830 1.5008 1.3968‘10 1.3950 1.3560 1.4641 1.5460 1.5896 1.6380 1.7787 1.9900 2.2262 2.1895 1.9295 1.6327‘11 2.0345 2.0622 2.0863 1.9970 2.0724 2.1077 2.0443 2.0882 1.8724 1.8295 1.7356 1.6119‘12 1.5077 1.4273 1.4895 1.4136 1.3531 1.4774 1.5831 1.7687 1.8803 1.9086 1.7910 1.4848‘13 1.4933 1.5713 1.6241 1.7197 1.5997 1.5105 1.4751 1.4013 1.5233 1.5267 1.6126 1.5963‘14 1.7756 1.8047 1.9145 1.9357 2.1713 2.2630 2.4624 2.5913 2.9740 2.3184 1.9968 1.7633‘15 1.5714 1.7293 1.7166 1.7937 1.9309 1.9065 1.9056 2.1542 2.6690 2.4757 2.8779 2.3318‘16 2.1214 2.0840 1.9605 2.0563 2.0554 2.2640 2.2731 2.1776 1.9950 1.8239 1.9899 2.1763

HISTORICAL MONTHLY AVG BUTTER PRICES

WHEY MARKETS - JANUARY 23 - 27, 2017RELEASE DATE - JANUARY 26, 2017

Animal Feed Whey—Central: Milk Replacer: .3300 (NC) – .4450 (NC)

Buttermilk Powder: Central & East: .8900 (NC) – 1.0500 (NC) West: .9200 (-2) – 1.0500 (NC) Mostly: .9800 (NC) – 1.0200 (NC)

Casein: Rennet: $3.0150 (+½) – $3.0600 (NC) Casein: Acid: $3.0525 (+¼) – $3.1500 (NC)

Dry Whey Powder—Central (Edible): Nonhygroscopic: .3875 (+¾) – .5200 (NC) Mostly: .4025 (NC) – .4575 (+1)

Dry Whey–West (Edible): Nonhygroscopic: .4200 (NC) – .5500 (NC) Mostly: .4375 (NC) – .5000 (+2) Dry Whey—NE: .4275 (NC) – .5100 (+1)

Lactose—Central and West: Edible: .2400 (NC) – .5800 (NC) Mostly: .3500 (+1) – .4000 (NC) Nonfat Dry Milk —Central & East: Low/Medium Heat: .9700 (+½) – 1.0600 (-2) Mostly: 1.0300 (NC) – 1.0600 (-1) High Heat: 1.1300 (NC) - 1.1600 (-2) Nonfat Dry Milk —Western: Low/Medium Heat: .9300 (-4¾) –1.0700 (-3) Mostly: 1.0000 (-2) –1.0500 (-2) High Heat: 1.0900 (+3½) – 1.1800 (+1)

California Weighted Average NFDM: Price Total Sales January 20 $1.0037 7,949,315 January 13 $.9990 6,009,744 Whey Protein Concentrate—Central and West: Edible 34% Protein: .8250 (NC) – 1.1000 (+3¼) Mostly: .8500 (NC) – 1.0300 (NC)

Whole Milk—National: 1.4000 (-12) – 1.6000 (NC)

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1705CheeseOverview_ChRptr.indd 1 12/9/16 11:06 AM

EU Again Sells No Skim Milk Powder Out Of Intervention; EMB Seeks Permanent Crisis PolicyBrussels, Belgium—European Union (EU) member countries agreed not to sell any skim milk powder (SMP) out of public inter-vention last week after the Euro-pean Commission recommended to refuse all of the offers because they were well below prevailing market prices.

Offers were received for a total of 7,490 tons of SMP in this current tender; the prices offered ranged from 155 euros per 100 kilograms to 190 euros per 100 kilograms, well below the minimum price set at the first tender on December 15, of 215.1 euros per 100 kilograms.

The tender to put on sale the skim milk powder that entered into public intervention before November 1, 2015 (some 22,000 tons) started on November 25, 2016. The quantities offered for sale represent roughly 6 percent of the total 354,000 tons which went into public storage in 2015 and 2016.

EU member states had also agreed in the second SMP tender not to sell skim milk powder out of public intervention (for more details, please see “In Second Ten-der, EU Doesn’t Sell Any Skim

Milk Powder Out Of Public Inter-vention,” on page 7 of our Jan. 6, 2017 issue).

The move to release these first volumes reflects encouraging signs of recovery on the European milk market, the Commission noted. Following a steady slowdown, no further quantities of skim milk powder have been put into pub-lic intervention since September 2016.

Last week’s decision to refuse all offers and wait for better bids at the next tender underlines once more that selling at any cost has never been an option for the Commis-sion. Instead, maintaining market balance and price recovery remain its main objectives.

A fourth tender for the sale of the remaining quantity (21,962 tons) of SMP has been opened, with February 7, 2017, as the dead-line for submitting bids.

In a related development, farm-ers of the European Milk Board protested in Brussels against the sale of EU intervention milk pow-der and in favor of the introduction of a permanent crisis instrument.

“A Market Responsibility Pro-gram, which includes measures like voluntary production cuts coupled with a capping of EU-wide produc-tion, can truly avoid damaging sur-pluses,” said Sieta van Keimpema, a dairy farmer and EMB vice presi-dent.

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