There could be significant changes ahead for the U.S. dairy industry, with some operations possibly relocating to states like Nebraska.
Chris Galen of the National Milk Producers Federation says that many dairies are looking to states with more favorable infrastructure. He says that historically, the U.S. dairy industry saw a lot of expansion west.
According to Galen, “It gets back to the point that a lot of the dairy growth in the past 40 or 50 years was out west, California. But that bloom is certainly off the rose, and the cost of doing business in California for dairies and other operations is really high. And so, probably 30 years ago, you saw some migration from California to New Mexico and also Idaho, and those are good places to dairy. The regulatory climate is very friendly. There’s land that is available, but their challenge is they don’t have as much water.”
As a result, the dairy industry has started to shift again, with operations moving back to the east over the last couple of decades.
“In the past 15-20 years, what you’ve seen is this further move back to the east. There was a fairly significant movement into the Great Lakes area 15-20 years ago, Michigan, Ohio, and northern Indiana, and now what we’re seeing is some of that is more centrally located in the Great Plains along the I-29 corridor. There, that land tends to be lower, there are fewer population centers nearby, and obviously, you have the access to the feed grains and water too,” he explains.
Galen did add that if a company decides to do that, there is a lot to consider when making a drastic move.
