DAIRY OPPORTUNITIES
Attention California dairy community!
Please take our Dairy Opportunities Survey to contribute to developing: -farmstead/specialty dairy product processing and/or marketing, and/or a
-dedicated organic dairy processing facility
The survey is available as an automated online survey (our preferred method of submission), or as a Microsoft Word document.
Submit your completed survey by Monday, September 20th to be entered into a prize drawing to win your choice of the following, either:
1) FREE admission to Cal Poly SLO’s famous Farmstead/Artisan Cheesemaker short course ($675 value)! OR
2) 6 FREE hours of consultation in processing, business planning and/or marketing with Dan Strongin of Edible Solutions (past clients include California Milk Advisory Board, University of California, Fiscalini Cheese Company) (a $750 value)!
Return to this site in October to find the survey results and analysis.
LIVESTOCK GROSS MARGIN-DAIRY INSURANCE WORKSHOPS
Below are the proceedings from the LGM-Dairy Workshops:
“LGM-Dairy: A New Risk Management Tool for California Dairies”
“Flowchart- LGM-Dairy: An Overview”
“Livestock Gross Margin for Dairy: A California Example”
“Flowchart- LGM-Dairy Optimizer”
“Instructions on Getting Started Using the University of Wisconsin LGM-Dairy Software System”
Here is video of the conference in a variety of formats:
LGM-D Intro (66:36 min): Quicktime (.MOV), Windows Media (.WMV), Flash Video (.FLV)
(View along with the “LGM-Dairy: A New Risk Management Tool for California Dairies” PDF linked above.)
CA_Example (38:35 min): Quicktime (.MOV), Windows Media (.WMV), Flash Video (.FLV)
(View along with the “Livestock Gross Margin for Dairy: A California Example” PDF linked above.)
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The Livestock Gross Margin-Dairy insurance program has become available to California producers as of July 30th. LGM-Dairy is a new, unique tool for producers to manage price volatility of both milk and feed. LGM-Dairy differs from other price risk management tools in several important ways. It can be engaged throughout the year, uses low minimum volumes, addresses both feed and milk price risk, and has relatively low overall costs. However, the sign-up period is only one day each month and premiums are due upon sign-up.
In order for the dairy community to effectively assess LGM-Dairy, the California Center for Cooperative Development (CCCD) presented several one-day educational workshops in the second week of August. Each one-day workshop was offered in three California locations: Petaluma, Modesto, and Tulare. These workshops were targeted towards producers, dairy and feed supply co-ops, insurance providers, lenders, and agricultural agencies. The workshops were conducted by Dr. Brian Gould of the University of Wisconsin, who has given numerous presentations on the program. Dr. Gould also provided a comparison between LGM-Dairy and the proposed National Milk Producers Federation revenue insurance program. The training included a hands-on interactive workshop where attendees paired up on laptops and learned to use software that calculates a producer’s optimal LGM-Dairy contract.
The schedule for each workshop was as follows:
10:00am – 10:05am: Welcome
10:05am – 11:00am: A Brief Introduction to LGM-Dairy
11:15am – 12:15pm: Application of LGM-Dairy to a California Dairy Operation
12:15pm – 1:00pm: Complimentary Lunch
1pm – 2pm: Hands-on Workshop Using LGM-Dairy Web-Based Software: Case Studies in Identification of Desired Contract Design
You can find more information about LGM-Dairy at http://future.aae.wisc.edu/lgm_dairy.html. Californians can also contact USDA Risk Management Agency regarding LGM-Dairy:
Leticia McElroy, Risk Management Specialist, (530) 792-5886, Leticia.Mcelroy@rma.usda.gov
Catharine Anderson, Risk Management Specialist, (530) 792-5885, Catharine.Anderson@rma.usda.gov
This event was made possible by funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and is co-sponsored by California FarmLink.