Eighty percent of the nation’s milk produced in 2002 was marketed by the top 50 cooperatives. They produced 135.9 billion pounds in 2002 which was up almost 5 billion pounds from 2001. Last year, U.S. dairy producers marketed a total of 168.6 billion pounds. The rank of the top five cooperatives remains the same for the fourth consecutive year. In the next five, only a few changes occurred. Family Dairies USA surpassed Associated Milk Producers to take the No. 6 slot. Michigan Milk Producers rounded out the top 10 this year, pushing Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers to 11th.

Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) continues to lead the pack as it has since its formation in 1998. With 14,329 farms shipping 35.1 billion pounds, DFA members produced about 21 percent of the nation’s milk. DFA handled another 12.7 billion pounds of nonmember milk. The top three co-ops — DFA,
California Dairies and Land O’Lakes — dominate the list. Collectively, their members produced 61.9 billion pounds of milk, more than 36 percent of the U.S. total in 2002.

Continental Dairy Products claimed the title for the most milk per farm with 54.7 million pounds per dairy. Second was Zia Milk Producers with 44.9 million pounds. The cooperative making the greatest leap in rank was Select Milk Producers, which merged with Elite Milk Producers in the summer of 2001. Select rose from 17th to 12th with the merger. Elite had ranked 29th last year.

Another merger joined Independent Dairymen’s Cooperative, 46th last year, with St. Albans Cooperative Creamery. These two mergers allowed Midwest Dairymen’s Company and Hastings Cooperative Creamery to reappear on our list at 49th and 50th.

Information for our Top 50 Co-op List is provided to Hoard’s Dairyman by the cooperatives during the summer. Each cooperative is contacted and asked to provide the previous year’s information. Since some co-ops end their fiscal year on a date other than December 31, milk volume and member farms may not necessarily represent the 2002 calendar year.

Top 50 CO-Ops
Rank	Dairy cooperative	Member milk volume (bil. lbs.)	Member farms
1 4	Dairy Farmers of AmericaKansas City, Mo.	35.108	14,329
2 4	California Dairies Inc.Los Banos, Calif.	14.639	672
3 4	Land O’Lakes Inc.St. Paul, Minn.	12.185	4,610
4 4	Northwest Dairy AssociationSeattle, Wash.	6.400	732
5 4	Dairylea Cooperative Inc.East Syracuse, N.Y.	5.500	2,511
6	Family Dairies USAMadison, Wis.	5.480	4,401
7 4	Associated Milk Producers Inc.New Ulm, Minn,	5.200	4,600
8 4	Foremost Farms USABaraboo, Wis.	5.033	3,766
9 4	Manitowoc Milk Producers CooperativeManitowoc, Wis.	3.970	2,793
10 4	Michigan Milk Producers AssociationNovi, Mich.	3.203	1,805
11 4	Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Co-op Reston, Va.	3.141	1,513
12 4	Select Milk Producers Inc.Artesia, N.M.	2.938	77
13 4	Southeast Milk Inc.Belleview, Fla.	2.920	305
14 4	United Dairymen of ArizonaTempe, Ariz.	2.475	99
15 4	Agri-Mark Inc.Lawrence, Mass.	2.287	1,341
16 4	Swiss Valley Farms Co.Davenport, Iowa	2.107	1,478
17	Alto Dairy CooperativeWaupun, Wis.	1.905	937
18	Allied Federated CooperativesCanton, N.Y.	1.730	1,919
19 4	Milwaukee Cooperative Milk ProducersMilwaukee, Wis.	1.670	822
20 4	First District AssociationLitchfield, Minn.	1.621	1,518
21 4	Prairie Farms Dairy Inc.Carlinville, Ill.	1.280	864
22	Security Milk Producers AssociationOntario, Calif.	1.190	39
23 4	St. Albans Cooperative Creamery Inc.St. Albans, Vt.	1.152	518
24	Woodstock Progressive Milk Producers Assn.Woodstock, Ill.	1.080	525
25 4	Lone Star Milk ProducersWindthorst, Texas	1.060	170
26 4	Upstate Farms Cooperative Inc.Buffalo, N. Y.	0.995	331
27 4	Continental Dairy Products Inc.Artesia, N.M.	0.875	16
28	Bongards CreameriesBongards, Minn.	0.763	506
29	Magic Valley Quality Milk ProducersJerome, Idaho	0.753	34
30	Central Valley Dairymen Cooperative Inc.Modesto, Calif.	0.617	80
31	Mount Joy Farmers Cooperative Inc.Mount Joy, Pa.	0.560	312
32 4	Tillamook County Creamery AssociationTillamook, Ore.	0.549	150
33 4	Ellsworth Cooperative CreameryEllsworth, Wis.	0.521	514
34 4	Farmers Cooperative CreameryMcMinnville, Ore.	0.504	60
35 4	Niagara Milk Cooperative Inc.Niagara Falls, N.Y.	0.475	183
36	Conesus Milk Producers Cooperative Inc.Perry, N.Y.	0.444	124
37	Plainview Milk Products CooperativePlainview, Minn.	0.390	320
37	Cal-West Dairymen Inc.Walnut Creek, Calif.	0.390	25
39 4	Zia Milk Producers Inc.Roswell, N.M.	0.359	8
40 4	Cass-Clay Creamery Inc.Fargo, N.D.	0.352	388
41	Lowville Producers Dairy Cooperative Inc.Lowville, N.Y.	0.272	198
42	Humboldt Cooperative Creamery AssociationFortuna, Calif	0.235	65
43 4	Arkansas Dairy Co-op AssociationDamascus, Ark.	0.228	160
44	Burnett Dairy CooperativeGrantsburg, Wis.	0.221	210
45	Sunrise Ag CooperativeBuckman, Minn.	0.202	200
46	Southeastern Graded Milk Producers Assn.Somerset, Ky.	0.197	264
47 4	Cooperative Milk Producers Association Inc.Blackstone, Va.	0.190	77
48 4	Country Classic Dairies, Inc.Bozeman, Mont.	0.187	80
49 4	Midwest Dairymen’s Co.Rockford, Ill.	0.168	130
50 4	Hastings Cooperative Creamery AssociationHastings, Minn.	0.162	124