“The U.S. just recently crossed 35 pounds of cheese per person on a per capita basis,” stated Mark Stephenson, speaking to those attending the Wisconsin Agricultural Outlook Forum held on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus on January 19, 2017. “That is an elite number among all nations of the world.

“However, we still have room to grow cheese,” the ag economist went on to explain. “While the U.S. eats 35 pounds per person, Germany and France are over 50 pounds.”

There are a number of ways to measure dairy product consumption. In order to compare all dairy products on a level playing field, milk equivalent basis can act as another gauge.

“On a milk equivalent basis, we add almost 2 pounds per capita a year,” said Stephenson, noting that Americans eat or drink about 630 pounds of milk either as beverage, cheese, yogurt, butter, ice cream, or other dairy products.

“Also adding to our growing dairy sales is the fact that we add almost 3 million people to our population each year,” he said.

To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com.