Episode 169. Dairy Industry Report

Yeah, so Alex and Ethan, as you put together this report, what are some of the biggest takeaways from the Iowa dairy industry performance over the past few years that stuck out to you guys?

I guess one of the biggest takeaways in my mind is that dairy is growing, but in a measured, seemingly stable way.

It's not booming like a tech boom could be, but again, there's not like a dot-com bubble that comes with that, right? So I don't see...

foresee that it contracting or shrinking dramatically because of the measure of growth.

But there were over 6 billion pounds of milk produced in 2024.

That's about 12% more than 2020.

There's fewer farms, but they're larger and they're more productive.

So it is measured good growth, I would say.

For me, it's definitely the opportunity.

There's opportunity for any part of the supply chain side of this.

as well into the value added side.

There's a good market growth, market potential to get to.

A lot of it comes down to how do we get to those markets? So I'd like to see across enterprise and across industry development where dairy works with other industries to try to build that initial supply chain network and that end last mile to get to that consumer.

If you look at what we did in 2018, we had an economic impact of about $24,500 per cow.

And if you look at this report, it's just under $36,800 economic impact.

And that's due to a lot of different things, but it speaks well that the people who are in niche markets, the people who are utilizing Iowa feed, Iowa water, they're able to make that true impact in their community.

And I think that's a big issue that attracts people to notice Iowa as far as a dairy hub.

Always lean to Fred for, you always have the pulse on growth and milk production.

You always send out our monthly reports on milk production.

What do you think is driving that growth?

Well, I think there's a couple of things that, you know, producers are getting larger.

There's not as many, but they're milking more cows.

And that's being driven by a couple of things.

The big one is our margins are slimmer than they've been.

17 years.

Yeah, so Alex and Ethan, as you put together this report, what are some of the biggest takeaways from the Iowa dairy industry performance over the past few years that stuck out to you guys?

I guess one of the biggest takeaways in my mind is that dairy is growing, but in a measured, seemingly stable way.

It's not booming like a tech boom could be, but again, there's not like a dot-com bubble that comes with that, right? So I don't see...

foresee that it contracting or shrinking dramatically because of the measure of growth.

But there were over 6 billion pounds of milk produced in 2024.

That's about 12% more than 2020.

There's fewer farms, but they're larger and they're more productive.

So it is measured good growth, I would say.

For me, it's definitely the opportunity.

There's opportunity for any part of the supply chain side of this.

as well into the value added side.

There's a good market growth, market potential to get to.

A lot of it comes down to how do we get to those markets? So I'd like to see across enterprise and across industry development where dairy works with other industries to try to build that initial supply chain network and that end last mile to get to that consumer.

If you look at what we did in 2018, we had an economic impact of about $24,500 per cow.

And if you look at this report, it's just under $36,800 economic impact.

And that's due to a lot of different things, but it speaks well that the people who are in niche markets, the people who are utilizing Iowa feed, Iowa water, they're able to make that true impact in their community.

And I think that's a big issue that attracts people to notice Iowa as far as a dairy hub.

Always lean to Fred for, you always have the pulse on growth and milk production.

You always send out our monthly reports on milk production.

What do you think is driving that growth?

Well, I think there's a couple of things that, you know, producers are getting larger.

There's not as many, but they're milking more cows.

And that's being driven by a couple of things.

The big one is our margins are slimmer than they've been.

17 years.