Bold moves Wosje diagnosed MMPA’s problem as inefficiencies caused by decentralized milk processing and manufacturing operations. This was costing members’ money and driving away fluid milk customers. The new general manager wasted no time in setting a course of action to regain MMPA’s strength as a competitive, highly profitable company for its dairy farmer-owners. First, Wosje got MMPA out of the milk bottling business. On Oct. 1, 1986, the McDonald Division was sold to Country Fresh Inc. of Grand Rapids. The move immediately eliminated the considerable losses associated with the fluid milk business. What he did next solidified the manager’s legacy at MMPA. He solved the “Remus problem.” In the early 1980s, MMPA leaders felt it was time to get into the increasingly lucrative Cheddar cheese manufacturing business. The Remus butter plant was purchased in 1983 and converted into a cheese plant. Manufacturing commenced there in October 1984 with considerable fanfare. The plant could process up to 600,000 pounds of milk daily, resulting in an impressive 20 million pounds of cheese a year. There was just one sticking point, Wosje recalled: “There was no plan or provision in place for the marketing of the cheese.”
A masterful consensus builder and mediator, MMPA President Elwood Kirkpatrick was called to Washington numerous times to represent the views of dairy producers. In 1982, he testifies before the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy and Poultry.
Dairy dilemma Milk production in the early and mid 1980s in Michigan and nationally was growing faster than consumer sales. The government was buying substantial volumes of butter and milk powder under the farm bill’s support program.
A large number of visitors attend a 1984 open house to get a glimpse of MMPA’s first cheese-making plant.
The financial performance of the new plant was dismal from the beginning. Wosje and MMPA President Elwood Kirkpatrick had to look beyond Michigan’s borders to find a cure.
In 1983, the Dairy Production Stabilization Act was passed by Congress, which provided a payment to dairy producers for voluntary reduction of milk production. The program is marginally successful in Michigan with about 14 percent of the state’s producers enrolling in the program. To move the existing oversupply of milk, Congress also approved a dairy checkoff program to fund promotion and education projects. Legislation provided for a whole herd buyout program in 1986 to reduce the U.S. dairy herd and rebalance milk production with demand. A total of 846 of Michigan’s dairy producers dispersed their herds. The buyout reduced the volume of milk MMPA had available for manufacturing. The timing wasn’t ideal since negotiations were under way to bring the world’s largest mozzarella manufacturing facility to Michigan. “Even so, MMPA supported those programs in an effort to remove the national excess and to hopefully improve overall milk prices,” former manager John Dilland said.
Walt Wosje grew up on a South Dakota farm, then honed his leadership skills while earning a degree in agriculture from South Dakota State University and serving in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era. He went on to work for farmer cooperatives after earning a master’s degree. Prior to joining MMPA, he was the general manager of the northern division of MidAmerica Dairymen in St. Paul, Minn.
44 | Celebrating 100 Years of Michigan Milk Producers Association
A television crew records footage showing some of the first cheese made at MMPA’s Remus plant in 1984.
Celebrating 100 Years of Michigan Milk Producers Association | 45