Marketing Operations of Dairy Cooperatives

2017

USDA Rural Development

Research Report 234
Marketing Operations of Dairy Cooperatives

2017

ABSTRACT

Some 32,000 member-producers — owners of the Nation’s 118 dairy cooperatives — 

marketed 167 billion pounds of milk in 2017, or about 77.8 percent of all U.S. milk 

marketed that year. Including milk received from non-members and non-cooperative 

firms, total milk handled by U.S. cooperatives was 182 billion pounds, or an 84.8 

percent-share of the national market. 

Milk plants and receiving facilities were operated by 41 cooperatives. Dairy coops marketed 86 percent of the Nation’s butter, 90 percent of nonfat and skim milk 

powders, 23 percent of natural cheeses, and 37 percent of dry whey products. 

Dairy co-ops are also major employers, with 86 co-ops reporting that they 

employed 35,004 full-time and 1,507 part-time employees, for a total of 36,511 

employees. In 2017, those same 86 cooperatives, on a per-hundredweight (cwt) basis, 

had: total assets of $12.71, total liabilities of $8.55, total equity of $4.16, and a net 

margin before taxes of 48 cents, or a return-on-equity of 11.6 percent.

This report focuses on 2017, with results compared to 2012 and 2007. It also 

provides some historical and trend statistics from previous studies for more extensive 

comparison of dairy cooperatives through time.

Key Words: Cooperatives, milk, plants, dairy products, marketing.

Marketing Operations of Dairy Cooperatives, 2017

James J. Wadsworth

Agricultural Economist

Rural Development

U.S. Department of Agriculture

STOP 3256

1400 Independence Ave., S.W.

Washington, DC 20250 3256

Research Report 234

August 2019
CONTENTS

Preface ........................................................................................................................................................................................3

Executive Summary...................................................................................................................................................................4

Marketing Operations of Dairy Cooperatives, 2017 .......................................................................................................................... ..7

Cooperative Industry Profile ............................................................................................................................................................................... ..7

Milk Volume and Utilization................................................................................................................................................................................. 10

Member Supply and Location............................................................................................................................................................................. 12

Plant Operations.................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12

Dairy Products Marketed .................................................................................................................................................................................... 14

Cooperative Size Review..................................................................................................................................................................................... 19

Cooperative Concentration ................................................................................................................................................................................. 21

Employee Status.................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21

Financial Performance......................................................................................................................................................................................... 22

Historical Statistics and Trends ......................................................................................................................................................................... 26

Tables and Figures

Table 1 / Number of dairy cooperatives by type of operation and by headquarters region, 2007, 2012, and 2017 ......................................... ..7

Figure 1 / Number of cooperatives operating in each region, member-producers, member milk, co-op share, 

 and milk per producer, 2017...................................................................................................................................................................................... ..8

Table 2 / Cooperatives marketing selected dairy products, 2007, 2012, and 2017................................................................................................ ..9

Table 3 / Cooperatives share of milk marketed by producers, 2007, 2012, and 2017............................................................................................ 10

Table 4 / Utilization of milk marketed by cooperatives, 2007, 2012, and 2017........................................................................................................ 11

Table 5 / Number of cooperatives operating in each region, member producers, milk per producer, and co-op 

 share, 2007, 2012, and 2017 ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 13

Table 6 / Number of dairy plants owned and operated by cooperatives performing various marketing functions, 

 by plant location, 2007, 2012, and 2017.................................................................................................................................................................... 15

Table 7 / Selected dairy products marketing by cooperatives, 2007, 2012, and 2017 .......................................................................................... 16

Table 8 / Selected dairy products marketed by cooperatives and share of U.S. production, 2007, 2012, and 2017 ....................................... 17

Table 9 / Size of dairy cooperatives in terms of milk marketed by members, 2007, 2012, and 2017 .................................................................. 19

Table 10 / Share of milk marketed by members of largest dairy cooperatives, 2007, 2012, and 2017 ............................................................... 20

Table 11 / Number of employees reported by 86 dairy cooperatives, 2017 ........................................................................................................... 21

MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 1
Table 12 / Aggregated balance sheet of dairy cooperatives, 2017 ......................................................................................................................... 22

Table 13 / Aggregated income statement of U.S. dairy cooperatives, 2017 .......................................................................................................... 24

Table 14 / Comparison measures of dairy cooperatives, 2007, 2012, and 2017..................................................................................................... 25

Figure 2 / Number of dairy cooperatives, 1987-2017.................................................................................................................................................. 27

Figure 3 / Number of co-op producers and milk pounds per producer, 1987-2017 .............................................................................................. 27

Figure 4 / Cooperative milk shares of total U.S. milk, 1987-2017.............................................................................................................................. 28

Figure 5 / Total milk handled by cooperatives, 1987-2017......................................................................................................................................... 29

Figure 6 / Portions of milk sold raw and processed, 1987-2017 ............................................................................................................................... 29

Figure 7 / Number of plants operated by cooperatives and number of cooperatives operating plants, 1987-2017 ....................................... 30

Figure 8 / Volume of select products marketed by cooperatives, 1987-2017 ........................................................................................................ 31

Figure 9 / Cooperative share of select products, 1987-2017..................................................................................................................................... 31

Appendix....................................................................................................................................................................................32

Notes 1-6 ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 32

Appendix table 1 / Dairy cooperatives by type of operation and by headquarters region, select years 1936-2017 ...................................... 34

Appendix table 2 / Number of cooperatives marketing select dairy products, select years 1936-2017 .......................................................... 35

Appendix table 3 / Cooperative share of milk marketed by producers, select years 1936-2017 ....................................................................... 36

Appendix table 4 / Utilization of cooperative marketed milk, select years 1936-2017......................................................................................... 37

Appendix table 5 / Cooperative member milk by farm location, number of producers, and milk per producer, 

 select years 1936-2017............................................................................................................................................................................................... 38

Appendix table 6 / Number of dairy plants owned and operated by cooperatives performing various marketing 

 functions, select years 1973-2017............................................................................................................................................................................ 39

Appendix table 7 / Volume of butter marketed by cooperatives compared with U.S. production, select years 1936-2017.......................... 40

Appendix table 8 / Volume of dry milk products marketed by cooperatives compared with U.S. production, select 

 years 1936-2017........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 41

Appendix table 9 / Volume of natural cheese, by type, marketed by cooperatives compared with U.S. production,

 select years 1936-2017.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 42

Appendix table 10 / Volume of dry whey products marketed by cooperatives compared with U.S. production, 

 select years 1973-2017 .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 43

2 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017
PREFACE

Information for this report came primarily 

from the responses to a United States Department 

of Agriculture (USDA) survey of all U.S. dairy 

cooperatives that has been conducted once every 5 

years since 1987. It was conducted intermittently 

prior to 1987. The dairy-specific data were 

collected in conjunction with the annual survey 

of all cooperatives by the Cooperative Programs’ 

statistics staff of USDA Rural Development. 

In some cases, data were estimated for nonrespondents based on their financial statements or 

other sources (note 1).

Cooperatives were asked to supply information 

on their milk-marketing operations for the 2017 

fiscal year. These fiscal years vary within the 

calendar year, so the data reflect some differences 

in time periods.

When calculating cooperative marketing 

shares of various products, information for U.S. 

total milk volumes came from statistics reported 

by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics 

Service in: Milk Production, Disposition and Income, 

2017 Summary, April 2018; Dairy Products, 2017 

Summary, April 2018; and also by the USDA 

Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) in: 

Estimated Fluid Milk Product Sales Report, EFMS0818, October 2018. Market share calculations are 

approximate because cooperatives’ fiscal years vary 

and do not exactly match the calendar year.

The cooperation and assistance of the 

responding cooperatives is gratefully 

acknowledged. USDA’s AMS staff provided 

essential advice and information for this study, 

and USDA Rural Development cooperatives 

statistics staff members Charita Coleman and 

Judith Rivera provided data assistance. The author 

wishes to credit K. Charles Ling (USDA retired 

agricultural economist) for his work, analyses, and 

authorship of predecessor reports that provided 

the methodology and templates used to conduct 

this study. 

MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 3
4 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Dairy cooperatives are the dominant market 

force, in terms of milk volume handled, in the 

United States dairy industry. Milk production in 

the United States continues to rise as industry 

consolidation results in fewer cooperatives and 

fewer dairy farmers. Thus, cooperatives on average 

are handling much more milk and producing 

larger volumes of dairy products — such as butter, 

powder and cheese — than in the past. Likewise, 

dairy farms are becoming larger, producing much 

more milk per farm, on average. 

Milk prices have been relatively low following a 

period of record-high prices in 2014. At the same 

time, the cost of producing milk has increased, 

exacerbating the situation for many dairy farmers 

and leading many to exit the business, due to low 

margins. However, even in this climate of tight 

margins, some new, large operations have opened 

in regions of the country where it is relatively less 

expensive to produce milk. Some farmers have 

also expanded their operations, taking advantage 

of economies of scale. Recently, policy decisions 

in Canada and structural changes in the U.S. 

market have resulted in a number of non-member 

farms losing their milk market. In many cases, a 

cooperative was able to step in and provide a home 

for their milk. These events underscored the value 

of cooperative membership.

Dairy cooperatives’ dominant share of U.S. 

butter and dry milk powder production attests to 

the important role they play in ensuring that there 

is a market for dairy farmers’ milk. Cooperatives 

perform the critical function of ensuring adequate 

supplies of milk are available for manufacturers and 

processors when they are needed, despite the ebb 

and flow of milk production relative to the demand 

for milk. Cooperatives, many with significant 

structural investments in processing and with 

effective selling strategies in place, continue to seek 

ways to help alleviate the pressures and challenges 

that their member-producers face in this complex 

agricultural system. 

Study Highlights

n Member-producers of dairy cooperatives 

marketed 167 billion pounds of milk in 2017, 

a 3.6-percent increase from 2012 and up 9.5 

percent from 2007. This volume represented 

77.8 percent of the milk marketed by farmers 

nationally, a decrease from 80.9 percent 5 years 

earlier, and down from 82.6 percent 10 years 

earlier. (Cooperative shares of the Nation’s milk 

and dairy product marketing are approximate, 

because cooperatives’ fiscal years vary and do not 

exactly match the calendar year.)

n Including milk received from non-members 

and non-cooperative firms, total milk handled 

by cooperatives was 181.9 billion pounds, or 

84.8 percent of national milk marketed. Unlike 

member milk, this represented a slight increase 

from 2012 and 2007. (See note 2 for information 

on cooperative organic milk.)

n The number of dairy cooperatives decreased 

from 132 in 2012 to 118 in 2017. There were 41 

cooperatives that processed and manufactured 

dairy products and operated receiving stations. 

The other 77 co-ops had no milk-handling facilities. 

n Sixty-five percent of total cooperative volume 

was sold as raw milk in 2017 versus 66 in 2012 

and 63 in 2007. The other 35 percent was 
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 5

manufactured at plants owned and operated by 

cooperatives.

n There were 32,165 cooperative member 

producers marketing milk in 2017, 23.4 percent 

(9,834) fewer than 5 years earlier, and 35.2 

percent (17,510) fewer than 10 years previously. 

Three regions — East North Central, North 

Atlantic, and West North Central — together 

accounted for 85 percent of all member 

producers and 54 percent of cooperative milk 

volume. The Western region was the top source 

of cooperative milk — at 60.3 billion pounds, 

that region accounted for 36 percent of all 

cooperative milk.

n In 2017, dairy cooperatives owned and operated 

198 plants, 10 received and shipped milk only, 

30 manufactured American cheese, 19 produced 

Italian cheese, 52 packaged fluid milk products, 

30 churned butter, 46 dried milk products, and 

20 dried whey products. Many other plants 

made various other dairy products or dairyrelated products. (A plant may perform more 

than one function.)

n Volume of butter and nonfat and skim milk 

powders increased by 14 percent and 8 percent, 

respectively, from 2012 to 2017. Cooperative 

share of butter, at 1.6 billion pounds, was 86 

percent of U.S. production, and cooperative 

share of nonfat and skim milk powders, at 2.1 

billion pounds, was 90 percent. Cheese made 

by cooperatives increased by 21 percent from 

2012, after having decreased from 2007 to 2012. 

However, cooperative cheese share fell by 1 

point, with the 2.9 billion pounds marketed 

accounting for 22 percent of U.S. cheese 

production. Cooperative production of dry whey 

products fell by 7 percent, and co-op share of 

national whey production fell from 43 percent to 

37 percent in 2017.

n In 2017, seven cooperatives (up from 4 in both 

2007 and 2012) each handled more than 6 

billion pounds of member milk. Together, these 

7 cooperatives handled 110.7 billion pounds of 

member milk, or 66 percent of total cooperative 

milk in 2017. 

n Both the cooperative number and the milk 

volume of the next size group (3 billion to 6 

billion pounds) dropped over the 5-year period. 

This group lost 5 cooperatives and showed a 

significant drop in the share of total cooperative 

milk volume (from 28.3 percent in 2012 to 12.7 

percent, a 15.6-point decrease). Some of the 

cooperatives in this second group moved up into 

the largest size group. 

n Together, the 13 cooperatives in the 2 largest 

groups (each of which marketed at least 3 billion 

pounds) accounted for 79 percent of cooperative 

milk.

n The four largest cooperatives increased their 

share of the Nation’s milk, up from 47.8 percent 

in 2012 to 53.1 percent in 2017. Broadening the 

focus to the largest 8 dairy cooperatives and the 

largest 20 dairy co-ops, each group also saw its 

share of U.S. milk increase.

n In terms of milk volume, the dominant position 

of dairy cooperatives relative to the rest of the 
industry increased slightly.

n Sixty-seven cooperatives reported having 35,004 

full-time and 1,498 part-time employees in 

2017, while 4 other cooperatives had 9 parttime employees. Another 15 cooperatives 

reported having no employees. The other 32 

cooperatives did not supply data on their number 

of employees.

n Complete financial data obtained for 86 dairy 

cooperatives (out of the total of 118) showed 

that total assets for the fiscal year ending in 2017 

were $20.4 billion ($12.71 per hundredweight), 

total liabilities were $13.8 billion ($8.55 per cwt), 

and total equity was $6.7 billion ($4.16 per cwt). 

Seventy-five percent of the equity was allocated 

to members. 

n Net margin before taxes was $779 million (48 

cents per cwt), a return on equity of 11.6 percent 

(return was 8 percent in 2012 and 12.2 percent 

in 2007). Together, these cooperatives marketed 

96 percent of total cooperative member milk 

volume, with 16 cooperatives reporting that their 

dairy sales included $677 million of dairy exports.

n The number of dairy cooperatives has steadily 

decreased, from 2,338 in 1936, to 1,746 in 1957, 

to 592 in 1973, 435 in 1980, 296 in 1987, 226 in 

1997 and to 118 in 2017.

n While there are fewer co-ops, member-producer 

milk delivered to cooperatives increased by 

63.8 million pounds (62 percent) from 1987 to 

2017, while total pounds of milk handled by 

cooperatives increased by 76.1 million pounds 

(72 percent). 

6 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES, 2017

James J. Wadsworth

RBS Agricultural Economist

james.wadsworth@usda.gov

Farmer owned and operated dairy cooperatives 

continue to provide a significant channel for 

marketing milk from the Nation’s dairy farms. 

In line with industry and dairy farm trends, the 

number of cooperatives is declining, but those 

remaining are handling larger volumes. In addition 

to marketing milk, many cooperatives own and 

operate plants to process, manufacture, and market 

various dairy products.

This report, the 11th in a series of periodic 

appraisals of the scope and performance of dairy 

cooperatives, describes their continuing evolution 

in an ever changing and challenging market 

environment.

Information is presented in 10 sections: 

cooperative industry profile; milk volume and 

utilization; member supply and location; plant 

operations; dairy products marketed; cooperative 

size review; cooperative concentration; employee 

status; financial performance; and historical 

statistics and trends.

Cooperative Industry Profile

Between 2012 and 2017, the number of dairy 

cooperatives decreased by 14 (11 percent), 

from 132 to 118. The pace was slower than the 

reduction of 23 cooperatives (15 percent) recorded 

from 2007 to 2012. In 2017, 99 (84 percent of 

all dairy cooperatives) were headquartered in the 

North Atlantic, East North Central, and West 

North Central regions; the North Atlantic region 

had the most dairy co-ops with 42, down from 45 

in 2012 and 55 in 2007 (table 1; see figure 1 for 

region demarcation).

MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 7

TABLE 1 — Number of dairy cooperatives by type of operation and by headquarters region, 2007, 2012, and 2017 

 

 Operating milk plants or Not operating milk plants or

 receiving facilities receiving facilities 

Region Totals

2007 2012 2017 2007 2012 2017 2007 2012 2017

North Atlantic 7 4 3 48 41 39 55 45 42

South Atlantic 2 2 2 3 4 4 5 6 6

East North Central 23 21 20 12 13 9 35 34 29

West North Central 14 12 10 25 20 18 39 32 28

South Central 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 2 2

Western 10 7 5 8 6 6 18 13 11

All regions 57 47 41 98 85 77 155 132 118

 

Share of total co-ops (percent) 37 36 35 63 64 65 100 100 100
8 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

FIGURE 1 — Number of cooperatives operating in each region, member-producers, member milk, and 

milk per producer, 2017

 

SOUTH CENTRAL

11 co-ops

1,268 producers

9.0 million pounds

60% co-op share

7.1 million lbs per producer

WEST

15 co-ops

2,096 producers

60.3 million pounds

72% co-op share

28.8 million lbs per producer

SOUTH ATLANTIC

13 co-ops

1,307 producers

7.5 million pounds

89% co-op share

5.7 million lbs per producer

NORTH ATLANTIC

47 co-ops

10,700 producers

26.3 million pounds

87% co-op share

2.5 million lbs per producer

41 co-ops

10,780 producers

43.8 million pounds

83% co-op share

4.1 million lbs per producer

EAST NORTH CENTRAL

34 co-ops

6,014 producers

20.1 million pounds

84% co-op share

3.3 million lbs per producer

WEST NORTH CENTRAL
Three regions showed a drop in dairy 

cooperative numbers from 2012, while the South 

Atlantic and South Central regions each remained 

unchanged. The East North Central region 

had the steepest reduction of five cooperatives, 

followed by a reduction of four in the West North 

Central region, three in the North Atlantic region, 

and two in the Western region.

In 2017, 41 cooperatives (35 percent of all dairy 

cooperatives) operated milk-handling facilities 

(milk plants or receiving facilities), a decline of 

6 from 2012 and 16 from 2007. The decreases 

occurred in four regions, while the South Atlantic 

and South Central regions each remained 

unchanged. The East North Central region still 

had the most cooperatives (20, down 1 from 2012) 

with plants and milk-receiving facilities.

Cooperatives that did not have plants or milkreceiving facilities decreased from 85 to 77 (a drop 

of 8) from 2012 to 2017, and a drop of 21 from 

2007 to 2017. Half of these (39) were in the North 

Atlantic region. The East North Central region 

experienced a decrease of 4 such cooperatives 

from 2012, the steepest drop among the 3 regions 

that showed a decline. The South Atlantic, South 

Central, and Western regions remained the same 

from 2012 to 2017.

Ninety-six dairy cooperatives sold at least 

some bulk raw milk in 2017, down 18 from 2012 

and 40 from 2007 (table 2). The number of 

MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 9

TABLE 2 — Cooperatives1 marketing selected dairy products, 2007, 2012, 2017

5-year 10-year

2007 2012 2017 Change change

Number of cooperatives

Bulk raw milk 136 114 96 (18) (40)

Butter 19 15 14 (1) (5)

Nonfat dry milk 14 16 14 (2) 0

Skim milk powder2 - 9 8 (1) -

Dry whole milk 5 7 6 (1) 1

Dry buttermilk 10 13 12 (1) 2

Natural cheeses and other than cottage cheese 31 25 28 3 (3)

 American cheese 18 16 18 2 0 

 Italian cheese 6 8 8 0 2 

 Swiss cheese 4 4 5 1 1 

 Other (specialty) cheeses 15 14 13 (1) (2)

Cottage cheese 6 6 6 0 0 

Sour cream 8 6 6 0 (2)

Packaged fluid milk products 13 10 11 1 (2)

Yogurt 6 6 6 0 0

Dry whey products 11 12 12 0 1 

Whey protein concentrates & isolates 6 11 8 (3) 2

Lactose 4 6 5 (1) 1

1 
cooperatives marketing butter in 2017 dropped 

by one from 2012, and by five from 2007, while 

those marketing cheese (all cheese other than 

cottage cheese) increased by three from 2012. 

Within those cheese-marketing cooperatives, the 

number marketing American cheese increased by 

two and those marketing Swiss cheese increased 

by one. Eight cooperatives marketed Italian 

cheese, unchanged from 2012. The number of 

cooperatives marketing skim milk powder, dry 

whole milk, dry buttermilk, and lactose dropped 

by one, and the number marketing cottage cheese, 

sour cream, yogurt, and dry whey products 

remained unchanged. And, the number of 

cooperatives marketing whey-protein concentrates 

and isolates dropped from 11 to 8 from 2012 

to 2017. Finally, the number of cooperatives 

marketing packaged fluid products was up 1 from 

2012, to 11 cooperatives. But that is down two 

cooperatives from 10 years ago. 

As of Oct. 1, 2018, 95 dairy cooperatives (80.5 

percent of the Nation’s dairy cooperatives) were 

qualified to pool milk under a Federal Milk 

Marketing Order. Dairy cooperatives have unique 

treatment under Federal Milk Marketing Order 

regulations, recognizing their role in providing 

balancing services to the entire market and 

providing their members with market information 

and testing services. (See note 3 for sources for 

more information on Federal Milk Marketing 

Orders.)

Milk Volume and Utilization

In 2017, cooperative member-producers 

marketed 167 billion pounds of milk, or 77.8 

percent of milk marketed by all U.S. producers 

(table 3). The cooperative share of milk decreased 

3.1 points from 2012, when it was 80.9 percent, 

and dropped 4.8 points from 2007, when it was 

82.6 percent. From 2012 to 2017, pounds of milk 

10 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

TABLE 3 — Cooperative share of milk marketed by producers, 2007, 2012, and 20171

Milk from

Milk from sources Total milk United

member- other than handled by States Member Total milk

Year producers cooperatives2 cooperatives3 Total4 milk5 handled5

Million pounds Percent

2007 152,514 3,272 155,786 184,565 82.6 84.4

2012 161,222 6,451 167,673 199,362 80.9 84.1

2017 166,978 14,938 181,916 214,487 77.8 84.8

Percent

5-year change 3.6 131.6 8.5 7.6

10-year change 9.5 356.5 16.8 16.2

1 Cooperatives’ fiscal years vary and do not exactly match the calendar year.

2 Milk from non-members and non-cooperative firms.

3 Handled by physical receipt, bargaining, or servicing transactions, excluding inter-cooperative volume.

4

 Obtained from USDA’s National Agriculture Statistics Service (See note 1).

5

 Cooperative share of U.S. total. 
marketed by cooperative members increased 3.6 

percent, while the increase was 7.6 percent by all 

U.S. producers. From 2007 to 2012, milk marketed 

by cooperative members increased 9.5 percent, and 

the increase of all U.S. producers then was 16.2 

percent. (Cooperative shares of national marketing 

of milk and dairy products are approximate, 

because cooperatives’ fiscal years vary and do not 

exactly match the calendar year.)

Milk received from non-members and noncooperative firms more than doubled when 

compared with 2012, increasing by 8.5 billion 

pounds, from 6.5 billion pounds to 14.9 billion 

pounds (note: in 2017, the milk cooperatives 

received directly from non-members decreased 

from 2012, while the milk they received from nonco-op firms substantially increased). 

In total, cooperatives handled or bargained 

for 181.9 billion pounds of milk in 2017, or 84.8 

percent of all milk marketed by U.S. producers. 

Cooperative share in 2017 was 0.7 percent higher 

than in 2012. (See note 2 for information on 

cooperative organic milk.)

Cooperatives marketed 65 percent of the milk 

volume they handled as bulk raw milk (including 

the volume shipped to plants that cooperatives 

had investment in), down one point from 2012 

(table 4). In other words, cooperatives processed 

or manufactured 35 percent of the milk in the 

plants they owned and directly operated. In sum, 

the overall pounds of milk handled by cooperatives 

increased by 14.2 billion pounds from 2012 to 

2017. Of this, milk sold raw increased by 7.6 

billion pounds and milk processed or manufactured 

rose by 6.6 billion pounds. The 10-year (2007 to 

2017) changes show 26.1 billion more pounds of 

milk handled by cooperatives, 19.8 billion more 

pounds sold raw, and 6.3 billion more pounds 

processed or manufactured.

MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 11

TABLE 4 — Utilization of milk marketed by cooperatives, 2007, 2012 and 20171

Year Milk marketed Utilization rate 

Million pounds Percent

2007

 Sold raw2 98,288 63

 Processed or manufactured 57,498 37

 Total 155,786 100

2012

 Sold raw2 110,481 66

 Processed or manufactured 57,192 34

 Total 167,673 100

2017

 Sold raw2 118,080 65

 Processed or manufactured 63,836 35

 Total 181,916 100

1

 Excludes inter-cooperative volume and includes milk from non-member producers and non-cooperative firms.

2

 Includes milk shipped to plants that cooperatives had investment in.
Member Supply and Location

There were 32,165 cooperative memberproducers marketing milk in 2017 (table 5). Most 

were in the East North Central region (10,780) 

and North Atlantic region (10,700). The West 

North Central region was next, with 6,014 

member-producers. Together, these three regions 

were home to 86 percent of cooperative member 

producers, but only 54 percent of cooperative 

member milk.

Following the continuing national trend of 

decreasing dairy farm numbers, dairy cooperatives 

reported a 23-percent decline in the number of 

member-producers — from 41,999 in 2012 to 

32,165 in 2017. Over a 10-year period (2007 to 

2017), the drop was 35 percent. The greatest 

declines were in the East North Central region, 

which lost 6,543 producers (38 percent) in that 

time span while the West North Central region 

lost 2,151 (26 percent) member-producers. Those 

two regions lost the most members, based on 

numbers and proportion (percent).

Figure 1 provides the same data as table 5, but 

in a map format that identifies the States in each 

region. Every region of the Nation seemed to be 

adequately served by dairy cooperatives. The South 

Central region was served by 11 cooperatives, 

while 47 cooperatives had members in the North 

Atlantic region.

In 2017, as in 2007 and 2012, the Western 

region remained the top source of cooperative 

milk volume. The 2,096 member-producers there 

(6.5 percent of all dairy cooperative members) 

marketed 60.3 billion pounds of member milk. 

This represented 36 percent of member milk 

marketed by all cooperatives; the share was just 

slightly lower than the 37 percent reported in 

2012, even with fewer member producers. The 

East North Central region accounted for 26 

percent of total member milk volume, while the 

North Atlantic and West North Central regions 

supplied 16 and 12 percent, respectively, of the 

total U.S. cooperative member volume.

Four regions had increased milk volumes from 

cooperative members, while the West North 

Central and South Central regions had slight 

decreases. The greatest increase was in the North 

Atlantic region, up 4.2 billion pounds in 5 years, a 

19-percent increase. The Western and East North

Central regions had increases of 982 million and

872 million pounds, respectively.

Similar to the last 5-year period (2007 to 2012), 

milk deliveries per member-producer were up 

in all regions in the last 5 years. Nationally, it 

increased 25 percent, from 3.84 million pounds to 

4.81 million pounds (the same percentage increase 

occurred from 2007 to 2012). Per-member delivery 

was highest in the Western region, at 28.79 million 

pounds, up 20 percent from 2012. The East North 

Central region had the largest change in permember delivery at 64 percent. 

Only the North Atlantic region had an increase 

in cooperative share of milk, from 80 percent 

in 2012 to 87 percent in 2017. The Western 

region was the same as in 2012 at 72 percent. 

The other four regions all experienced declines: 

South Atlantic (from 92 to 89 percent), East 

North Central (from 92 to 83 percent), West 

North Central (from 97 to 84 percent, the largest 

decline), and South Central (from 71 to 60 

percent). 

Plant Operations

Three regions are used in reporting locations of 

dairy plants: the Atlantic region (a combination of 

the North and South Atlantic regions in figure 1); 

the Central region (combination of the East North 

Central, West North Central, and South Central 

regions); and the Western region.

Cooperatives owned and operated 198 dairy 

12 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 13

TABLE 5 — Number of co-ops operating in each region, member-producers, member milk, and milk per producer, 

2007, 2012, and 20171

Co-op

regional

Member Milk per share of

Year and region2 Co-ops3 Producers milk producer milk4

Number Number Million pounds Percent

2007

 North Atlantic 62 12,078 20,428 1.69 76

 South Atlantic 10 2,118 7,350 3.47 94

 East North Central 47 20,255 37,675 1.86 91

 West North Central 49 10,160 19,192 1.89 97

 South Central 11 2,328 9,788 4.20 83

 Western 21 2,736 58,081 21.23 76

 Total 49,675 152,514 3.07 82.6

2012

 North Atlantic 53 10,693 22,078 2.06 80

 South Atlantic 13 1,709 7,362 4.31 92

 East North Central 47 17,323 42,923 2.48 92

 West North Central 42 8,165 20,238 2.48 97

 South Central 12 1,629 9,266 5.69 71

 Western 16 2,480 59,356 23.93 72

 Total 41,999 161,222 3.84 80.9

2017

 North Atlantic 47 10,700 26,271 2.46 87

 South Atlantic 13 1,307 7,476 5.72 89

 East North Central 41 10,780 43,795 4.06 83

 West North Central 34 6,014 20,101 3.34 84

 South Central 11 1,268 8,996 7.10 60

 Western 16 2,096 60,338 28.79 72

 Total 32,165 166,978 4.81 77.8

1 Cooperatives’ fiscal years vary and do not exactly match the calendar year. Many cooperatives have members in several States, 

some in multiple regions, and a couple of cooperatives have nationwide memberships.

2

 Figure 1 shows States by region.

3

 Cooperatives operating in region (having member-producers in region).

4

 Cooperative member milk volume as a percentage of regional volume marketed by all producers.
plants in 2017, 14 more than in 2012 (table 6). 

Two-thirds of the plants (130 plants, or 66 percent) 

were in the Central region (mainly from the East 

North Central and West North Central regions 

within). The Central region was also the most 

prominent in almost all categories of dairy plants, 

except for drying milk products. The Western 

region had the most plants for manufacturing dry 

milk products and was close to the Central region’s 

13 plants for churning butter (with 11 plants).

The Central region had 11 more plants operated 

by cooperatives in 2017 than in 2012, the Atlantic 

region had 4 more plants, and the Western region 

had 1 less plant than in 2012.

Ten plants served only as milk-receiving stations, 

compared with 13 in 2012 and 17 in 2007. All 

10 of those plants were in the Central region. 

Processing and manufacturing operations were 

carried out in 188 plants, 17 more than 5 years ago.

Fifty-two cooperative plants packaged fluid milk 

products, up from 49 plants in both 2007 and 2012. 

The Central region had the most, with 35, 1 plant 

more than 5 years ago. The Atlantic region gained 

four plants, and the Western region lost two plants. 

Thirty plants manufactured butter, up from 

24 in both 2007 and 2012. Forty-six plants 

manufactured dry milk products (other than dry 

whey products), up 11 from 5 years earlier.

Many cooperative manufacturing operations 

are devoted to cheesemaking: 30 plants made 

American cheese, 19 made Italian, and 29 made 

other cheeses. The number of cooperative plants 

making Italian cheese was down by two from 2012, 

while there were two less plants making American 

cheese in 2017. The Central region had the most 

cooperative plants making cheese in every category.

In 2017, cultured products were made in 23 

cooperative plants, an increase of 8 from 2012 

and up 12 from 2007. The number of plants that 

made ice cream increased by 8, to 15 plants from 

2012 to 2017. Dry whey products were made in 

20 cooperative plants, down 4 from the 24 plants 

reported in 2007 and 2012. 

The number of cooperative plants that made 

other dairy-related products in 2017 dropped 

by 2, to 45 from 2012. But that number is still a 

significant increase compared to 26 such plants in 

2007.

Dairy Foods, a trade magazine, published a 

list of the Top 100 dairy processors operating in 

North America for 2017. The list included 20 U.S. 

cooperatives and reported that those farmer-owned 

businesses operated 167 plants, or 22 percent of 

the total 763 plants identified on the list (see note 

4). 

Dairy Products Marketed

This section and the accompanying tables (tables 

7 and 8) describe the volume of selected dairy 

products marketed by cooperatives. Comparisons 

are made between the volume marketed by 

cooperatives and total U.S. production.

n Butter — Cooperatives churned 1.6 billion 

pounds of butter in 2017, up 14 percent from 2012 

and up 46 percent from 2007. The cooperative 

share of U.S. butter production increased from 

71 percent in 2007 and 75 percent in 2012 to 86 

percent for 2017.

n Dry milk products — Cooperatives marketed 2.1 

billion pounds of nonfat and skim milk powders 

(nonfat dry milk, skim milk powders, and dry 

skim milk for animal) in 2017, an increase of 8.6 

percent from 5 years ago. Cooperatives had a 

90-percent share of U.S. production of these dry

milk products in 2017, a 1-point drop from the 91

percent reported in 2012, and a 6-point drop from

the 96 percent reported in 2007.

Cooperatives more than doubled dry whole-milk 

14 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 15

TABLE 6 — Number of dairy plants owned and operated by cooperatives performing various marketing 

functions, by plant location, 2007, 2012, and 20171

Region2

Marketing function Atlantic Central Western Total

2007

Receive and ship milk3 0 13 4 17

Churn butter 5 11 8 24

Make dry milk products 8 15 16 39

Make American cheese 4 24 6 34

Make Italian cheese 1 14 2 17

Make other cheeses 1 17 0 18

Package fluid milk 8 35 6 49

Make cultured products 2 8 1 11

Make ice cream 0 8 3 11

Make condensed products4 1 2 1 4

Make dry whey products 2 18 4 24

Other dairy-related activities 8 13 5 26

Total5 27 131 35 193

2012

Receive and ship milk3 0 10 3 13

Churn butter 5 8 11 24

Make dry milk products 8 10 17 35

Make American cheese 3 23 6 32

Make Italian cheese 1 13 3 17

Make other cheeses 0 18 0 18

Package fluid milk 8 34 7 49

Make cultured products 3 8 4 15

Make ice cream 0 7 1 8

Make condensed products4 1 1 0 2

Make dry whey products 2 16 6 24

Other dairy-related activities 7 28 12 47

Total5 26 119 39 184

2017

Receive and ship milk3 0 10 0 10

Churn butter 6 13 11 30

Make dry milk products 8 17 21 46

Make American cheese 2 24 4 30

Make Italian cheese 2 15 2 19

Make other cheeses 6 21 5 32

Package fluid milk 12 35 5 52

Make cultured products 5 15 3 23

Make ice cream 1 13 1 15

Make condensed products4 0 1 0 1

Make dry whey products 1 12 7 20

Other dairy-related activities 6 30 9 45

Total5 30 130 38 198

1 All dairy plants, including joint venture plants operated by co-ops. 

2 Atlantic region=North and South Atlantic; Central region=East North Central, West North Central, and South Central.

3

 Facilities that only performed milk receiving and shipping functions.

4

 Plants that only condensed milk as final products without further processing onsite.

5

 Total number of dairy plants (some plants perform multiple functions in the same plant so column will not sum to total).
16 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

TABLE 7 — Selected dairy products marketing by cooperatives, 2007, 2012, and 2017

5-year 10-year

2007 2012 2017 change change

Thousand pounds Percent Percent

Butter 1,087,012 1,396,363 1,585,778 13.6 45.9 

Dry milk products

 Dry whole milk 16,322 39,783 87,854 120.8 438.3 

 Dry buttermilk 53,043 96,609 71,872 (25.6) 35.5 

 Nonfat and skim milk powders 1,444,395 1,967,341 2,136,381 8.6 47.9 

 Nonfat dry milk, human 1,357,782 1,929,2361 1,772,235 (8.1) 30.5

 Skim milk powders 83,790 36,8641 360,287 877.3 330.0 

 Dry skim milk, animal 2,823 1,241 3,859 211.0 36.7 

 Milk protein concentrates 64,410 67,855 5.3 -

Natural cheeses other than cottage cheese 2,512,713 2,385,980 2,886,320 21.0 14.9 

 American cheese 1,698,485 1,513,174 1,925,824 27.3 13.4 

 Blue and Gorganzola 13,701 39,382 187.4 -

 Specialty (Cream, Neufchatel, Feta, Gouda) 13,010 56,755 336.2 -

 Hispanic 6,503 6,394 (1.7) -

 Italian cheese 742,830 732,572 797,500 8.9 7.4 

 Muenster 13,183 6,428 (51.2) -

 Swiss cheese 36,921 31,363 34,875 11.2 (5.5)

 Not separately identified & other cheese 34,477 62,475 19,162 (69.3) (44.4)

Dry whey and modified whey products 1,027,144 1,125,349 1,043,780 (7.2) 1.6 

 Dry whey, and reduced lactose and minerals 739,877 678,781 667,834 (1.6) (9.7)

 Whey protein concentrates & isolates 171,077 195,878 171,350 (12.5) 0.2 

 Lactose 116,190 250,690 204,596 (18.4) 76.1 

Packaged fluid milk products 4,034,808 6,742,982 5,752,797 (14.7) 42.6 

Condensed whole & skim milk 765,221 - 494,133 - (35.4)

Condensed buttermilk 11,040 - 12,113 - 9.7 

Bulk fluid cream (butterfat) 485,536 391,500 721,227 84.2 48.5 

Bulk fluid skim 390,331 643,425 469,711 (27.0) 20.3 

Miscellaneous

 Cottage cheese 259,789 113,779 114,525 0.7 (55.9)

 Ice cream (thousand gallons) 49,268 15,141 13,488 (10.9) (72.6)

 Ice cream (thousand gallons) 93,411 67,130 70,412 4.9 (24.6)

 Sour cream 162,827 94,371 104,399 10.6 (35.9)

 Yogurt (all types) 70,231 96,044 154,246 60.6 119.6 

1 Nonfat dry milk (human) may be over-counted and skim milk powders and dry skim milk (animal) undercounted, because some cooperatives reported the three products 

as a lump sum number. In 2017, the three were further broken out by the cooperatives.
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 17

TABLE 8 — Selected dairy products marketed by cooperatives and share of U.S. production, 2007, 2012, and 20171

Co-op 2012 Co-op Co-op

2007 co-ops 2007 U.S. share co-ops 2012 U.S. share 2017 co-ops 2017 U.S. share

Thousand pounds of product, share in percent

Butter 1,087,012 1,532,717 71 1,396,363 1,859,554 75 1,585,778 1,847,473 86

Dry milk products

 Dry whole milk 16,322 31,746 51 39,783 58,132 68 87,854 122,397 72

 Dry buttermilk 53,043 81,386 65 96,609 109,132 89 71,872 112,904 64

 Nonfat and skim milk powders 1,444,395 1,503,992 96 1,967,341 2,154,913 91 2,136,381 2,364,785 90

Total dry milk products 1,513,760 1,617,124 94 2,103,733 2,322,177 91 2,296,107 2,600,086 88

 Milk protein concentrates 64,410 102,318 63 67,855 139,047 49

Natural cheeses other than cottage cheese 2,512,713 9,776,785 26 2,385,980 10,890,144 22 2,886,320 12,659,091 23

 American cheese 1,698,485 3,877,214 44 1,513,174 4,358,477 35 1,925,824 5,071,991 38

 Blue and Gorganzola 13,701 87,940 16 39,382 91,299 43

 Specialty (Cream, Neufchatel, Feta, Gouda)2 13,010 953,512 1 56,755 1,135,986 5

 Hispanic 6,503 224,259 3 6,394 286,943 2

 Italian cheese 742,830 4,198,800 18 732,572 4,633,627 16 797,500 5,383,864 15

 Muenster 13,183 152,630 9 6,428 187,818 3

 Swiss cheese 36,921 313,689 12 31,363 320,599 10 34,875 316,653 11

 Not separately identified & other cheese2 34,477 1,387,082 2 62,474 159,100 39 19,162 184,537 10

Dry whey and modified whey products 1,027,144 2,420,250 42 1,125,349 2,620,581 43 1,043,780 2,822,931 37

 Dry whey, and reduced lactose and minerals 739,877 1,231,798 60 678,781 1,088,565 62 667,834 1,097,667 61

 Whey protein concentrates & isolates 171,077 432,928 40 195,878 505,890 39 171,350 601,107 29

 Lactose 116,190 755,525 15 250,690 1,026,126 24 204,596 1,124,157 18

Packaged fluid milk products 4,034,808 54,619,000 7 6,742,982 52,847,000 13 5,752,797 48,061,000 12

Condensed whole & skim milk 765,221 1,902,254 40 - - - 494,133 1,865,156 26

Condensed buttermilk 11,040 55,754 20 - - - 12,113 113,035 11

Miscellaneous

 Cottage cheese 259,789 787,044 33 113,779 700,708 16 114,525 1,065,305 11

 Ice cream 49,268 1,279,332 4 15,141 1,209,432 1 13,488 2,602,325 1

 Ice cream mix 93,411 725,512 13 67,130 698,084 10 70,412 771,436 9

 Sour cream 162,827 1,111,742 15 94,371 1,278,946 7 104,399 1,387,149 8

 Yogurt (all types) 70,231 3,522,534 2 96,044 4,451,242 2 154,246 4,478,308 3

1

 Cooperative years may vary and do not exactly match the calendar year.

2 For 2012 and 2017, specialty cheese is broken out of “not separately identified & other cheese” and brick cheese is included in the latter (however, specialty cheeses in 

2012 were likely lumped into the “not separately identified & other cheese” category).
18 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

production, but had decreased production of dry 

buttermilk by 26 percent in the past 5 years. They 

marketed 72 percent of the Nation’s dry whole 

milk, up from 68 percent in 2012. Their share 

of dry buttermilk was 64 percent, down from 89 

percent in 2012. 

Cooperatives marketed 2.3 billion pounds 

of dry products (combining dry whole milk, 

dry buttermilk, and nonfat and skim milk), 88 

percent of total U.S. production in 2017. In 2012, 

cooperative production totaled 2.1 billion pounds 

of all dry products (192 million pounds less than 

in 2017), but that amount was 91 percent of total 

U.S. production.

Milk protein concentrates (a line of dry milk 

product reported starting in 2012) marketed by 

cooperatives increased by 5 percent from 2012 to 

2017. Cooperative share of this product category, 

at almost 68 million pounds, was 49 percent of 

national production, down from 63 percent in 

2012.

n Cheese — In 2017, cooperatives marketed 

more than 2.8 billion pounds of natural cheeses, 

excluding cottage cheese, an increase of 21 

percent from 2012 and up 15 percent from 

2007. Cooperative share of U.S. natural cheese 

production was at 23 percent, up 1 point from 

2012.

Among natural cheeses produced by 

cooperatives, two-thirds (1.9 billion pounds or 

67 percent) was American cheese, followed by 

Italian cheese (798 million pounds, or 28 percent). 

American cheese made by cooperatives was up 27 

percent from 2012 and up 13 percent from 2007. 

Cooperative market share of American cheese 

increased to 38 percent in 2017, up almost 3 points 

from 2012. However, that 2017 share was still 

lower than the 44-percent share that cooperatives 

experienced in 2007.

Similarly, cooperatives increased production 

of Italian cheese by 9 percent from 2012 to 2017, 

from 733 million pounds to 798 million pounds. 

However, given an increase in U.S. production of 

Italian cheese by 16 percent from 2012 to 2017, 

cooperative market share of Italian cheese dipped 

to 15 percent in 2017.

Cooperative Swiss cheese production in 2017 

was almost 35 million pounds, 11 percent higher 

than in 2012. Cooperative share of Swiss cheese 

U.S. production increased slightly from 10 percent 

in 2012 to 11 percent in 2017.

Blue and Gorganzola cheese production 

increased significantly in the 2012-17 period, 

from 13.7 million pounds to 39.4 million pounds. 

Specialty cheeses (cream, Neufchatel, Feta, Gouda) 

also significantly increased, from 13 million to 

56.8 million pounds (note: some of these specialty 

cheeses may have been reported by cooperatives 

as being in the “unidentified and other cheese” 

category in 2012 rather than broken out into 

separate categories). Hispanic cheese production 

dropped slightly, to 6.4 million pounds in 2017, 

while Muenster cheese production dropped from 

13.2 million pounds to 6.4 million. Cooperative 

shares of these cheeses were 43 percent, 5 percent, 

2 percent, and 3 percent, respectively.

Cooperatives also reported marketing 19 million 

pounds of other cheese, including cheese that 

was not separately identified above or was not 

categorized (including brick cheeses) in the survey. 

The production of these cheeses was significantly 

smaller than in 2012, when 62.5 million pounds 

was marketed (again, some cooperatives may have 

lumped some of their cheeses into this category in 

2012).

n Dry whey and modified whey products — In 2017, 

cooperatives marketed just more than 1 billion 

pounds of dry whey and modified whey products. 
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 19

This demonstrates a decrease of 7 percent from 

2012, but still up almost 2 percent from 2007. 

Co-op market share dropped to 37 percent in 

2017, down from 43 percent in 2012 and 42 

percent in 2007. Each item among dry whey and 

modified whey products decreased from 2012 as 

well. 

Cooperative production of dry whey and 

reduced lactose and minerals whey decreased 7 

percent, production of whey protein concentrates 

and isolates decreased 13 percent, and lactose 

decreased by 18 percent. Respectively, these 

three categories of cooperatively produced whey 

products had 61 (down 1 point from 2012), 29 

(down 10 points), and 18 (down 6 points) percent 

share of U.S. production for each product.

n Other processed dairy items — In 2017, 

cooperatives produced 5.7 billion pounds of 

packaged fluid milk products, a 12-percent market 

share. That was a drop in volume of 15 percent 

from 2012, but a 43 percent increase from 2007. 

Condensed whole and skim milk production (494 

million pounds in 2017) and condensed buttermilk 

production (12 million pounds) were not reported 

in 2012. But while condensed whole and skim milk 

production dropped by 35 percent from 2007, 

condensed buttermilk production increased by 10 

percent. Market share for these two products was 

26 and 11 percent, respectively, in 2017.

Cooperative production of yogurt (154 million 

pounds) increased by 60 percent from 2012 and 

more than doubled from 2007. However, market 

share was just 3 percent of U.S. production of all 

types of yogurt. 

Cooperatives produced just slightly more 

cottage cheese in 2017 (115 million pounds) than 

in 2012, and market share was 11 percent. Ice 

cream production (13 million pounds) dropped by 

11 percent in 2017, but ice cream mix production 

(70 million pounds) increased by 5 percent. Sour 

cream production (104 million pounds) increased 

by 11 percent from 2012 and cooperative market 

share was 8 percent.

Cooperative Size Review

There were seven cooperatives that handled 

more than 6 billion pounds of member milk in 

2017, up from four cooperatives in both 2012 and 

2007 (table 9). Member milk volume (111 billion 

pounds) of the seven co-ops (6 percent of total 

dairy co-ops) in this category increased by 34 

TABLE 9 — Size of dairy cooperatives in terms of milk marketed by members, 2007, 2012, and 2017 

Milk marketed 

by member-producers: Cooperatives (no.) Share of co-ops (%) Member milk (million lbs) Share of co-op milk (%)

2007 2012 2017 2007 2012 2017 2007 2012 2017 2007 2012 2017

More than 6 billion pounds 4 4 7 2.6 3.0 5.9 75,075 77,090 110,659 49.2 47.8 66.3

3 to 6 billion pounds 8 10 5 5.2 7.6 4.2 34,899 45,609 21,199 22.9 28.3 12.7

2 to 3 billion pounds 5 3 4 3.2 2.3 3.4 12,504 8,193 10,153 8.2 5.1 6.1

1 to 2 billion pounds 11 9 7 7.1 6.8 5.9 15,439 14,098 9,156 10.1 8.7 5.5

0.5 to 1 billion pounds 8 11 8 5.2 8.3 6.8 5,176 8,053 5,987 3.4 5.0 3.6

100 to 500 million pounds 32 27 33 20.6 20.5 28.0 6,740 5,770 8,000 4.4 3.6 4.8

Less than 100 million pounds 87 68 54 56.1 51.5 45.8 2,681 2,410 1,824 1.8 1.5 1.1

 Total 155 132 118 100 100 100 152,514 161,223 166,978 100.0 100.0 100.0
20 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

billion pounds and accounted for 66.3 percent of 

member cooperative milk in 2017. The share was 

18.5 points higher than the 47.8 percent reported 

for 2012.

The number of cooperatives in the next size 

group (3 billion to 6 billion pounds of milk) 

decreased from 10 in 2012 to 5 co-ops in 2017. 

Member milk volume of this group (21 billion 

pounds) occupied a 12.7-percent share of 

cooperative milk, a decrease of 15.5 points from 

2012. 

The 2-billion-to-3-billion-pound group grew by 

one cooperative since 2012, to four cooperatives 

in 2017. This group’s share of cooperative milk 

(10 billion pounds) increased by almost 2 billion 

pounds, an increase of 24 percent. It had a 

6.1-percent share of cooperative milk up from a 

5.1-percent share in 2012. 

In the 1-billion-to-2-billion-pound group, the 

number of cooperatives dropped from nine to 

seven. This size group’s share of cooperative milk 

(9 billion pounds) decreased by 3.3 points, to 5.5 

percent.

The 0.5-billion-to-1-billion-pound group 

dropped by three cooperatives, to eight in 2017. 

This group’s member milk volume dropped by 2 

billion pounds, and its share of cooperative milk 

decreased 1.4 points, to 3.6 percent in 2017. 

Thirty-three cooperatives were in the group 

that marketed between 100 million and 500 

million pounds of milk in 2017, an increase of 

six cooperatives. Together, this group had a 

4.8-percent share of cooperative milk, up from 3.6 

percent in 2012.

There were 54 cooperatives in the smallest 

sized group, which each marketed less than 100 

million pounds of milk in 2017. This was a steep 

(21 percent) decline from 2012, when there were 

68 cooperatives in this group (in 2007 there were 

87). The group’s milk volume (1.8 billion pounds) 

held only a 1.1-percent share of cooperative milk, a 

decline from a 1.5-percent share in 2012.

The 12 largest sized cooperatives (10 percent 

of all dairy co-ops) in the 2 largest size groups 

(greater than 3 billion pounds of milk each) 

marketed 131.7 billion pounds (up from 122.7 

billion pounds in 2012 and 110 billion pounds 

in 2007) of member milk. These co-ops’ milk 

TABLE 10 — Share of milk marketed by members of largest1 dairy cooperatives, 2007, 2012, and 2017

2007 2012 2017

Share of cooperative volume

 4 largest cooperatives 49.2 47.8 53.1

 8 largest cooperatives 62.3 61.5 69.7

 20 largest cooperatives 83.7 84.5 88.5

Share of U.S. volume2

 4 largest cooperatives 40.7 38.7 41.3

 8 largest cooperatives 51.6 49.8 54.2

 20 largest cooperatives 69.1 68.3 68.9

1

 Size is based on pounds of member milk marketed. 2

 Cooperatives fiscal years vary and do not exactly match the calendar year.
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 21

accounted for 79 percent of total cooperative 

member milk, higher than the shares in 2012 (76.1 

percent), and 2007 (72.1 percent).

Cooperative Concentration

A measure commonly used to gauge the 

concentration of a sector (or market) is the share 

occupied by the four largest firms in the sector. 

The largest four dairy cooperatives increased their 

share of cooperative milk to 53.1 percent in 2017, 

up from 47.8 percent in 2012 and 49.2 percent in 

2007 (table 10). The four largest dairy cooperatives 

also increased their share of the total U.S. milk 

marketed in 2017 to 41.3 percent, up from 38.7 

percent in 2012 (in 2007 it was 40.7 percent). 

When the focus is expanded to the largest eight 

dairy cooperatives, their share of cooperative 

milk also increased from 2012 to 2017, to 69.7 

percent, up 8.2 points from 2012. The eight largest 

cooperatives also increased their share of U.S. milk 

from 49.8 percent to 54.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the largest 20 dairy cooperatives 

had a 4-point increase in their share of cooperative 

milk, which rose to 88.5 percent, while their share 

of the Nation’s milk increased by 0.7 point, to 69 

percent.

In terms of milk volume, the relative position 

of dairy cooperatives to the rest of the industry 

remained dominant. The 4 and 8 largest 

cooperatives increased their market shares 

over both 2012 and 2007, while the 20 largest 

cooperatives increased their share from 2012 to 

what they experienced in 2007.

Employee Status

Eighty-six dairy cooperatives (72.9 percent of 

all dairy cooperatives) reported having 35,004 

full-time and 1,507 part-time employees in 2017 

(table 11). These cooperatives marketed 160.8 

billion pounds of member milk, or 88.4 percent 

of cooperative milk. In addition to the main 

business of marketing milk, some cooperatives also 

handled farm supplies and/or other commodities. 

Therefore, not all employees were engaged in the 

business of handling milk and dairy products.

Sixty-seven cooperatives had both full-time 

and part-time employees, and those cooperatives 

marketed 157.4 billion pounds of milk. Four 

TABLE 11 — Number of employees reported by 86 dairy cooperatives, 2017

Cooperatives reporting Full-time employees Part-time employees Member milk

Number Number Number Million lbs.

Having full-time employees 67 35,004 1,498 157,435

Having part-time employees 4 0 9 654

Having no employees1 15 0 0 2,741

 Total 86 35,004 1,507 160,830

1

Some of these cooperatives out-sourced work to other firms.
22 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

other cooperatives had only part-time employees. 

Together, these cooperatives reported a total of 

nine part-time employees and 654 million pounds 

of milk. Fifteen cooperatives reported having no 

employees (though some out-sourced work to 

other firms).

Financial Performance

This section presents information based on the 

2017 balance sheets and income statements of 86 

dairy cooperatives that provided complete financial 

information. These cooperatives marketed 160.8 

billion pounds of member milk, 96.3 percent of 

the total member milk marketed by the 118 dairy 

cooperatives in 2017. This section also provides 

some comparisons to 2007 and 2012.

n Balance Sheet — The total assets of the 86 

dairy cooperatives included in this analysis for the 

fiscal year ending 2017 were $20.4 billion (table 

12). Current assets accounted for $12.2 billion 

(60 percent of total assets), while fixed assets 

TABLE 12 — Aggregated balance sheet of 86 dairy cooperatives, 2017 

Assets Co-ops with Dairy Sales Only1 All 86 Co-ops

 Current assets 4,593,457 12,229,003

 Net plant, property & equipment 2,658,685 4,777,972

 Other assets 1,064,317 2,389,507

Total, own assets 8,316,459 19,396,482

 Investments in other cooperatives & subsidiaries 659,073 1,051,012

 Total assets 8,975,532 20,447,494

Liabilities and equity

 Current liabilities 3,695,865 9,730,124

 Long-term liabilities 2,213,978 4,019,928

 Total liabilities 5,909,843 13,750,051

Allocated equity 2,421,331 5,021,081

Retained earnings 572,549 1,577,354

Non-controlling minority interests 71,810 99,007

 Total equity 3,065,690 6,697,442

 Total liabilities and equity 8,975,532 20,447,494

Number of dairy cooperatives 54 86

Member milk (million pounds) 127,075 160,830

Total assets per hundredweight $7.06 $12.71

Total liabilities per hundredweight $4.65 $8.55

Total equity per hundredweight $2.41 $4.16

1

 Fifty-four cooperatives that sell only milk and dairy products. 
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 23

(net property, plant, and equipment (PP&E) and 

other assets) were $4.8 billion and $2.4 billion, 

respectively. Dairy cooperatives had investments of 

more than $1 billion (5 percent of total assets) in 

other cooperatives and subsidiaries.

Total liabilities were $13.7 billion (67 percent 

of total assets). Cooperatives owed $9.7 billion 

in current liabilities and $4.0 billion in longterm liabilities. (Dairy cooperatives typically 

pay members for their milk twice a month. A 

large proportion of the current assets and the 

current liabilities are related to such periodic 

cash payments to members. This is a unique 

characteristic of the balance sheet of dairy 

cooperatives.)

Total equity, the balance of assets and liabilities, 

was almost $6.7 billion. Most equity (75 percent, 

or $5 billion) was allocated to members. Retained 

earnings were $1.6 billion in 2017 while equity 

in non-controlling minority interests were 1.5 

percent of total equity at $99 million.

On a per-hundredweight-of-milk basis, total 

assets were $12.71, total liabilities were $8.55 and 

equity was $4.16.

n Cooperatives with only milk and dairy product 

sales — Among the 86 cooperatives analyzed, 54 

cooperatives had only milk and dairy sales (and 

no other marketing or farm supply sales). These 

cooperatives had almost $9 billion in total assets, 

$5.9 billion in total liabilities, and $3 billion in 

total equity. On a hundredweight of member milk 

basis, total assets were $7.06, total liabilities $4.65, 

and total equity $2.41.

n Income Statement — Total revenue reported by 

86 dairy cooperatives in 2017 were $53.7 billion 

(table 13). Of this amount, 79 percent ($42.5 

billion) was from milk and dairy product sales 

and almost 20 percent ($10.6 billion) was from 

other marketing and supply sales. Service receipts, 

subsidiary income, and other operating income 

was $628 million in 2017, or 1.2 percent of total 

revenue received.

Of the $42.5 billion milk and dairy product 

sales, $677 million (1.6 percent) was export sales, 

reported by 16 cooperatives.

Cost of goods sold was more than $49 billion 

in 2017, or 91 percent of total revenue. Expenses 

were $4 billion while other non-operating income 

and non-recurring losses totaled $81.4 million. 

Total costs and expenses were just under $53 

billion, or 98.6 percent of total revenues. 

Net margin before taxes was $778.9 million, 

providing an 11.6-percent return on equity. That 

equals 48 cents per hundredweight of member 

milk. Milk and dairy sales per hundredweight 

of milk marketed was $26.44 for these 86 dairy 

cooperatives. Total revenue per hundredweight was 

$33.41, while cost of goods sold was $30.48, and 

total expense was $2.50. Total costs and expenses 

were $32.93 per hundredweight. (See note 5 

for further explanation of how some financial 

statements were analyzed.)

n Cooperatives with only milk and dairy product 

sales — For the 54 cooperatives that just sold milk 

and dairy products, sales of those commodities 

were $32.7 billion in 2017. Service receipts, 

subsidiary income, and other operating income was 

$173 million, resulting in total revenue of $32.9 

billion. Cost of goods sold was $30.7 billion, or 

93 percent of total revenues. Expenses were $1.9 

billion (6 percent of total revenue). Non-operating 

income and non-recurring losses totaled $78.4 

million.

Net margin before taxes was $356.4 million 

while return on equity was 11.6 percent (the 

same percentage as for all cooperatives analyzed.) 

However, these cooperatives had a lower pre-tax 
24 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

TABLE 13 — Aggregated income statement of 86 dairy cooperatives, 2017

Co-ops with Dairy Sales Only3 All 86 Co-ops

Milk & dairy product sales1 32,743,265 42,525,188

Supply and other marketing sales 0 10,586,525

Service receipts, subsidiary, and other operating income 173,223 627,661

Total revenues 32,916,489 53,739,374

 

Cost of goods sold2 30,736,917 49,020,908

Expenses 1,901,584 4,021,021

Non-operating income (expense) and non-recurring losses 78,428 81,448

Total costs and expenses 32,560,073 52,960,481

Net margin before taxes 356,416 778,893

 

Number of dairy cooperatives reporting 54 86

Member milk (million pounds) 127,075 160,830

 

Milk & dairy product sales per hundredweight $25.77 $26.44

Total revenue per hundredweight $25.90 $33.41

Cost of goods sold per hundredweight $24.19 $30.48

Total expenses per hundredweight $1.50 $2.50

Total costs and expenses per hundredweight $25.62 $32.93

Net margin before taxes per hundredweight $0.28 $0.48

 

Before tax return on total equity 11.6% 11.6%

1

 Sixteen cooperatives reported export sales of $677 million.

2

 Includes the estimated value of milk that was bargained for by some cooperatives but was not reported in their income statements.

3

 Fifty-four cooperatives that sell only milk and dairy products. 
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 25

TABLE 14 — Comparison measures of dairy cooperatives, 2007, 2012, and 20171

Measures 2007 2012 2017

Current assets/total assets 60.4% 61.9% 59.8%

Total liabilities/total assets 72.4% 74.5% 67.2%

Total equity/total assets 27.6% 25.5% 32.8%

Total assets per hundredweight $8.41 $10.90 $12.71

Total liabilities per hundredweight $6.09 $8.12 $8.55

Total equity per hundredweight $2.32 $2.78 $4.16

Cost of goods sold to total revenues 93.2% 93.1% 91.2%

Total expenses to total revenues 5.9% 5.7% 7.5%

Total costs and expenses to total revenues 99.1% 99.5% 98.6%

Net margin before taxes to total revenues 0.9% 0.6% 1.4%

Milk & dairy product sales per hundredweight $27.13 $28.89 $26.44

Total revenue per hundredweight $30.96 $37.48 $33.41

Cost of goods sold per hundredweight $28.85 $34.88 $30.48

Total expenses per hundredweight $1.82 $2.14 $2.50

Total costs and expenses per hundredweight $30.68 $37.28 $32.93

Net margin before taxes per hundredweight $0.28 $0.22 $0.48

Dairy co-ops with a NIBT2 loss 14 22 16

Before-tax return on total equity 12.2% 8.0% 11.6%

1

 There were 94 dairy co-ops in analysis in 2007, 88 in 2012, and 86 in 2017.

2

 NIBT=net income before taxes.
26 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

margin of 28 cents per hundredweight. Milk and 

dairy sales per hundredweight were $25.77, total 

revenue was $25.90, cost of goods sold $24.19, 

total expenses $1.50, and total costs and expenses 

$25.62. 

n Comparisons to Past Studies — In 2017, current 

assets to total assets (59.8 percent) was down 

slightly from 61.9 percent in 2012 and 60.4 percent 

in 2007 (table 14). Total liabilities to total assets 

was lower at 67.2 percent, compared to 74.5 

percent in 2012 and 72.4 percent in 2007. The 

amount of total member equity relative to total 

assets increased in 2017, finishing at 32.8 percent, 

up from 25.5 percent in 2012 and 27.6 percent in 

2007.

On a hundredweight of member milk basis, total 

assets per hundredweight ($12.71) rose in 2017, 

from $10.90 in 2012 and $8.41 in 2007. Total 

liabilities per hundredweight ($8.55) also rose, 

from $8.12 in 2012 and $6.09 in 2007. Total equity 

per hundredweight was significantly higher in 

2017 than in the previous two studies, at $4.16 per 

hundredweight, compared to $2.78 in 2012 and 

$2.32 in 2007.

Comparing some items on the income statement 

to total revenues shows that cost of goods sold 

declined from 93.1 percent in 2012 to 91.2 percent 

in 2017 (it was 93.2 percent in 2007). Total 

expenses to total revenue increased in 2017, rising 

from 5.7 percent in 2012 to 7.5 percent. Total costs 

and expenses declined slightly, from 99.5 percent 

in 2012 to 98.6 percent in 2017. Net margins 

before tax as a percentage of total revenue, was 

higher in 2017 (1.4 percent) over both 2012 (0.6 

percent) and 2007 (0.9 percent).

Milk and dairy sales relative to member milk 

marketed dropped to $26.44 per hundredweight 

in 2017, down from $28.89 in 2012 and $27.13 in 

2007. In 2017, total revenue per hundredweight 

($33.41) also dropped from 2012 ($37.48), but was 

higher than in 2007 ($30.96). Cost of goods sold 

per hundredweight ($30.48) dropped from 2012 

($34.88), but was higher than it was in 2007. 

Total expense per hundredweight was also 

higher in 2017, at $2.50 per hundredweight, 

compared to $2.14 5 years earlier and $1.82 10-

years before. Total costs and expenses dropped 

to $32.93 in 2017, down from $37.28 (2012) to 

$32.93, but higher than the $30.68 of 2007.

Net income before taxes jumped in 2017, 

reaching 49 cents per hundredweight, compared to 

22 cents in 2012 and 28 cents in 2007. Return on 

equity (before-tax net margin to equity) was 11.6 

percent in 2017, up significantly from 8.0 percent 

in 2012, but lower than the 12.2 percent of 2007. 

Of the dairy cooperatives analyzed, 16 (19 

percent) experienced a pretax loss in 2017. This 

was down from 22 co-ops (25 percent) in 2012, but 

up slightly from 14 cooperatives (15 percent) in 

2007. 

Historical Statistics and Trends

Figures 2 through 9 illustrate some of the trends 

of dairy cooperatives in 5-year increments, from 

1987 through 2017. The data in these charts can be 

found in 10 appendix tables that provide historical 

statistics compiled by USDA, in some cases back 

to 1936, 1957, or 1973. Five-year incremental data 

collection began in 1987. 

 Figure 2 shows that the number of dairy 

cooperatives that handle or bargain for milk of 

their member-producers has been on a steady 

downward trend. In 2017, there were 60 percent 

fewer dairy cooperatives than in 1987. 

The number of member-producers delivering 

milk to cooperatives dropped by 73 percent since 

1987, while the pounds of milk per producer 

delivered increased by 462 percent over the same 

period (figure 3).
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 27

FIGURE 2 — Number of dairy cooperatives, 1987–2017

FIGURE 3 — Number of cooperative producrs and milk pounds per producer, 1987–2017
28 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

Figure 4 presents the co-op market shares of 

U.S. total milk production. Total milk handled by 

cooperatives hit highs of 85 percent in 2002 and 

2017, while the high for member milk share was 

82.6 percent in 2007, but dropped to 77.8 percent 

for 2017. 

Total pounds of milk handled by cooperatives 

increased from 105.8 billion pounds to 181.9 

billion pounds since 1987 (or by 76.1 billion 

pounds, 72 percent), while total U.S. milk 

increased by slightly less, 75.4 billion pounds 

(figure 5). Member-producer milk delivered to 

cooperatives is not shown in the figure, but those 

pounds increased by 63.8 million pounds (62 

percent). 

The portion of milk sold raw by cooperatives 

increased from 51 percent in 1987 to a high 

of 66 percent in 2012 (figure 6). The portion 

processed or manufactured dropped from a high 

of 49 percent in 1987 to 35 percent in 2017. The 

lowest portion was in 2012, when 34 percent was 

processed or manufactured by cooperatives.

FIGURE 4 — Cooperative milk shares of total U.S. milk, 1987–2017
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 29

FIGURE 5 — Total milk handled by cooperatives and U.S. total milk, 1987–2017

FIGURE 6 — Portions of cooperative milk sold raw and processed, 1987–2017
30 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

Cooperatives operated 508 milk plants in 

1987 but that has dropped 61 percent since then 

(figure 7). The number of cooperatives operating 

plants dropped from 121 (41 percent of all dairy 

cooperatives) to 41 in 2017 (35 percent of all dairy 

cooperatives). In 2002, there were 45 cooperatives 

operating milk plants, which was only 23 percent 

of all dairy cooperatives.

Figure 8 shows some select products 

manufactured by cooperatives from 1987 to 2017. 

Figure 9 shows the market share of those same 

products over the same period. Butter market 

share fluctuated, with 1997 being the low year, at 

61 percent, while 2017 was the high year, at 86 

percent. The high year for dry milk products was 

2007, when cooperatives had a 94-percent share. 

Cheese production share dropped from 45 

percent in 1987 to a low of 22 percent in 2012, 

but increased to 25 percent in 2017. Dry whey 

products dropped from 63 percent in 1987 to 37 

percent in 2017. However, the volume of pounds 

of those products marketed by cooperatives all 

increased over the period. Dry milk product 

production increased by 1.1 billion pounds, butter 

by 804 million pounds, cheese by 462 million 

pounds, and dry whey products by 131 million 

pounds.

FIGURE 7 — Number of plants operated by cooperatives and number of cooperatives operating plants, 1987–2017
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 31

FIGURE 8 — Volume of select products marketed by cooperatives, 1987–2017

FIGURE 9 — Cooperative share of select products, 1987–2017
32 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

APPENDIX

This section includes notes pertinent to the study 

and appendix tables 1 through 10 (figures 2 

through 9 were created from these tables).

NOTES

1. The major data source for this study was USDA’s

annual cooperative survey for 2017, including

addendum questions for dairy cooperatives

about their milk marketing operations. Other

sources used included: (1) previous USDA dairy

cooperative marketing studies (see note 6); (2)

cooperative websites; (3) Hoard’s Dairyman

magazine, Top 50 Co-ops Handle 81 Percent of

U.S. Milk, (October 15, 2018); Dairy Foods

2018 Dairy 100, the top 100 dairy companies,

https://www.dairyfoods.com/2018-Dairy-100;

(4) Dairy Foods: Dairy Plants USA Directory,

https://www.dairyfoods.com/directories/7376-

dairy-plants-usa; (5) Cooperative Programs’

internal records; and (6) U.S. production

statistics obtained from USDA’s National

Agricultural Statistics Service: Milk Production,

Disposition and Income, 2017 Summary, April

2018; Dairy Products, 2017 Summary, April 2018;

and also by USDA Agricultural Marketing

Service: Estimated Fluid Milk Product Sales Report,

EFMS-0818, October 2018.

2. For the 2012 study, cooperatives were asked

about organic milk handled, but that question

was not included in the 2017 study. In 2012, 24

cooperatives received 2,997 million pounds of

organic milk (1.8 percent of total cooperative

milk handled). An estimate for 2017, is 3,249 

million pounds (1.9 percent of total cooperative 

milk handled) received by 21 cooperatives. This 

estimate is likely on the conservative side.

3. More information on Federal Milk Market

Orders can be found on the AMS Website:

https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/

moa/dairy and https://www.ams.usda.gov/

resources/marketing-order-statistics.

4. The Dairy Foods “2018 Dairy 100” published

list, identified 101 of the largest dairy processing

companies in North America. There were 20

cooperatives in the list operating 167 plants.

The total list identified 763 plants operated

by the largest dairy processors. https://www.

dairyfoods.com/2017-Dairy-100

5. Some cooperatives reported the value of the

milk they bargained for as sales in the income

statements, while others did not. For this latter

group, an estimated value of the milk that was

bargained for was included in the milk and

dairy products sales in order for the cooperative

sales figures to be consistent. The estimated

value is offset by the equal amount of the cost

of goods sold and, therefore, does not affect

the $779 million net savings reported. Milk and

dairy product sales may also include some intercooperative transactions, but they are also netted

out to arrive at the total net savings of dairy

cooperatives as a group.
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 33

6. Previous dairy marketing studies by USDA

are available online at the USDA RD Web

site: https://www.rd.usda.gov/publications/

publications-cooperatives:

a. Research Report 230, Marketing Operations

of Dairy Cooperatives, 2012, USDA Rural

Development, May 2014.

b. Research Report 218, Marketing Operations

of Dairy Cooperatives, 2007, USDA Rural

Development, July 2009.

c. Research Report 201, Marketing Operations

of Dairy Cooperatives, 2002, USDA Rural

Development, February 2004.

d. Research Report 173, Marketing Operations

of Dairy Cooperatives (1997), USDA Rural

Development, June 1999.

e. Research Report 133, Marketing Operations of

Dairy Cooperatives (1992), USDA Agricultural

Cooperative Service, April 1994.
34 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

APPENDIX TABLE 1 — Dairy cooperatives by type of operation and by headquarters region, select years 1936-2017 

Region1 1936 1957 1964 1973 1980 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 2012 2017

Processing and manufacturing 

dairy products2:

North Atlantic 40 24 22 16 12 8 7 6 4 3

South Atlantic 31 13 9 6 4 3 1 2 2 2

East North Central 258 133 93 55 35 24 20 20 21 20

West North Central 453 85 42 24 19 14 10 9 12 10

South Central 16 5 3 3 3 1 0 1 1 1

Western 58 31 23 17 13 13 7 7 7 5

 All regions 2,1683 856 291 192 121 86 63 45 45 47 41

Share of total cooperatives 93% 69% 49% 44% 41% 32% 28% 23% 29% 36% 35%

 

All co-ops that operated milk 

plants or receiving facilities 2,224 1,025 421 289 165 130 88 64 57 47 41

Share of total cooperatives 95% 82% 71% 66% 56% 49% 39% 33% 37% 36% 35%

Not operating milk plants or 

receiving facilities: 

North Atlantic 115 108 94 80 77 72 77 48 41 39

South Atlantic 16 8 7 5 8 5 2 3 4 4

East North Central 31 23 18 17 17 19 16 12 13 9

West North Central 20 2 5 18 17 26 24 25 20 18

South Central 13 7 6 3 3 5 1 2 1 1

Western 24 23 16 8 13 11 10 8 6 6

 All regions 114 219 171 146 131 135 138 130 98 85 77

Share of total cooperatives 5% 18% 29% 34% 44% 51% 61% 67% 63% 64% 65%

Total number of dairy cooperatives:

North Atlantic 193 148 122 100 95 83 85 55 45 42

South Atlantic 58 21 16 12 12 9 3 5 6 6

East North Central 310 167 118 75 53 44 41 35 34 29

West North Central 564 184 124 77 72 60 44 39 32 28

South Central 36 15 13 7 7 6 3 3 2 2

Western 83 57 42 25 26 24 18 18 13 11

 All regions 2,338 1,7464 1,244 592 435 296 265 226 194 155 132 118

Share of total cooperatives 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

1

 Figure 1 shows states by region. 

2

 Including 6 cooperatives that operated milk receiving facilities only in 2012, and 5 cooperatives in 2017.

3

 Comprises 240 milk marketing cooperatives, 1,385 cooperative creameries, and 543 cheese factories.

4

 From Farm Marketing, Supply and Service Cooperative Historical Statistics, Cooperative Information Report 1, Section 26, August 2004.
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 35

APPENDIX TABLE 2 — Number of cooperatives marketing selected dairy products, select years 1936-20171

Item 1936 1964 1973 1980 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 2012 2017

Number

Bulk raw milk 408 730 458 352 251 230 204 168 136 114 96

Butter 1,444 740 207 148 82 68 36 19 19 15 14

Nonfat dry milk 139 212 57 48 31 26 24 17 14 16 14

Skim milk powder 9 8

Dry whole milk 9 6 4 5 7 6

Dry buttermilk 21 16 11 10 13 12

Casein 88

Natural cheese2 562 294 187 157 94 75 42 32 31 25 28

 American cheese 59 33 24 18 16 18

 Italian cheese 27 12 6 6 8 8

 Swiss cheese 5 4 4 5

 Other cheeses 23 12 11 15 14 13

Cottage cheese 14 126 64 42 23 22 13 9 6 6 6

Sour cream 8 8 6 6

Packaged fluid milk products 200 215 85 60 34 29 21 16 13 10 11

Ice cream 57 143 60 38 21 20 13 7 6 6 2

Ice cream mix 8 6 6

Yogurt 19 12 6 6 6 6

Bulk condensed milk 8 14 15 11

Condensed buttermilk 6 4 5

Dry whey products 17 16 13 11 12 12

Whey protein concentrates and isolates 6 11 8

Lactose 4 6 5

Bulk Cream 1,0803 420 208 122 70 40 22 21 22 23

1

 A cooperative may market several products.

2

 Other than cottage cheese; a cooperative may market more than one type of cheese.

3 Total number of cooperatives selling cream for manufacturing and cooperatives selling “market cream as a side-line product.” A small number of cooperatives may 

have been double-counted.
36 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

APPENDIX TABLE 3 — Cooperative share of milk marketed by producers, select years 1957-2017

Cooperative share of U.S. Total

Milk

Milk from from sources Total milk

member- other than handled by United States

Year producers cooperatives1 cooperatives2 total Member milk Total milk handled

1957 - - 58,038 98,378 - 59

1964 - - 76,743 113,935 - 67

1973 82,532 695 83,227 109,823 75 76

1980 94,439 1,195 95,634 124,717 76 77

1987 103,142 2,656 105,798 139,092 74 76

1992 118,883 3,739 122,622 148,692 80 82

1997 125,103 2,315 127,418 153,405 82 83

2002 139,205 5,144 144,349 168,944 82 85

2007 152,514 3,272 155,786 184,565 83 84

2012 161,222 6,451 167,673 199,362 81 84

2017 166,978 14,938 181,916 214,487 78 85

1

 Milk from nonmembers and noncooperative firms.

2

 Handled either by physical receipt or by bargaining or servicing transactions. Excludes inter-cooperative shipment.
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 37

APPENDIX TABLE 4 — Utilization of cooperatively marketed milk,1 select years 1936-2017 

Total milk Portion

Processed or handled by Portion processed or

Year Sold Raw2 manufactured cooperatives sold raw manufactured

1936 15,6323 15,940 31,572 50 50 

1957 36,213 21,825 58,038 62 38 

1964 43,443 33,300 76,743 57 43 

1973 52,180 31,047 83,227 63 37 

1980 52,495 43,139 95,634 55 45 

1987 53,640 52,158 105,798 51 49 

1992 73,934 48,688 122,622 60 40 

1997 78,234 49,184 127,418 61 39 

2002 88,073 56,276 144,349 61 39 

2007 98,288 57,498 155,786 63 37 

2012 110,481 57,192 167,673 66 34 

2017 118,080 63,836 181,916 65 35

1 Excludes inter-cooperative volume.

2

 Includes milk shipped to plants which cooperatives invested in but did not directly operate.

3

 Whole milk equivalent of “market milk,” “market cream,” and “cream for manufacturing” and may include some packaged fluid milk.
38 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

APPENDIX TABLE 5 — Cooperative member milk by farm location, number of producers, and milk per producer,1

select years 1936-2017

Region2 1936 19572 19642 1973 1980 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 2012 2017

 

 Cooperative member-producer milk in million pounds

North Atlantic 13,239 16,956 14,980 15,414 15,803 16,502 18,330 19,826 20,428 22,078 26,271

South Atlantic 3,299 4,176 6,376 7,343 7,516 8,994 8,273 8,448 7,350 7,362 7,476

East North Central3 25,017 30,129 31,413 34,813 32,583 34,210 37,675 42,923 43,795

West North Central3 35,538 47,812 17,265 17,938 18,980 18,500 18,294 17,893 19,192 20,238 20,101

South Central3 9,004 9,437 9,468 9,326 11,383 9,752 9,788 9,266 8,996

Western 5,962 7,799 9,890 14,178 19,962 30,748 36,240 49,076 58,081 59,356 60,338

All regions 31,572 58,038 76,743 82,532 94,439 103,142 118,883 125,103 139,205 152,514 161,222 166,978 

 Cooperative regional share (percent)4

North Atlantic 67 75 74 66 61 62 69 69 76 80 87

South Atlantic 50 56 78 79 81 92 90 90 94 92 89

East North Central3 80 85 80 90 90 90 91 92 83

West North Central3 60 69 83 84 86 85 94 94 97 97 84

South Central3 78 79 76 67 89 89 83 71 60

Western 47 53 56 62 66 80 73 73 76 72 72

 All regions 40 59 67 75 76 74 80 82 82 83 81 78

 Number of member-producers delivering5

North Atlantic 20,015 17,559 15,394 12,886 12,078 10,693 10,700

South Atlantic 4,772 4,124 3,501 2,770 2,118 1,709 1,307

East North Central 47,378 49,015 35,240 24,314 20,255 17,323 10,780

West North Central 33,361 27,376 22,343 14,199 10,135 8,165 6,014

South Central 9,357 7,188 7,613 3,617 2,353 1,629 1,268

Western 5,720 5,178 3,847 3,604 2,736 2,480 2,096

All regions 656,894 777,400 561,085 281,065 163,549 120,603 110,440 87,938 61,390 49,675 41,999 32,165

 Million pounds of milk per producer

North Atlantic 0.8 0.9 1.2 1.5 1.7 2.1 2.5

South Atlantic 1.6 2.2 2.4 3.0 3.5 4.3 5.7

East North Central 0.7 0.7 0.9 1.4 1.9 2.5 4.1

West North Central 0.6 0.7 0.8 1.3 1.9 2.5 3.3

South Central 1.0 1.3 1.5 2.7 4.2 5.7 7.1

Western 3.5 5.9 9.4 13.6 21.2 23.9 28.8

 All regions 0.05 0.07 0.14 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.1 1.4 2.3 3.1 3.8 4.8

1

 Milk from member-producers only and by farm location, except 1957 and 1964. 

2

 For 1957 and 1964, milk was by cooperative headquarters region and included receipts from other firms but net of inter-cooperative volume.

3

 For 1957 and 1964, West North Central represents all three central regions. 

4

 Cooperative member milk volume as a percentage of regional volume sold to plants and dealers. 

5

 For 1957-80, number of members as recorded in Statistics of Farmer Cooperatives, selected years. 
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 39

APPENDIX TABLE 6 — Number of dairy plants owned and operated by cooperatives performing various 

marketing functions, select years 1973-2017 

Marketing function 1973 1980 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 2012 2017

Receive and ship milk1 876 292 255 125 123 95 130

 (Receiving stations only) (419) (242) (279) (81) (91) (35) (17) (13) (10)

Churn butter 170 95 69 48 36 25 24 24 30

Make dry milk products 1052 122 1083 52 43 43 39 35 46

Make American cheese 1774 1744 1324 80 61 48 34 32 31

Make Italian cheese 46 30 21 17 17 19

Make other cheeses 18 18 18 29

Package fluid milk 142 123 92 75 54 42 49 49 52

Make cottage cheese5 60 44 32 25 14 15 11 15 23

Make ice cream 44 49 42 37 22 20 11 8 15

Make condensed products 71 73 61 766 606 666 47 27 1

Make dry whey products 40 40 28 24 24 20

Other activities8 40 70 56 42 18 26 47 45

Total9 894 698 508 381 295 211 193 184 198

1 Most plants performing these functions also perform manufacturing functions, but some were receiving stations only as depicted in 

figures in parenthesis in next line. 

2

 Reported as making nonfat dry milk. 

3

 Reported as including making dry whey products. 

4

 Reported as making natural cheese. 

5

 Reported as including making cultured products since 2002. 

6

 Reported as including making condensed whey products. 

7

 Plants that only condensed milk as final products without further processing onsite. 

8

 Other marketing functions not separately listed for the survey year. 

9

 Number of plants do not add to totals because some perform more than one function. 
40 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

APPENDIX TABLE 7 — Volume of butter marketed by cooperatives compared with U.S. production, select years 

1936-2017

United States Cooperative

Marketed by total share

Year cooperatives production of U.S. total

 Thousand pounds Percent

1936 635,445 1,629,407 39 

1957 815,680 1,412,848 58 

1964 938,569 1,442,447 65 

1973 604,717 918,618 66 

1980 733,146 1,145,254 64 

1987 781,738 1,104,135 71 

1992 885,321 1,365,164 65 

1997 697,639 1,151,250 61 

2002 956,211 1,355,147 71 

2007 1,087,012 1,532,717 71 

2012 1,396,363 1,859,554 75 

2017 1,585,778 1,847,473 86 
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 41

APPENDIX TABLE 8 — Volume of dry milk products1 marketed by cooperatives compared with U.S. production, 

select years 1936-2017

United States Cooperative

Marketed by total share

Year cooperatives production of U.S. total

 Thousand pounds Percent

19362 174,531 349,550 50 

1957 1,006,983 1,765,219 57 

1964 1,709,027 2,378,013 72 

1973 894,365 1,047,562 85 

1980 1,125,401 1,294,222 87 

1987 1,157,358 1,278,108 91 

1992 904,411 1,111,470 81 

1997 1,054,896 1,394,252 76 

2002 1,422,545 1,705,801 83 

2007 1,513,760 1,617,124 94 

2012 2,103,733 2,322,177 91 

2017 2,296,107 2,600,086 88

1

 Includes nonfat and skim milk powders, dry buttermilk, and dry whole milk.

2

 Dried/powdered skim milk. 
42 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017

APPENDIX TABLE 9 — Volume of natural cheese1, by type, marketed by cooperatives compared with U.S. 

production, select years 1936-2017 

Cheese type 1936 1957 1964 1973 1980 1987 1992 1997 2002 2007 2012 2017

 

 Cooperative member-producer milk in million pounds

American types 2,008,456 2,094,551 2,119,394 2,112,011 1,698,485 1,513,174 1,925,824

Italian varieties 299,338 646,241 687,646 765,426 742,830 732,572 797,500

Swiss cheese 63,000 50,000 69,611 39,509 36,921 31,363 34,875

Other cheeses 53,543 29,183 30,796 31,138 34,477 108,871 128,121

Total 160,158 252,945 365,902 926,447 1,873,235 2,424,337 2,819,975 2,907,447 2,948,084 2,512,713 2,385,980 2,886,320

 U.S. production in thousand pounds 

American types 2,716,659 2,936,561 3,285,558 3,690,978 3,877,214 4,358,477 5,071,991

Italian varieties 1,799,770 2,508,577 2,881,445 3,470,014 4,198,800 4,633,627 5,383,864

Swiss cheese 227,241 237,304 207,583 254,096 313,689 320,599 316,653

Other cheeses 600,694 805,849 955,828 1,132,179 1,387,082 1,577,441 750,597

Total 642,274 1,407,429 1,730,573 2,685,350 3,984,266 5,344,364 6,488,291 7,330,414 8,547,267 9,776,785 10,890,144 11,523,105 

 Cooperative share (percent) 

American types 74 71 65 57 44 35 38 

Italian varieties 17 26 24 22 18 16 15 

Swiss cheese 28 21 34 16 12 10 11 

Other cheeses 9 4 3 3 2 7 17 

Total 25 18 21 35 47 45 43 40 34 26 22 25 

1 Includes all types of natural cheese except cottage cheese. Prior to 1987, data were not reported by cheese variety. 
MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017 43

APPENDIX TABLE 10 — Volume of dry whey products1 marketed by cooperatives compared with U.S. production, 

select years 1973-2017

United States Cooperative

Marketed by total share

Year cooperatives production of U.S. total

 Million pounds Percent

19732 433 772 56 

19802 560 883 63 

1987 913 1,453 63 

1992 920 1,781 52 

1997 907 1,925 47 

2002 1,104 2,116 52 

2007 1,027 2,420 42 

2012 1,125 2,621 43 

2017 1,044 2,823 37 

1 Dry and modified dry whey including reduced lactose and minerals, whey proteins, and lactose.

2

 Dry and modified dry whey. 
44 MARKETING OPERATIONS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES | 2017
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Research Report 234