In May of 2022 I was at a conference in Germany and the question I asked everyone was, “how high do milk prices have to go to get EU milk production growing again?”
Like a sign above the bar at my favorite watering hole that says “Free Beer Tomorrow,” I feel like economists have been telling us that “Recession Starts Tomorrow” for more than a year now.
Minimally populated Idaho means plenty of open space for raising dairy cows. That smaller population means only a portion of milk produced here goes directly to consumers. That leaves millions of pounds of liquid milk available to make yogurt, cheese and other dairy-related products.
Low milk prices, extreme feed costs and bad weather are expected to slow production growth in export regions to a trickle.
September 27, 2012
Rabobank forecasts a reduction in the exportable surplus available from what it calls the “Big Seven” export regions (the EU, U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay) in the closing months of 2012 and first half of 2013. That would be the first such reductions in more than four years.