Dairy Demand Shifting Due To COVID-19

Apr 08, 2020

The COVID-19 outbreak is causing rapid fluctuations in demand for many milk and dairy products.

"In the food service industry, and that is particularly restaurants and that sort of thing, a lot of them have been shut down or it's just take-out," said David Wiens, Chair of Dairy Farmers of Manitoba (DFM). "There's been a very reduced activity at that level and that has resulted in less demand directly for those products."

He notes more of the demand for dairy is at the retail level directly to consumers, however there hasn't been a new standard set at this point.

Wiens says the dramatic changes in demand have resulted in the need for the disposal of some raw milk.

"It's happening right across the country, but I can certainly speak specifically for Western Canada where's there's been a significant volume of raw milk that had to be discarded because the processors are saying 'we've got enough'. We have nowhere else to bring it."

He notes a cow produces a certain amount of milk per day and farmers must continue to milk them for the animal's well-being.

Wiens says DFM will continue to donate excess milk to Manitoba food banks in an effort to reduce the amount that is discarded.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.