Welcome to our annual State of Dairy issue! By now, you might be thinking, “Wait, isn’t this editorial usually written by Dave Natzke? You’re not Dave!” If that thought just crossed your mind, you would be correct. With Dave’s retirement came some transitions, and I am excited to be carrying on what he started.
A former dairy farmer that I know recently posted on social media about one of his latest photography adventures. He has young kids, and in addition to capturing this stage of their lives in photos, he also interviewed them on camera about what they wanted to be when they grew up and other fun questions like that.
It got me thinking. How cool would it be to have answers to the same (or similar) questions each year or every few years throughout our lives to see how the answers change (or stay the same) over the decades?
If you are in the same boat of thinking that this “time capsule” idea is a good way to preserve history in a manner that is more fun than a history book, you are in luck. That is essentially what our State of Dairy coverage strives to do each year.
Last year was pretty gloomy for most folks in our industry, and unfortunately this year’s “mood,” as told by dairy producers across the country, isn’t much better. The cover of this issue generally captures that overall sentiment. There’s some sun peeking through the stormy skies right now and more on the horizon, but I can’t wait until there is a bright, cheery, sunny cover indicating that economic conditions have improved, inflation is no longer a major concern, on-farm financial margins have loosened and dairy producers once again have some breathing room. With several dairy processing facilities coming online later in 2024 and into 2025, maybe 2025 will be that year.
As dairy farmers, we are eternal optimists, though. I don’t think any of us would still be in this business if we thought conditions would never improve. As someone who likes to look on the bright side myself, I included several areas of optimism – bright spots – within each regional article.
Now to a sneak peek of the insights shared by producers and industry leaders in our 2024 State of Dairy coverage. The overall mood shared by most was cautiously optimistic, at best. However, a few commented that they were “excited,” “hopeful” and “optimistic” for 2024. When I asked why, all the producers that provided positive responses said something along the lines of despite economic conditions they can’t control, they are excited about the technology they can implement on their farms, the young people taking an interest in the dairy industry and other opportunities to continue to better their operations.
In short, they are looking inward to find optimism.
One of my favorite quotes from this year’s set of State of Dairy articles comes from Minnesota dairy producer and Minnesota Milk Executive Director Lucas Sjostrom, who shared that he thinks “optimism is the light at the end of the tunnel. We’re just looking for the right tunnel with the most light.”
I can’t sum it up much better than that. Go to our State of Dairy articles to read about where dairy producers from the West, Midwest, Great Plains, Northeast and Southeast are finding the most optimism this year, the major challenges in their regions right now and much more. In essence, enjoy our annual dairy time capsule.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to answer my questions and participate in our 2024 State of Dairy. I appreciate your willingness to share your insights and thoughts with me, and in turn, our readers.
If you’d like to participate in our State of Dairy next year, send me an email and I’ll add you to my list for 2025.
