AN UNWAVERING COMMON GOAL
An Unwavering Common Goal THE DAIRY SUPPLY CHAIN HAS BEEN TORMENTED BY COVID-19, BUT UNITED BY A SINGLE GOAL, EACH MOVING PART IS COMING TOGETHER TO ADAPT, TO OVERCOME AND TO KEEP PRODUCING TOP QUALITY DAIRY. BY EMILY KITTENDORF
EDITOR’S NOTE: THE COVID-19 SITUATION IS CONTINUOUSLY EVOLVING AND WITH THAT THE IMPACT ON THE DAIRY SUPPLY CHAIN IS TOO. ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS STORY IS ACCURATE AS OF APRIL 28, 2020.
S
ince just a few months ago, the entire world has flipped on its end.
What seemed impossible the day before became the reality of the next day. The entire world slowed down, people stayed home and society ground to a halt. As the roads became less busy and the world quieted, those in the agriculture industry continued.
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milk messenger / MAY-JUN 2020
For the first time in a long time, consumers were searching for how their food was made after the grocery stores’ shelves that were always stocked became empty. Along with the panic, grew an overwhelming sense of generosity for the caretakers of our land and livestock, and for the people continuing to work as the world stood still. In the Great Lakes region, March was the early days for the growing COVID-19 pandemic and as social interactions decreased and companies shuttered their buildings, everyone collectively began to feel the economic pressure a world at standstill was causing, the dairy industry included. The situation at hand required that overnight, the dairy supply chain equip themselves to service unprecedented demand from
consumers for gallons of milk in the dairy case. Processors bottled as much milk as fast as they could, but the supply chain is complex. After we successfully serviced retail customers, again, what felt like overnight, the demand for dairy was gone. Consumers were satisfied with the milk they had, and places of food service remained closed. The rapid changing environment broke the dairy supply chain, and with a health crisis on top of it all, it pressured the minds and bodies of everyone declared essential. With the tides turned, the dairy industry rose to the challenge to meet the unified, unwavering goal of the entire supply chain.
We will adapt. We will overcome. We will keep producing dairy.
