Organic milk sales are dropping, but sales of so-called plant-based milk are rising.
The Wall Street Journal reports organic milk sales fell 2.5 percent in 2017, slightly less than traditional white milk that fell 4.5 percent. Plant-based milks rose 2.9 percent in sales. However, the largest gains in milk sales were seen by specialty milk which would include products like lactose-free. Organic milk prices fell from roughly $40 per hundredweight in 2016 to $27 in 2017.
Organic dairy processors are looking for new ways to move the product. Company officials at Organic Valley, the nation’s largest organic dairy cooperative, expects prices to stabilize in 2018 and hopefully improve in 2019, but did not expect the market to take its recent turn.
Meanwhile, farmers who spoke with the Wall Street Journal said the market conditions were tough to deal with, and one was even culling dairy cows to adjust.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.