Our Northwest Economy

Food Scientist Stephanie Clark on Dairy Processing

(Dr. Stephanie Clark) 

Intro:

Recently, Northwest Public Radio aired a profile about a family dairy as part of a series on the Northwest economy.  It resulted in a flurry of comments from representatives of the dairy industry, and it spurred questions about the practices of pasteurization and homogenization. Mary Hawkins took the opportunity to speak with leading dairy expert, Stephanie Clark.  Formerly with Washington State University, Dr. Clark is now an associate professor at Iowa State University, specializing in food science with a focus on dairy foods. She shared her views on common perceptions and misperceptions about the dairy industry and the processing of milk.

Listen here

The Drop in Milk Prices: a Look at Northwest Dairy Farmers

(Flickr photo by icatus)  

“It’s bad,” remarks Mike Roth, an Idaho dairy farmer who owns and manages 10,000 cows on two farms in Jerome County. “This is a 1 in 40 year event,” he says, characterizing the dramatic drop in milk prices from their peak of $21.38 per hundredweight (100 lbs) in July of 2007 to a low of $9.31 this February. “This isn’t a single year loss”—one that dairy farmers will quickly recover after a few good years—“it’s going to take decades to get back what the industry lost.”

Spokane's Family Farm Dairy

Editor's note: we got a flurry of responses and a lot of questions regarding the processing of milk. We decided to post a companion article to this post called Food Scientist Stephanie Clark on Dairy Processing. Also note our dairy industry article called The Drop in Milk Prices: A Look at Northwest Dairy Farmers.

Host intro: “Spokane’s Family Farm” dairy is working to bring clean, unadulterated milk to the Inland Northwest. Mary Hawkins reports why “Spokane’s Family Farm” is an unusual dairy operation on “Our Northwest Economy”:

Listen here

Characteristics, Costs, and Issues for Organic Dairy Farming (Report)

This exhaustive report was release November 9th, 2009 by the United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service (USDA, ERC). The survey was conducted by the National Agriculture Statistics Service.

"This report attempts to shed light on the structure of organic milk production, factors affecting whether a dairy becomes organic, and the relative costs and returns of conventional and organic milk production." -- William D. McBride and Catherine Greene

Report Conclusions:

State Ag Asks Feds to Buy Milk

1007DN_dairy

The Washington and Oregon state agriculture departments are asking the federal government to buy massive amounts of milk and cheese. Washington has lost 39 dairy farms this year and Oregon 16 as milk prices have fallen sharply across the nation. Correspondent Doug Nadvornick reports. (:51…SOQ)

Dairy Waste Turning Into Revenue

Dairy cows make milk, and they make poop. 30 gallons of poop a day. Now farmers can send the cow waste to machines that will convert it to electricity. Washington Governor Chris Gregoire will visit one of those electrical plants in Skagit County today (MON). Phyllis Fletcher reports.

Dairy Industry in Crisis Part 2

Host Intro:
Yesterday we told you about the crisis faced by Idaho dairy farmers. The price of milk has fallen well below the cost to produce it. So dairy farmers are losing money fast. Today Boise State Radio's Adam Cotterell looks at the causes and possible solutions for our spoiled dairy industry.

Listen here

Idaho Dairy Industry in Crisis, Part 1

Host Intro:
One good thing about a recession, prices tend to go down. In Idaho, milk prices have dropped more than any other agricultural product. And that's not good for dairy farmers. While the rest of the country is in a recession, the dairy industry is in a full blown depression. Boise State Radio's Adam Cotterell looks at how Idaho farmers are affected by the dairy crisis.

Listen here