$46.4bn
$XX.Xbn
102k
18,830
$X.Xbn
The most critical success factor for dairy farms is the price farmers receive for raw milk. Through the end of 2024, raw milk prices have been volatile, causing revenue to fluctuate. Before the pandemic, an oversupply of dairy products caused milk prices to fall, which led to declining industry revenue that same year. The increase immediately followed this in the cost of milk.
Industry revenue has declined at a CAGR of 1.0 % over the past five years, to reach an estimated $46.4bn in 2024.
Market size is projected to grow over the next five years.
Company | Market Share (%)
2024 | Revenue ($m)
2024 | Profit ($m)
2024 | Profit Margin (%)
2024 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dairy Farmers Of America, Inc. | 24,503.7 | 367.2 | 1.5 | |
Land O'lakes, Inc. | 2,440.7 | 26.9 | 1.1 | |
California Dairies, Inc. | 91.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 |
To view the market share and analysis for all 3 top companies in this industry, view purchase options.
Industry revenue is measured across several distinct product and services lines, including Milk for dairy products, Fluid milk and Milk for pasteurization. Milk for dairy products is the largest segment of the Dairy Farms in the US.
Milk for dairy products has grown as a share of revenue
Operators in this industry primarily raise cattle for milk. The industry includes only the sale of raw milk and excludes the production of drinkable fluid milk and processed dairy products, such as butter, cheese and powdered milk. Those value-added activities are covered in the Dairy Product Production industry (IBISWorld report 31151).
Purchase this report to view all 3 major companies in this industry.
NAICS 11212 - Dairy Farms in the US
Get an indication of the industry's health through historical, current and forward-looking trends in the performance indicators that make or break businesses.
The price of raw milk largely determines dairy farms’ revenue. Milk prices have been volatile and are influenced by government regulation.
Learn about an industry's products and services, markets and trends in international trade.
Per capita consumption of fluid milk consumption has demonstrated a long-term slow decline. This will impact the fluid milk segment.
Discover where business activity is most concentrated in an industry and the factors driving these trends to find opportunities and conduct regional benchmarking.
The Great Lakes and the Plains have the most dairy farms. These farms tend to be smaller and older, though.
Get data and insights on what's driving competition in an industry and the challenges industry operators and new entrants may face, with analysis built around Porter's Five Forces framework.
Dairy cooperatives empower smaller farms. Smaller dairy farms often sell their products through cooperatives, giving them greater market power.
Learn about the performance of the top companies in the industry.
The leading dairy farms are cooperatives. Cooperatives allow smaller farmers to operate competitively on the market.
Understand the demographic, economic and regulatory factors that shape how businesses in an industry perform.
Feed prices have risen. This will be passed along as higher milk prices.
View average costs for industry operators and compare financial data against an industry's financial benchmarks over time.
The USDA’s Dairy Margin Coverage Program helps keep profit steady. The program was instituted in the 2018 Farm Bill.
Including values and annual change:
IBISWorld has been a leading provider of trusted industry research for over 50 years to the most successful companies worldwide. With offices in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and China, we are proud to have local teams of analysts that conduct research, data analysis and forecasting to produce data-driven industry reports.
Our analysts start with official, verified and publicly available sources of data to build the most accurate picture of each industry. Analysts then leverage their expertise and knowledge of the local markets to synthesize trends into digestible content for IBISWorld readers. Finally, each report is reviewed by one of IBISWorld’s editors, who provide quality assurance to ensure accuracy and readability.
IBISWorld relies on human-verified data and human-written analysis to compile each standard industry report. We do not use generative AI tools to write insights, although members can choose to leverage AI-based tools within the platform to generate additional analysis formats.
Each industry report incorporates data and research from government databases, industry-specific sources, industry contacts, and our own proprietary database of statistics and analysis to provide balanced, independent and accurate insights.
Key data sources in the US include:
Analysts also use industry specific sources to complement catch-all sources, although their perspective may focus on a particular organization or representative body, rather than a clear overview of all industry operations. However, when balanced against other perspectives, industry-specific sources provide insights into industry trends.
These sources include:
Finally, IBISWorld’s global data scientists maintain a proprietary database of macroeconomic and demand drivers, which our analysts use to help inform industry data and trends. They also maintain a database of statistics and analysis on thousands of industries, which has been built over our more than 50-year history and offers comprehensive insights into long-term trends.
IBISWorld’s analysts and data scientists use the sources above to create forecasts for our proprietary datasets and industry statistics. Depending on the dataset, they may use regression analysis, multivariate analysis, time-series analysis or exponential smoothing techniques to project future data for the industry or driver. Additionally, analysts will leverage their local knowledge of industry operating and regulatory conditions to impart their best judgment on the forecast model.
IBISWorld prides itself on being a trusted, independent source of data, with over 50 years of experience building and maintaining rich datasets and forecasting tools. We are proud to be the keystone source of industry information for thousands of companies across the world.
Learn more about our methodology and data sourcing on the Help Center.
Unlock comprehensive answers and precise data upon purchase. View purchase options.
The market size of the Dairy Farms in the US industry in United States is $46.4bn in 2024.
There are 18,830 businesses in the Dairy Farms in the US industry in United States, which has declined at a CAGR of 10.3 % between 2019 and 2024.
The market size of the Dairy Farms in the US industry in United States has been declining at a CAGR of 1.0 % between 2019 and 2024.
Over the next five years, the Dairy Farms in the US industry in United States is expected to grow.
The biggest companies operating in the Dairy Farms market in United States are Dairy Farmers Of America, Inc., Land O'lakes, Inc. and California Dairies, Inc.
Dairy cattle farming and Milking dairy cattle are part of the Dairy Farms in the US industry.
The company holding the most market share in United States is Dairy Farmers Of America, Inc..
The level of competition is moderate and increasing in the Dairy Farms in the US industry in United States.