The Great Right-Sizing: DFA’s Corey Gillins on the Future of U.S. Dairy Consolidation

ZISK
5 days ago
1 min read

According to Corey Gillins, chief milk marketing officer for Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), the dairy industry isn’t just changing — it is right-sizing. In a recent candid conversation, Gillins laid out a roadmap of an industry in the midst of a profound transition. It is a story marked by a sobering decline in the number of farm families, but countered by a resilient surge in efficiency, strategic diversity and a sophisticated approach to risk the industry has never seen before.

The Numbers: A Story of Consolidation and Scale

The shift in DFA’s membership over the last five years tells a stark story of consolidation. In 2021, the largest dairy cooperative in the U.S. represented approximately 6,500 member-owners. Today, that number has tightened to 4,600. Looking ahead, Gillins doesn’t see the trend slowing; he forecasts that within the next five years, the number of member farms will likely fall below 4,000.

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