Dairylea sends equity checks early

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — In light of the unprecedented times faced by dairy farmers, the Dairylea Cooperative Inc. board of directors recently passed a resolution to release this year’s revolving equity four months before the normal time frame.

Equity checks

This is the 18th consecutive year Dairylea has been able to make a return on members’ equity contributions. More than 1,600 checks were cut, totaling an amount upward of $825,000.

“Our members are in the midst of a crisis,” said Greg Wickham, Dairylea chief executive officer. “This is one small way to help on the short term.”

Webinar

Dairylea also recently hosted a follow-up webinar for the agribusiness community in response to the dire economic situation in the Northeast dairy industry. The webinar, held April 30, revisited many of the discussion topics that existed in February’s agribusiness webinar.

More than 200 participants from five states listened as cooperative representatives provided information on factors affecting milk-marketing dynamics and the most recent milk pricing forecast.

With more than 2,300 member farms, Dairylea Cooperative Inc. is the largest milk-marketing organization based in the region, selling about 5.5 billion pounds of raw milk.