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DFA income up 40% on higher milk prices

Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) has reported net income of $43.1 million for 2014. DFA’s net sales totalled $17.9 billion for 2014, a nearly 40% increase compared with $12.8 billion in 2013. This increase was primarily a result of higher milk prices, DFA said, which averaged $23.98 per hundredweight in 2014 compared with $20.05 in […]

Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) has reported net income of $43.1 million for 2014. DFA’s net sales totalled $17.9 billion for 2014, a nearly 40% increase compared with $12.8 billion in 2013. This increase was primarily a result of higher milk prices, DFA said, which averaged $23.98 per hundredweight in 2014 compared with $20.05 in 2013. The higher milk prices also provided improved margins for DFA farmer-members.

“As a member-focused cooperative, our mission is to bring value to our farmer-owners,” said Rick Smith, president and chief executive officer. “DFA’s solid performance in 2014 benefitted members as we opened new processing facilities, acquired new brands and merged with a major milk cooperative.”

In 2014, DFA directed the marketing of 63.7 billion pounds of milk for both members and others. This represented approximately 31% of the total milk production in the United States. Payments to members for milk marketed were $10.9 billion in 2014, compared with $7.9 billion in 2013. The average 2014 price paid to members per hundredweight of milk was $24.17, compared with $20.15 in 2013.

Cash distributed to members in 2014 totalled $28 million, with $8 million of allocated patronage dividends and $20 million in equity retirements.

DFA continued to expand its commercial investments in 2014. The cooperative’s Fluid Milk and Ice Cream Division acquired Oakhurst Dairy, a Portland, Maine-based company that processes milk, juice and fruit drinks.

In 2014, DFA opened two new dairy ingredients plants. A facility in Fallon, Nev., is aid to be the first plant in the United States built to meet the specific needs of the global marketplace. In Linwood, N.Y., DFA opened its first facility built and operated in partnership with a group of individual farmer-members.

DFA grew as a result of the merger in early 2014 with Dairylea Cooperative, a Northeast-based milk marketing cooperative with 1,200 members. The two cooperatives have enjoyed a successful partner relationship since DFA was formed in 1998.