A Look at Dairy Consumption Trends

This week, we featured an article from David Widmar, agricultural economist and editor of Agricultural Economics Insights, looking at the trends in dairy consumption in the US.

One trend has been increased butter consumption in recent years.

In the early 1980s annual butter consumption reached nearly 5 pounds per person. Never quite breaking above 5 pounds/person/year, consumption drifted lower through the 1990s.

By 2008 per capita butter consumption was again on the rise and exceeded 5 pounds. Most recently (2014), butter consumption reached a 39 year high of 5.5 pounds per person.

Yoghurt and cheese consumption has also trended higher, but fluid milk and ice cream consumption have both declined – click here for the full analysis.

In research news this week, it has emerged that low-flow sprinklers can cool cows just as effectively, opening doors for dairy units to reduce water use.

A group of dairy scientists at the University of California, Davis found that cows had lower body temperatures when given access to sprinklers, but the low-flow and high-flow systems delivered similar benefits - read more.