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Dairy Producer and Marketing Cooperatives — Past, Present, and Future

Mid-America Dairymen, Inc., Springfield, MO 65805

ABSTRACT

The structure of the fluid milk industry has been in an almost constant state of change in the past 25 yr, and the rate of change has intensified during the past 10 yr. Changes involved both numbers of plants bottling fluid milk and types of plants engaged in bottling.

Twenty-five years ago most fluid milk markets were characterized by a large number of fairly small bottling operations, many of which were locally owned. While national dairy firms were evident in many markets, they did not dominate those markets. This was particularly true in small markets, and because markets were generally much smaller than they are today, this explains the lack of dominance by national firms.

As markets increased in size, so did the average market share of the four largest fluid milk dealers. A 1966 study indicated that local firms were predominant among the largest four milk processors in the smaller markets, but as market size increased, local firms lost out to national and regional firms.