New research highlights farm management, higher milk production factors of growing organic grass-fed dairy industry
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"The U.S. organic dairy market is experiencing a major shift. After expansion during the 2000s and 2010s, the U.S. sales of organic milk have dropped steadily over the past 5 years—by 2.3 percent in 2022 alone—and prices declined by 25% between 2017 and 2022, according to data from the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. The slump is largely due to the market mismatch between the growing organic milk production and lower demand for all dairy milk in the U.S. However, challenges for New Hampshire’s small organic dairy farms, which have 100 or fewer milking cows, have been exacerbated by increasing feed costs and large organic milk processors, such as Horizon Organic and Maple Hill Creamery, recently transitioning to purchasing more milk from larger dairy operations in other U.S. regions.
Despite these challenges, New England organic dairy farmers can increase their sustainability and market competitiveness is through innovation in their management strategies, according to Andre Brito, a scientist with the NH Agricultural Experiment Station and associate professor in the Agriculture, Nutrition and Food Systems department." READ MORe
