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Florida dairy producers warn out-of-state processing and pricing pressure threaten local farms
Summary
Two Florida dairy farmers described regulatory burdens, distribution realities and market pressures; Jacob Larson warned that a new Walmart fluid-milk processing plant in Valdosta, Ga., could undercut Florida processors and urged incentives for in-state bottling and supply management to protect local dairies.
Kevin Luescher, who runs Hawthorne Creek Creamery, told the committee about starting a small-scale cheese-making operation and the capital intensity of dairy processing. He described grant support used early (Value-Added Producer Grant and Southeastern Dairy Business Innovation Initiative) and said the business supplies wholesalers and 246 retail stores around the state. Luescher asked for grant and marketing support and help navigating federal rules that he said do not always fit small processors.
Jacob Larson, a third-generation dairy farmer and president of Southeast Milk Inc. and United Dairy Farmers of Florida, described how milk pricing in Federal Order 6 makes Florida a high fluid-milk price region and warned that a Walmart processing plant in Valdosta, Georgia, could bottle milk out of state and return it to Florida at a price disadvantage for local producers. "They're going to process it there... and distribute the milk into Florida," Larson said, urging the committee to consider incentives for in-state processing and options to support local fluid-processing capacity.
Committee members asked questions about production changes, consolidation and what might be done to incentivize in-state processing; no committee action was taken on the record.
