Dairy Analyst: 2019 Is Recovery Year, 2020 Could Be Even Better
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Dairy analysts are calling 2019 ‘a recovery year’ with 2020 being even better.
Yet, dairies have been closing and consolidating across the country. One analyst says consolidation is still occurring.
“We certainly are,” said Mark Stephenson, an economist and dairy policy director at UW-Madison. “I’ll use Wisconsin as an example because it’s home and I know the numbers a little better. It’s ordinary for us to see 3.5% to 4% farm loss every year, year over year. That’s been going on since the 1930s when we had a peak in dairy farm numbers. At this point in time, we’re seeing something very close to a 10% attrition rate. That’s a much larger rate than what is normal for us.”
Stephenson says he has a better outlook for 2020.
Hear more of his analysis here.