Marketing Operations of Dairy Cooperatives, 2002

The Nation's 196 dairy cooperatives marketed 139.2 billion pounds of milk delivered by its 61,390 member-producers, or 83 percent of all milk sold to plants and dealers, in 2002. (Including non-member milk, the volume marketed by dairy cooperatives was 144.3 billion pounds, or 86 percent of the U.S. total.) Forty-six cooperatives operated 174 dairy processing and manufacturing plants, 19 handled milk through receiving stations only and 131 had no milk-handling facilities. In addition, cooperatives had investment in but did not directly operate 75 dairy plants. Cooperatives marketed 71 percent of the Nation's butter, 86 percent of the nonfat dry milk, 40 percent of the natural cheese, 7 percent of the packaged fluid milk products, 9 percent of the cottage cheese, 3 percent of the ice cream, 6 percent of the ice cream mix, 2 percent of the yogurt, 53 percent of the bulk condensed milk products, 52 percent of the dry whey products, 13 percent of the sour cream, and 34 percent of the condensed buttermilk.