Milk Matters

Communication is of the utmost importance when working alongside the dairy producers who supply our local plants with quality milk. Field Service Representatives are the conduit of that communication, sharing and receiving information that pertains to the producers and the plant. Discussions on milk quality, milk marketing, dairy trends, local events, regulatory compliance, farm pickup coordination, are just a few examples of the daily conversations we have, and where Agropur strives to foster good relationships, and be a reliable partner in production.

The producers delivering to our plants are diverse in their business, some small and large; some grazers and freestall operations; some stall barns and parlors. Our field service team provides services that are tailored to your needs. Learning those needs, and providing security, stability and transparency in meeting them is what defines our producer services.

Milk Quality Services

Award-winning cheese starts with quality milk directly from our local producers. We offer information and services to help our dairy producers in the consistent production. As a supplement to the years of experience our team has with on-farm milk quality troubleshooting and dairy regulatory compliance, we offer the following services:

• All pickups tested for butterfat, protein, other solids, milk urea nitrogen, cryoscope and somatic cell count
• Two plate counts per month (more if requested)
• Two lab pasteurized counts per month (more if requested)
• Water testing for coliform
• Bulk tank and individual cultures
• Standard culture types
• Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
• Special request bacteria tests
• Preliminary Incubation (PI)
• Direct Microscope Counts (DMCC)
• Free cow sample testing for antibiotics and somatic cell counts
• Antibiotic block heaters for antibiotic tests (test ampules or strips are charged to producer)

Online producer milk test results 

Producer Services Team

Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM)

In Agropur’s constant commitment to produce quality products for our customers, we focus on milk quality and food safety. Our customers’ standards for food products and ingredients have been elevated in the area of animal well-being. In response, and to continue to build consumer confidence in our industry, we have implemented Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) for all our dairy producers.

This FARM program is not pass-fail, but rather an on-farm continuous improvement process centered on evaluating animal care facilities, farm protocols and the animals themselves. It has evolved through working with experts from all segments of the dairy industry, including the National Milk Producers Federation and support from Dairy Management, Inc. It has been implemented reaching 98% of the United States milk supply from over 22,000 farms shipping to food processors throughout the United States.

Access portal here

Milk Forward Contracting Program

Agropur offers the ability to forward contract milk via the CME Class III futures market. Full 200,000 pound contracts and smaller sized contracts are available for forward contracts, puts and window/fence contracts (put/call).

We work with two service-oriented brokerage firms with many years of experience providing risk management for commodity producers.

KDM Trading can be reached at (877) 695-8538.

Rice Dairy can be reached at (312) 492-4275.