Markets & Management

The last time per capita dairy consumption was higher than 2021, Dwight Eisenhower was the president, and my Baby Boomer parents were not yet teenagers. Per capita consumption is defined as the annualized total dairy product consumption divided by the U.S. population. According to USDA data, per capita consumption was 672 pounds per person on a milk-fat, milk-equivalent basis in 1959. From then through the mid-1980s per capita consumption declined to a low of 541 pounds per person. Between the mid-1980s until 2004, consumption oscillated between the 560s and  590s. In 2005, per capita consumption climbed to 603 pounds per person from 594 in 2004. It has been on a general upward trend since then. Since 2005, per capita consumption has only experienced a year-over-year decline four years out of 17, culminating in a multi-decade high of 667 pounds per person in 2021. Read More