10-13 NWR Geographic indicators

This is your Northwest Report for Thursday, October 13th, I'm David Sparks and Northwest dairy producers should know that Informa Economics has released a study on the effect of protecting geographic indicators would have on the dairy industry and the economy. According to the study, if the European Union protection of geographic indicators were implemented, more than half of U.S. Cheese production would be at risk of falling under the EU geographic indication classification.  U.S, Cheese Makers would not be allowed to market cheese using a geographic name. Nate Denay, Director of Dairy Services with Informa Economics says the low end of impacts to the dairy industry could be an eight percent drop in cheese consumption. According to Denay the high end of the impacts could lead to an 850,000 head reduction in the dairy herd.

In other news related to cheese, USDA says they are going to buy another $20 million of cheese to help the dairy market.