Travis Senn, market analyst, SMI, notes that like other parts of the country, the Southeast and Florida have struggled through recent years of low milk prices, as well as ongoing challenges like the lack of a next generation willing to take over farms and rising land values. The largest concentration of Florida’s milk is in Okeechobee County in the southern part of the state, while there is another concentration in the northwest. Today SMI, based in Belleview, Florida, represents farmers mainly in Florida and Georgia, as well as members in Alabama, South Carolina Mississippi and Louisiana. (SMI), which was created in 1998 by the merger of two Florida dairy cooperatives, Florida Dairy Farmers’ Association and Tampa Independent Dairy Farmers’ Association Inc. Two-thirds of Florida’s total farms and approximately 75 percent of the state’s milk are represented by Southeast Milk Inc.
#Wainwright dairy live oak fl full
Lee also distributes a full line of cultured products, cream, butter, eggs and Mayfield ice cream throughout Florida.
Lee has two milk plants in the state - one in Orlando that processes more than 230,000 gallons of milk per day, and another in Orange City, Florida, that processes 100,000 gallons of milk, juice and other drinks per day. According to the most recent USDA data, there were 118,000 head of milk cows in Florida in November 2018, down from 124,000 head a year earlier.įlorida is largely a fluid milk market, and the state’s largest dairy processor is T.G. The number of dairy farms in Florida has gradually declined due to several factors, including volatile milk prices, labor shortages, rising land values and feed costs, and there has been some farm consolidation, Chapman says. “The cows in Florida consume many byproducts of other industries that thrive in the state such as leftover citrus pulp and brewers’ grain from distilleries, reinforcing the important role dairy farmers play in environmental sustainability and protecting our state’s precious natural resources,” he adds. Heat and humidity can be hard on dairy herds, though Florida’s climate does offer advantages such as an extended growing season for many of the forages cows eat, Chapman notes. “The demand for fresh, local milk in large markets like Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa and Orlando will continue to necessitate dairy production in the state.” “As the third most populous state in the country, Florida’s dairy industry is ripe with opportunity because of the sheer volume of new consumers that flood into the state each year,” says Brian Chapman, director of industry relations, Florida Dairy Farmers. Florida also is home to 21 Grade A milk processing plants and eight cheese manufacturing facilities, according to Florida Dairy Farmers, which promotes the sale of milk and other dairy products by communicating to Florida’s diverse population of 21.3 million residents and more than 105 million domestic and 11 million international tourists that visit the state each year. Florida may not have a large number of dairy farms, but its dairy farms generally have large numbers of cows, with the average herd size well over 1,000.Ĭurrently there are around 80 permitted dairy farms in Florida, producing roughly 2.5 billion pounds of milk annually.
This month we are pleased to introduce our latest state - Florida. Each month we examine a different state or region, looking at key facts and evaluating areas of growth, challenges and recent innovations. From Cow to Curd: A Look Across the Nationįlorida dairy trending toward large farms, fewer operationsĮditor’s note: As part of our series, “From Cow to Curd: A Look Across the Nation,” Cheese Market News takes a look at the cheese and dairy industry across the United States.
0 kommentar(er)
