U.S. Dairy Processors Expand Capacity To Meet Demand

Oct 10, 2025

According to data released by the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), America’s dairy processors will have invested more than $11 billion in new and expanded manufacturing capacity across 19 states, including Kansas, by the end of 2028. These new and upgraded facilities, of which there are more than 50, will add to the billions of dollars of new processing capacity that has come online in the past decade.

This continual growth is in response to surging consumer demand for dairy products. IDFA data shows U.S. milk production is expected to grow by 15 billion pounds by 2030 to meet consumer needs. Sales of yogurt, shakes, smoothies, cottage cheese, whey protein powder, milk products and more have risen sharply. Cottage cheese sales alone have surged by about 20% in the U.S. in the year leading up to June 2025, according to Circana, a data analytics company.

Click here to see more...

Video: What Happens When Pigs Adapt to High Soybean Meal Diets? - Gustavo Lima

In this special rerun episode of The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, Gustavo Lima, PhD candidate in Animal Science at Iowa State University, discusses how grow-finish pigs respond to high soybean meal diets. He explains the initial drop in feed intake, changes in backfat, later adaptation, energy efficiency, amino acid utilization, and the rise in nitrogen excretion at higher inclusion levels. Listen now on all major platforms!

Click here to read the full research article: https://academic.oup.com/jas/article/...

“Once they got adapted to the diet, they can handle higher levels of inclusion of soybean meal.”

Meet the guest: Gustavo Lima / gustavo-lima-a9867127 is a PhD candidate in Animal Science at Iowa State University whose work focuses on swine nutrition, ingredient characterization, energy metabolism, caloric efficiency, and applied data analysis. With more than 15 years of experience in swine production across Latin America, Gustavo also brings expertise in environmental control, performance evaluation, barn ventilation, and grow-finish housing. Learn more from Gustavo Lima on The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, available on all major platforms.