Record CWT Export Assistance Year Adds 45¢ to Farmers’ Milk Checks
January 8, 2013
2012 was a record year for the Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) Export Assistance program, featuring a flurry of activity to help its members. These included:
- 1,028 requests for export assist from 11 member cooperatives
- Of those, 676 requests were accepted, helping sell:
o 124.953 million pounds of Cheddar, Monterey Jack, and Gouda cheese
o 72.779 million pounds of 82% milkfat content butter
o 127,868 pounds of anhydrous milkfat
o 171,961 pounds of whole milk powder
o Shipments to 42 countries on six continents
On a milkfat basis, these sales are the equivalent of 2.743 billion pounds of milk, which is the annual milk production of 130,637 cows, and also equal to 72% the increase in 2012’s milk production.
Exports from 2011 that were shipped in 2012, along with the 2012-assisted exports shipped last year, totaled 103.6 million pounds of cheese and 58.9 million pounds of butter. CWT-assisted cheddar shipments equaled 71% of total cheddar exports, and total CWT-assisted 2012 cheese shipments equaled 18% of all 2012 cheese exports. CWT-assisted butter shipments accounted for 63% of all 2012 butter export shipments.
This quantity of additional dairy product shipments added an average of 45 cents per hundredweight to dairy farmers’ milk checks for 2012, an excellent return on an investment of just two cents per hundredweight of milk marketed.
