CEO of Wisconsin's Dairy Check-Off Program Pleased with Consumer Increase in Dairy Products
Wednesday, April 15th, 2020 -- 10:10 AM
(Wisconsin Ag Connection) -The chief executive officer of Wisconsin's dairy check-off program says he is pleased with the amount of dairy products consumers are buying at the grocery store since the Coronavirus forced everyone to stay at home.On Tuesday's episode of The Dairy Signal, Chad Vincent of Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin noted that milk, cheese and butter purchases have gone up considerably since mid-March. Vincent also reported that most of the stores have removed limits on the number of milk containers customers are allowed to buy during a single trip. When asked what the check-off is doing to help improve dairy sales during the pandemic, he said they are working hard to get product to area food banks, which not only helps people in need, but keeps the food supply chain moving. He also said there's a national effort underway to get pizza makers to add more cheese to their products. Dr. Mark Stephenson, UW-Madison Director of Dairy Policy Analysis, was also back to discuss changes in the dairy market.
He said despite the devastating prices in the U.S. dairy industry right now, global markets are starting to turn around. And he echoed what others have been saying in terms of offering moral support to fellow producers as the crisis in farm country continues. PDPW's Dairy Signal series resumes on Wednesday with presentations by Dr. Richard Stup, who's a workforce specialist with Cornell University, along with Jason Karszes of Cornell's PRO-DAIRY program. Each of the webcasts are streamed live at noon on www.pdpw.org or available on-demand for later viewing.
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