The timing of the COVID-19 outbreak couldn’t have been worse for dairy, like so many industries.
“We were starting to see some good prices in the industry, finally,” said Lucas Sjostrom, the executive director for the Minnesota Milk Producers Association.
Of all the commodities impacted, milk has been one of the hardest hit.
“So, when restaurants are down, cheese isn’t sold. When cheese isn’t sold, markets are down, especially in the Upper Midwest,” he said.
Lucas Sjostrom says right now, consumers are seeing fewer milk options at grocery stores, and there’s a reason for that.
“One and 2% are their top skews or top two products at the bottler,” he said. “So they’ve been focusing on that and sacrificing skim and whole in a large way.”
“The first couple weeks were kind of a punch in the throat,” said Alise Sjostrom, Lucas’ wife and one of the owners of Redhead Creamery near Brooten.
Without consumers coming into their store, they’ve had to re-invent the cheese wheel, so to speak, by adding deliveries.
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“People are so crazy about it. They are excited to have cheese delivered to their house,” she said.
Social distance deliveries mean dropping off packages of cheese at a client’s front door.
The creamery is hoping restrictions are lifted by the summer, when they have the most visitors. But after this is over, deliveries could be a permanent part of their business plan.
“We continue to adjust and adapt with the market. And who knows, maybe a delivery service is something that we incorporate into our plan,” Alise Sjostrom said.
Source: nbc12.com
