Advocates say Kansas ideal for dairy industry
Published 3/26/2010 in Local News
By SHAJIA AHMAD
sahmad@gctelegram.com
Though many dairy producers nationwide have been struggling to stay in business during the economic recession, Kansas dairy advocates say now is a prime time to open a dairy farm and that the Sunflower State is the ideal location to do so.
Organizers with the Kansas Dairy Initiative — an effort to attract new dairy farmers to the state — hosted a day-long tour of three area dairies Thursday, where local operators and state commerce officials provided facility tours and a first-hand glimpse into a dairy’s daily operations: how milk is extracted, processed and transported.
At the 960-acre Royal Farms Dairy about 15 miles east of Garden City, where about 50,000 gallons of milk are produced daily, dairy operator Steve Irsik said that abundant dairy feed supplies in the region, limited competition for space, a dependably dry climate and a growing regional milk market should be attractive to out-of-state dairy producers looking to relocate or those looking to go into the business.
“There’s a real synergy here between grain producing farmers and dairymen,” Irsik said to the group of about 15 local business leaders and dairy producers. And, Irsik added, ongoing efforts to bring a $90 million large cheese factory to nearby Dodge City would require nearly 7 million pounds of milk per day and similar ventures are in the works in the Texas panhandle and New Mexico.
The national dairy crisis has taken a heavy toll on dairy farm families nationwide, and the National Farmers Union estimates at least 2,000 small and large dairies have gone out of business over the last several years due to low producer prices and nationwide surplus production of milk — and therefore dairy products. In addition, decreased demand worldwide connected with the world financial meltdown has exacerbated the challenges facing America’s dairy producers, even in this corner of the state, Irsik added.
But dairy advocates also said that despite the closure of a few western Kansas dairies — Sante Fe Dairy in Grant County, which closed in 2008, and West Kansas Dairy in Hamilton County, which closed in 2009 — the operations in Kansas continue to be strong. Of just more than 400 dairy farms across the state, more than 20 dairies milking more than 1,000 cows are primarily concentrated in the western half of the state, and about 22 of them are continuing to produce just more than 65 percent of the state’s supply, according to Jody Wacker, a dairy coordinator with the Kansas Livestock Association.
Wacker said that despite high supplies of milk nationally, there is a relatively low “spirit of competition” locally because the success of local dairies is intricately tied to the success of local economies. In addition, the success of local dairy producers strengthens commodity prices for farmers across the region, she said.
“There’s no competition here for feed, land, facilities, etc. — there’s no way we’re near that in western Kansas,” she said.
The tour was hosted by the Kansas Department of Commerce and the western Kansas Rural Economic Development Alliance (wKREDA). Guests also toured Plymell Dairy in Finney County and Forget-Me-Not Farms in Gray County.
The three dairies chosen for the tour have three different business models and structures so that participants can get a feel for the entire dairy industry in Kansas, J.J. Jones, an agricultural marketing specialist with the state commerce department, said.
