Washington Dairy Continues Working On Overcoming Adversity

A volatile dairy market has left Washington producers feeling like they're riding a roller-coaster since the pandemic began back in March. Washington State Dairy Federation Policy Director Jay Gordon said thankfully the international market has remained fairly healthy, even when U.S. dairy prices were at their lowest level in years, powdered products were still in demand, especially in Asia.

"Washington and Oregon producers have a nice mix of processing and were able to adapt to changes in the consumer demands for more fluid, more cheese for pizza, things like that. Butter demand has softened quite a bit as the restaurants have closed. So that price has gone down a little bit, but some of the other prices and markets have done fairly well."

Gordon added after seven months of incredible volatility, many producers are feeling a little shell shocked.

​"It's been a rough patch. Some of the high prices that we've had as the markets have spiked up have certainly helped. Otherwise we would have had some producers in really tough financial shape."

Gordon added that even though prices are very similar to pre-COVID levels, producers will likely still worry about market volatility until a return to normalcy in the United States can occur. 

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