In 2020, Dairy Farmers of America increased its net income and net sales, primarily due to DFA acquiring 43 manufacturing facilities from Dean Foods out of bankruptcy in May 2020. The cooperatives' net income, excluding non-recurring items, was $170.6 million for the 12 months ending Dec. 31, 2020, compared to $83.2 million in 2019. Lower milk prices partially offset the increase. The U.S. all milk price averaged $17.79 per hundredweight in 2020 compared to $18.46 in 2019. DFA's net sales totaled $17.8 billion for 2020, compared to $15.8 billion in 2019.

Related: DFA sells two Dean Foods plants

"While 2020 was a challenging year for many, I am proud of the hard work and resiliency of our family farm-owners and employees," said Rick Smith, DFA president and CEO. "Despite the challenges, we made solid progress on our strategic goals. We continued to provide value to our family farm-owners by growing our commercial businesses, including the acquisition of a significant portion of Dean Foods' assets. We stayed focused on sustainability and our commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030 and continued to support our local communities by making donations to food banks and helping feed those in need."

In 2020, DFA directed the marketing of 63.2 billion pounds of milk for both members and others through the cooperative's consolidated businesses, which represent about 28% of the total milk production in the United States. Cash distributed to members in 2020 totaled $46 million. Of the cash distributed to members in 2020, $27 million was in equity retirements and $19 million represented the cash portion of the allocated patronage dividends.

In fall 2020, the first milk was received at a new cheese and whey manufacturing facility, MWC, in St. Johns, Mich. This plant is a joint venture partnership with Glanbia Nutritionals and Select Milk Producers Inc. and is driven by Michigan's growing milk supply and an increasing worldwide demand for dairy products.

DFA was the first U.S. dairy cooperative to establish science-based targets and to commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions across its supply chain by 30% by 2030. DFA's target is aligned with the work of the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy and its goals for the U.S. dairy industry to become carbon neutral or better by 2050.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, DFA created the Farmers Feeding Families Fund to help raise money and get dairy products to food banks across the country. To date, the Farmers Feeding Families Fund has raised more than $675,000 and has distributed funds to more than 320 community food banks for the purchase of dairy products.

Source: DFA, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.