2016 is shaping up to be a challenging year for dairy farmers. With milk production both domestically and internationally on the rise, Cooperatives Working Together’s (CWT) export assistance effort is essential.

By focusing on dairy products that directly impact producers’ revenue stream – American-type cheeses, butter containing 82 percent butterfat and whole milk powder – the export assistance program directly impacts all dairy producers’ bottom lines.

In the first three months of 2016, CWT members submitted 244 total requests for export assistance. The CWT offers accepted resulted in 66 sales contracts for 12.4 million pounds of Cheddar, Gouda and Monterey Jack cheese; 15 contracts for 7.7 million pounds of butter; and 20 contracts to export 14.7 million pounds of whole milk powder to be delivered through September 2016.

When combined with the 29.5 million pounds of cheese, butter and whole milk powder sold in 2015 for delivery in 2016, CWT members will be sending the milkfat equivalent of nearly 700 million pounds of milk into key overseas markets. This quantity is equal to the average annual milk production from 31,259 U.S. dairy cows.

Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) provided the content on this page. CWT was designed by America’s dairy farmers to benefit all U.S. dairy farmers. It is a voluntary, producer-funded program developed by National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) to strengthen and stabilize producer prices.

Participating producers contribute four cents per hundredweight of milk produced to fund the program. For membership information go to www.cwt.coop