Dairy farmers’ contracts terminated with only 3 months notice

Around 24 farmers who sell their milk to Dean Foods in Pennsylvania US have been given only 90 days (3 months) to find a new milk purchaser.

It’s not the first time a US milk purchaser has made a similar move because in 2017 Grassland Dairy gave producers only 30 days to find a new home.

The move is blamed on a surplus of milk combined with the fact consumers are buying less liquid milk.  Coincidently in the same region as Dean Foods contract terminations have been issued Walmart have built their liquid milk processing plant which is expected to be fully operational by the end of May.  Prior to this Dean Foods bottled Walmart’s Great Value own label milk hence the reason why most people have joined the dots up themselves!

The expectation is that Dean Foods and others will terminate more farmer contracts at short notice as the spring flush results in milk flooding onto the market.

On a global scale whilst production in New Zealand is down, due to weather, production in the EU and US are both up.