On April 6, the Arlington, Va.-based National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) submitted a request for assistance to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.

Members of Northeast Dairy Foods Association Inc., North Syracuse, N.Y., as well as dairy producers and others in the food supply chain, have been greatly impacted by the coronavirus, putting the nation’s dairy farmers and milk processors business’ in great financial jeopardy.

To help assist, inform and educate its members and the food and beverage industry in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Madison, Wis.-based International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association (IDDBA) said it is releasing weekly updates with a specific focus on the bakery, dairy, deli meat, deli cheese and deli-prepared sectors.

In their March 26 “COVID-19 Impact, Consumer Spending Tracker for MULOC Retailers US, UK, France, Italy, NZ” report — the latest in a series of weekly reports — Chicago-based market research firm IRI and partner Boston Consulting Group show that U.S. retail dairy purchases were up 57.8% during the week ending March 15, 2020, in comparison to the same time period in 2019.

The National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association (NFRA), Harrisburg, Pa., recently released the “NFRA 2019 State of the Industry Report,” which shows that today's dairy and frozen departments are clearly connecting with shoppers.

As a fifth-generation dairy farmer in South Dakota, my passion for dairy farming grew out of a desire to not only care for my animals and the land, but to also create wholesome, healthy products that are household staples.

The Dairy Index, an annual report by the global packaging and processing equipment supplier Tetra Pak, states that global demand for milk is set to surge by 36% in the next decade, largely due to population growth, rising prosperity and urbanization in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The consumer packaged goods industry delivered anemic growth in 2013, inching up 1.8%. The edibles category basically mimicked the trajectory of the whole industry (+1.7%), while nonedibles grew just over a percentage point and general merchandise was flat.