3-7 IAN Dairy Future

  The future of dairy.

Glanbia CEO Jeff Williams has a very clear view of the dairy industry, not just in Idaho, but countrywide. He knows all about the good, the bad and the ugly. But… Listen to him. “We have had some rough sledding beginning in late 2008 and 2009 was a disaster. Things have been a little bit better the 2nd half of this year. Cheese prices, the last 2 or 3 years, have been at historically high averages. The feed cost inflation has really been driving the poor economics on the farm. I remember when I started in the business 20 years ago, if you could get $12 for milk, you are dancing all the way the bank  and now the cost of production is up in that $17-$18 range and so that is the kind of number you need to or better than that to make this thing work. I get accused of being the eternal optimist more than a lot of people but I think the dairy industry is poised for good growth going forward because I think we are going to be the exporter of choice around the world for cheese and skim milk powder and things like that because we have the infrastructure here, we have the ability to produce more milk than we currently do compared to a lot of other countries. We can produce no a lot cheaper than other places.