Dairy processing

The demand for milk and dairy products in the United States has grown significantly over time. Although fluid consumption has remained steady, demand for manufactured dairy products, particularly cheese, has grown steadily. Changes in consumer preferences and manufacturing technologies are resulting in new challenges to the processing sector. The future of the United States dairy industry will clearly be toward producing innovative products that the market wants. The challenge is to modernize our United States milk pricing programs to provide dairy farmers and processors proper price signals while providing a minimum level of support to dairy farmers. The benefit of a greater orientation toward the market place will be stronger rates of growth for United States-produced dairy products.