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DAIRY ST R “All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 22, No. 20
A year unlike any other
December 12, 2020
Spadgenskes named MN Milk’s Producer of the Year
Menahga family humbly accepts Plourd talks volatile dairy markets, trends honor going forward
By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
During the Minnesota Milk Producers Association virtual meeting Dec. 2, Phil Plourd presented “Sudden Storm,” an overview of dairy within the past year and predictions for the markets going forward. “In the massive understatement department, it’s a year unlike any other,” said Plourd, president of Blimling and Associates Inc. While many dairy farmers rang in 2020 with optimism for climbing milk prices, they were instead met with a year of the most volatility recorded, Plourd said. “Just looking at the cheese market, cheddar blocks went from $2 before the pandemic to $1 to $3 back to $1.50 back to $3 and then back to $1.60,” he said. “The volatility we’ve seen in the cheese market is clearly way out in the stratosphere versus anything we’ve ever seen before.” The cheddar market topped at 42% price volatility, the highest it has been since 2008 when volatility was at 27%, Plourd said. Price swings in the milk market are attributed to the disruption of the typical American daily life due to the coronavirus pandemic. For the past 20 years, Americans have been trending more toward eating out rather than buying their food at the grocery store. In 2019, food services dollar sales even reached above grocery sales. Before the pandemic, restaurants accounted for about 50% of the U.S. cheese sales and 45% of the U.S. butter use. “The rule we always talk about is never underestimate the laziness of the American consumer,” Plourd said. In March, when shut downs were implemented in many areas of the country, food service and restaurant spending plummeted 38% while grocery store spending Turn to MARKETS | Page 5
By Danna Sabolik
danna.s@dairystar.com
MENAHGA, Minn. – When Kristine Spadgenske got a phone call from her friend Lucas Sjostrom, she was not alarmed. “It was nothing out of the ordinary; Lucas will call to get our opinion every once in a while, so when he called and wanted me to call him back when my husband was around, I didn’t think much of it,” Kristine said. But this call was not the usual check-in and farmer-tofarmer advice call the couple was used to. “He asked if we would accept the honor of … producer of the year,” Kristine said. Turn to SPADGENSKES | Page 6
DANNA SABOLIK/DAIRY STAR
The Spadgenske family – (front row, from leŌ) John, KrisƟne, Jen and Seth; (back row, from leŌ) Mike, Mark, Ryan, Kate and Adam. The Spadgenskes were awarded Minnesota Milk’s Producer of the Year Dec. 2 at the virtual annual Expo. They milk 350 cows and run 1,400 acres near Menahga, Minnesota.
MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
Heifers stand behind a frosty fence Dec. 7 at Names Dairy near BaƩle Lake, Minnesota. The 90-cow dairy is owned by Brian and David Names and their mom, Joyce.