News

GAO reviews dairy co-op consolidation

The Government Accountability Office has released a report reviewing the impact of cooperative consolidation to dairy farmers.

The report finds dairy co-op consolidation can affect farmer’s control and earnings, lead to competing interests, and create power imbalances.  Processing investments have also benefited co-ops but can reduce market access for non-members.

The report says from 1997 to 2017, the number of dairy farms decreased by more than half while the number of cows more than doubled.  At the same time, the number of dairy processors declined to its lowest level in 2005, then increased by nearly 20 percent. Since the mid-1960s, the number of dairy co-ops has declined by 90 percent.

The top four dairy co-ops, which include Dairy Farmers of America, California Dairies, Land O’Lakes, and FarmFirst Dairy Co-op, marketed more than 40 percent of the milk produced in the U.S. in 2017, mostly unchanged since 2002.

Other co-ops in the top 10 include Edge Dairy, Select Milk Producers, Foremost Farms, Associated Milk Producers and Michigan Milk Producers Association.

The report was created by the request of New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.