Dairy Producers Told To Prepare For Marketing Opportunities

A recent jump in the dairy markets was good news for dairy producers. Mike North, president of the producer division at Ever.Ag, said the spike in prices was driven by weather.

“That opportunity came out of a big winter storm in the [southern United States]," North said. "Around here, we all have snow shovels, snow plows, snow blowers. All of our neighbors, to the county, the towns, all the municipalities, the state, we can manage a snowstorm. In the south, they can't. They don't have the equipment. They're not ready for it. They can't do what we can do in the wintertime. And so, when a big storm rolls in, and they're stuck, and milk gets dumped. Everybody got a little bit excited about the available milk supply, which then led to how much fresh cheese will we have in the pipeline? What does that do to the spot markets? Everybody got excited for a moment, because, as we know, eventually the snow melts and the ice goes away, and the trucks move. And this was a temporary moment, but you're spot on with this. That was an opportunity to grab hold of, and hopefully everyone did.”

Producers Need To Turn To An Expert When It Comes To Marketing

North said in this era of price volatility, regardless of the commodity, it’s more important than ever for busy producers to have someone keeping an eye out for marketing opportunities.

“It's the same way we manage all the other problems that we deal with on the farm, right? If I've got a sick cow, I call a vet. If I need agronomy advice, I call the agronomist. If I've got any sort of financial issue, I go to my banker or to my accountant. We have people that we can call and talk to. Marketing is the same way. We should treat it the same way, and so, it's good to have people who can be your eyeballs, can be watching, and can ultimately call out the opportunities as they come, knowing that, hey, look, this is the time to get busy on this area. And to be fair, you know, if you're not already doing that, call somebody," North said.

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