Optimistic Future
MIDDLETOWN (Dauphin
Co.) - Increased consumption
plus emerging technologies plus
increased exports plus product
innovation equal an optimistic
future for Pennsylvania dairy
men. The clear message at the
Pennsylvania Dairy Futures
Conference held in December in
State College was that there is
tremendous opportunity for the
dairy industry, and Pennsylva
nia can remain a key player in
the picture.
Monte Hemenover, director of
industry affairs for Protiva,
brought the clearest message of
unlimited potential, and empha
sized the need to keep milk pro
duction in the northeast to pro
vide for the demand throughout
the eastern United States.
Hemenover challenged the
farmers present to use their pro
fessional service providers
(bankers, nutritionists, veteri
narians, feed dealers) as a
"board of directors," giving them
the responsibility to help in
meeting the goals of the farm.
He encouraged entering into
contracts to ensure delivery of
service.
With cheese driving the price of milk,
Hemenover noted that cheese consumption
doubled in the last 20 years, with 68 per
cent of that consumed away from home. A
modest increase in per capita consumption
would reap enormous gains in demand for
milk to fill that consumption.
He stressed that the industry needs to
provide consumers with what they want,
adapting products to meet demands, and
packaging them creatively to compete.
Dr. John Lord, professor and chairman
of the food marketing department of Saint
Joseph's University, Philadelphia, echoed
the theme of providing innovative prod
ucts. He noted that dairy products have
many features which should be exploited
to meet consumers' demands for healthy,
flavorful products. Its calcium content is a
natural for the health conscious, but doing
seasonal flavorings creates demand. He
noted some of the emerging beverages
which offer attractive flavors and conve
nient containers. Lord said that "value
added" and "attention to consumer prefer
ences" will be the keys to success for the
dairy industry
Bill Eby, editor of the Kiplmger
Agriculture Letter, emphasized the impor
tance of the shrinking world in providing
opportunities for the dairy industry. "We
must- think in global terms." he said,
adding that the trend to fewer farms but
larger herds will continue. "The surviving
producers will be better operations." He
noted that the largest 20 co-ops market 60
percent of all the milk sold in the U.S., and
said that the newly proposed Dairy
Farmers of America will market 25 percent
of the nation's milk. He added that the
larger co-ops will become more diversified.
Dr. Robert Yonkers, dairy economist for
Penn State, said, "We do have a vibrant
dairy industry," citing Pennsylvania's con
tinuing dairy producing strength relative
to the other traditional northeast and
upper midwest states, he noted the large
differences in production per cow from
farm to farm, and challenged dairymen to
apply current production technology and
increase their production per cow.
Jonas Kauffman, Pennsylva-nia Farm
Credit, noted that there is no one way to
operate a profitable dairy business.
"Different management styles can be suc
cessful, but managers should be good at
what they do. Find your way, get good at it,
and manage like crazy." He encouraged
producers to find the right mix of capital
and labor, and to strike a balance between
milk production per cow and cost of pro
duction. He emphasized that it is impor-
John Ligo, dairyman from
Mercer County, and Dan Ulmer,
dairyman from Centre County,
both shared personal experi
ences. Ulmer stressed his under
standing of the need to find
quality family time while man
aging the operation effectively.
Ligo noted the importance of
dealing with people who want to
provide excellent service along
with the product. Both of these
successful Pennsylvania dairy
men shared their optimism for
the future of the Pennsylvania
dairy industry.
Dairyman Ligo captured the
positive outlook for the industry
in his "Thirteen reasons why
dairy is good in Pennsylvania."
1. Milk prices are higher now
than they were in 1995 and
1996. And they are rising!
2. Milk production per cow is
up in Pennsylvania over the last
year.
3. Feed is relatively inexpen
sive and currently relatively
available.
4. Infrastructure and
University support are still very
good in Pennsylvania.
for Pennsylvania Dairy Industry
5. There are new mechanisms
available for hedging prices
(BFP futures and cooperative
contracts.)
6. Genetics are the best ever
offered - and they will be better
in six months.
7. Industry enjoys consumer
goodwill and positive public
image.
8. There is more dairy prod
uct advertising in place than
there has ever been and it is
more effective than it has ever
been.
9. There are exciting new
products and new packaging.
10. New fractioning processes
for milk will provide specific
new products for food and indus
trial uses.
11. Foreign demand will soon
outstrip what other dairy export
countries can supply.
12. There is less government
regulation now.
13. It is significant that the
market price of U.S. cheese is
finally on a par with the world
price.
The Pennsylvania Dairy
Futures Conference was spon-
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ference of the Pennsylvania
Number Of Farms
Unchanged In State
There were 50,000 farms in
the Commonwealth of Pennsyl
vania as of June 1, 1997, with
7.7 million acres. The good news
is that this is the same as last
year. The average farm size was
also unchanged at 154 acres.
In the 1997 data, there were
24,000 farms with 1.8 million
acres of land producing $l,OOO
up to $lO,OOO in gross sales
annually. For sales between
$lO,OOO and $lOO,OOO there
were 17,700 farms with 3 mil
lion acres of land. And there
H ERBICIDr
m risk mi
Lanc “ t *r Faming, Friday, January 8, IIM-A27
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PA 17057 or by calling 717-948-
6328.
were only 8,300 farms with 2.9
million acres of land that pro
duced gross sales over $lOO,OOO
annually.
On the national scene, the
number of farms in 1997 is esti
mated at 2.06 million and this
number is less than one percent
lower than the 1996 figure.
Across the country, we have 968
million acres in farmland, also
relatively unchanged. Average
farm size at the national level is
470 acres.
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