Domestic dairy sales are an important part of dairy's business, and three popular places to acquire dairy coincide with common places Americans acquire food. That is according to the USDA's National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey.
According to the survey's data, 87 percent of households acquired food from large grocery stores or supermarkets and another 85 percent bought food from restaurants or other eating places.
Fortunately, dairy holds prominent positions in each of these markets. The dairy case is a popular place for sales in grocery stores; dairy-related products highlight many restaurant menus and school lunch programs often feature milk.
The study also comes with a bit of a challenge for dairy. The average American allocates $78 per week for food. In the West, that numbers is $83 and in the Midwest, it's $73. No matter the regional difference, it's important for dairy to play a role in this.
On a dollar basis, Americans spent $55 of the average $78 at grocery stores while another third of the total was spent at restaurants and other eating places
Other interesting findings from the report include rural households that spend less per capita at restaurants (29 percent of their weekly food expenditure) than urban households (35 percent of weekly food expenditure). Rural households were also understandably more likely to report more free food events from their own food production and fewer incidents of family and friends providing food than urban households.
In total, 22 percent of all food acquisitions were reported as free.
The author is an associate editor. She covers feeding and nutrition, youth activities and heads up the World Dairy Expo Supplement. Maggie was raised on a 150-cow dairy near Valley Center, Kansas, and graduated from Kansas State University with degrees in agricultural communications and animal sciences.