Consumer demand for products like cheese, butter and yogurt that rely on protein and butterfat content continues to drive dairy sales growth in the U.S. and abroad.
Over the past decade, milk delivered to U.S. dairy processing plants has become more nutrient-dense with higher levels of the two key components to meet rising demand.
However, the pace of growth in butterfat content has far exceeded protein, which creates challenges for U.S. cheddar and American-style cheesemakers that rely on a more balanced ratio of the two.
“U.S. dairy producers did an exceptional job increasing butterfat levels in milk to meet demand,” said Corey Geiger, lead dairy economist at CoBank.
Geiger also says “For 10 years, the market couldn’t supply enough of it, and now there’s an oversupply, it’s almost too much of a good thing. Cheesemakers strive for a protein-to-fat ratio near 0.80. Anything significantly lower than that can reduce cheese quality and compromise production yields.”
