14 CapitalPress.com
May 12, 2017
Dairy
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Glanbia, Southwest Cheese win awards
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Glanbia Nutritionals and
Southwest Cheese scored
14 medals at the 2017 U.S.
Championship Cheese con-
test in Green Bay, Wis., in
April.
The awards include five
gold, five silver and four
bronze medals, Glanbia re-
ported in a press release.
This year’s competition
saw a record-setting 2,303
cheese entries from 33
states.
Southwest Cheese in
New Mexico was awarded
medals in the following cat-
egories:
• Gold — Fresh Asiago,
Pepper Jack Medium Heat,
Pepper Jack Ghost Pepper
and Habanero Cheddar.
Courtesy of Glanbia
Accepting awards for Southwest Cheese and Glanbia Foods at the
2017 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest are, back row from left,
Ricardo Rivas, David North, Rudy Jozelic, Dave Perry, Matt Vanic,
Shawn Harrison and, front row from left, Victor Vazquez, Eric
Denton and Danny Clayton.
• Silver — Monterey
Jack, Pepper Jack, Pepper
Jack Medium Heat and Ha-
banero Cheddar.
• Bronze — Habanero
Cheddar and Pepper Jack
Medium Heat.
The Glanbia Nutrition-
als’ Twin Falls plant and
Cheese Innovation Center
were awarded medals in the
following categories:
• Gold — Gouda Green
Olive and Pimento.
• Silver — Colby Jack.
• Bronze — Reduced Fat
Cheddar and Havarti Garlic.
Their gold medal Gouda
Green Olive and Pimento
Cheese submission landed
Glanbia in the category of
the 20 best overall entries
for the top U.S. Champi-
on award. This is the first
time Glanbia has qualified
for additional judging from
over 2,300 entries.
Southwest Cheese swept
the Pepper Jack Medium
Heat and Habanero Cheddar
categories receiving gold,
silver and bronze medals in
both flavors.
“These results show how
collaboration and respect
from our farmers to our oper-
ations, commercial team and
innovation center can deliver
fantastic results that make us
the customer’s champion,”
said David North, senior site
director of Southwest Cheese
in Clovis, N.M.
Southwest Cheese is a
joint venture between Glan-
bia and dairy cooperatives
Dairy Farmers of America,
Select Milk Producers and
Greater Southwest Agency.
Glanbia’s cheeses are
available for purchase at
the Glanbia Cheese Market-
place at 131 Main Ave E. in
Twin Falls, Idaho.
California FMMO will stabilize milk production, analyst predicts
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Moving from a state
marketing order to a feder-
al order will likely stabilize
California’s milk produc-
tion, which has been falling
about 2 percent a year, a
bank analyst says.
James Williamson, assis-
tant vice president and ana-
lyst with the RaboResearch
food and agribusiness team,
also said the FMMO would
raise the price for milk —
although not by the 48 cents
per hundredweight that
USDA is projecting through
2025.
The increase would come
from a change in the base
formula used to calculate
Tim Hearden/Capital Press File
Cows are milked at VanderWoude Dairy near Merced, Calif. An
analyst says a new federal milk marketing order would increase
prices paid for California milk but not as much as USDA predicts.
prices, he said.
He doesn’t
hard number but
milk price would
slightly because
have a
said the
increase
proces-
sors will have the ability
to pool and depool their
milk.
That “will change how
milk is handled in the state,”
19-2/#7
he said.
Under the current state
order, the vast majority of
milk is pooled and proces-
sors must pay minimum reg-
ulated prices on that milk.
Rabobank’s
analysis
shows USDA’s projection
for milk prices is “probably
optimistic” because a feder-
al order would give proces-
sors much more flexibility,
with the ability to pool and
depool on a more opportu-
nistic basis, said Roland Fu-
masi, RaboResearch senior
analyst.
When processors depool,
they are no longer required
to pay minimum regulated
prices and can essentially pay
any price for the milk they
are buying, Williamson said.
Early on, the loss of
mandatory pooling was a
deal-breaker for producers,
but that no longer seems to
be the case, he said.
The ability to depool
milk could be beneficial to
both producers and proces-
sors in the long run, he said.
The pool includes milk
for all uses, such as Class
1 fluid milk and Class III
cheese milk, and produces
a weighted average price, or
blend price, that is paid to
producers.
If a minimum regulated
price on a certain class of
milk is higher than the blend
price, processors might
choose to depool their milk.
For example, if the blend
price were $15 per hun-
dredweight and the Class
III regulated price was $18
per hundredweight, a cheese
processor could depool his
milk and instead pay his
milk producers $16 per hun-
dredweight.
In that scenario, both the
processor and the producers
win.
Another reason William-
son thinks USDA’s milk
price estimate is too high
is the vast majority of Cal-
ifornia milk goes through
the hands of cooperatives,
which don’t have to pay
their producers minimum
regulated prices.
That’s a rare occurrence
now but could happen more
often if the cooperatives sell
excess milk to processors
outside the pool who aren’t
paying regulated minimum
prices, he said.
While he’s considered
other impacts of a feder-
al order for California as
well, overall he thinks the
increase in milk prices will
stabilize milk production
and help offset the rising
costs of labor and envi-
ronmental regulations, he
said.
Dairy
Markets
Lee Mielke
Dairy prices
climb out
of doldrums
By LEE MIELKE
For the Capital Press
M
ost dairy prices
moved higher last
week despite a lot of
product coming to Chicago.
Cash cheddar blocks
closed the first Friday of
May at $1.60 per pound,
up 12 cents on the week, 29
1/2-cents above a year ago,
and the highest price since
Feb. 15.
The barrels finished at
$1.45, up 3 1/4-cents on the
week, 15 cents above a year
ago when they plunged 11 1/4
cents, but were a much higher
than normal 15 cents below
the blocks. Four cars of block
traded hands on the week at
the CME and a whopping 54
cars of barrel.
Monday saw the blocks
lose a penny and hold there
Tuesday at $1.59. The barrels
were unchanged Monday but
gained a penny Tuesday, ad-
vancing to $1.46 on 10 trades.
FC Stone’s May 4 Early
Morning Update stated, “It’s
not shocking that heavier vol-
ume is being brought to the
exchange as heavy milk flows
and ramped-up cheese pro-
duction are testing capacity
levels and have pushed inven-
tories into record territory.”
Dairy Market News re-
ported that milk remains
readily available for cheese
producers in the Midwest.
Inventories are generally re-
ported as long. Ample milk
supplies are placing pressures
on some Western manufac-
turers. Inventories are also
heavy, especially for barrels.
Butter closed May 5 at
$2.1075 per pound, up a
quarter-cent on the week and
5 3/4-cents above a year ago,
with 43 cars sold last week,
the highest total since August
2014.
The butter ticked up 2
cents Monday but gave back
2 1/4-cents Tuesday, slipping
to $2.1050.
19-2-#18