It’s an Olympic year once again, and thoughts turn to gold, silver and bronze. Dean Foods Co., Kraft Foods Inc. and Land O’Lakes Inc. can step up to claim their respective medals for yet another year in the top three spots on Dairy Field’s Top 100 processor ranking. Growth through acquisition, innovation and sales are responsible for these giants maintaining their dominance.

Dean completed its outright acquisition of Horizon Organic while gobbling up other processors like Ross Swiss, Melody Farms and Kohler Mix Specialties (54th on last year’s ranking). Kraft continues its mastery of all things cheese, while Land O’Lakes maintains strategic joint ventures.

But the biggest change comes a little farther down the pecking order. HP Hood, at No. 23 last year, leapfrogged to fifth place with its acquisition of Crowley Foods and Marigold Foods (Kemps) from National Dairy Holdings (NDH). The transaction pushed NDH out of the top 10 to 12th place.

Other names in the top 10 are familiar, though shuffled a bit. Schreiber Foods maintains its No. 6 position, followed by Dreyer’s, flush from its union with Nestlé, up to seventh place from 10th. Leprino and Prairie Farms held their positions at eighth and ninth, respectively, while Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) slipped from seventh to 10th place.

Elsewhere among the ranks, Americana Foods has vanished from the list after its complete acquisition by CoolBrands International, which jumped to 25th from 36th as the better-for-you segment and strategic brand acquisitions have helped it build momentum. Also gone are Dietrich’s Milk Products (now wholly owned by DFA) and Fike’s Dairy (acquired by United Dairy Inc., which rose to 58th from 74th).
Other changes were made to more accurately reflect the industry: Milk Products LP (Borden) is reported as part of NDH, and Good Humor-Breyers and Ben & Jerry’s now are ranked independently rather than under a Unilever listing.

Finally, DF welcomes several newcomers to the list — United Dairymen of Arizona (39), Cloverland/Green Spring Dairy (76), Plains Dairy (92) and Dippin’ Dots (96).

2004 top 100
Company	2004 Rank	2003 Rank
Agri-Mark Inc.	28	29
Ahold USA	46	45
Alto Dairy Cooperative	38	40
Anderson Erickson Dairy	68	64
Associated Milk Producers Inc.	16	12
Bareman Dairy Inc.	84	84
Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc.	48	*
Berner Foods Inc.	82	80
Blue Bell Creameries	45	44
Bongards Creameries	60	58
Bongrain North America	31	31
W.H. Braum Inc.	41	41
Brewster Dairy Inc.	65	63
H.E. Butt Grocery Co. (HEB)	35	35
California Dairies Inc.	17	17
Carvel Corp.	50	50
Cass-Clay Creamery Inc.	85	94
Century Foods International	78	76
Clover Farms Dairy Co.	74	72
Cloverland/Green Spring Dairy	76	N/R
ConAgra Foods Inc.	18	14
CoolBrands Int’l Inc.	25	36
Crystal Cream & Butter Co.	57	56
Dairy Farmers of America Inc.	10	7
Dannon Co. Inc., The	29	28
Davisco Foods International Inc.	34	34
Dean Foods Co.	1	1
Dippin’ Dots Inc.	96	N/R
Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Inc.	7	10
F&A Dairy Products Inc.	77	75
Fieldbrook Foods Corp.	86	86
First District Association	49	47
Foremost Farms USA	13	13
Foster Farms Dairy	42	42
Friendly Ice Cream Corp.	52	51
Glanbia Foods Inc.	33	33
Good Humor-Breyers Ice Cream	11	*
Gossner Foods Inc.	72	71
Grassland Dairy Products Inc.	40	38
Great Lakes Cheese Co.	20	20
Guida’s Milk & Ice Cream	71	65
HP Hood LLC	5	23
Hershey Creamery Co.	83	81
Hilmar Cheese Co. Inc.	30	30
Hunter Farms	90	87
Instantwhip Foods Inc.	66	66
Johanna Foods Inc.	61	59
Kozy Shack	80	79
Kraft Foods North America	2	2
Kroger Co., The	4	4
Land O’Lakes Inc.	3	3
Leprino Foods Co.	8	8
Level Valley Creamery	69	67
Masterfoods USA	64	61
Md. and Va. Milk Producers Co-op	44	43
Michigan Milk Producers Association	63	62
Milkco Inc.	70	69
Milnot Co., The	94	92
National Dairy Holdings LP	12	5
Nestlé USA	37	26
Oakhurst Dairy	87	82
O-AT-KA Milk Prod. Co-op Inc.	62	60
Oberweis Dairy Inc.	93	95
Old Home Foods Inc.	98	97
Parmalat USA	26	25
Plains Dairy	92	N/R
Plainview Milk Products Co-op	88	90
Prairie Farms Dairy Inc.	9	9
Producers Dairy Foods Inc.	73	73
Publix Super Markets	27	27
Rhino Foods Inc.	99	99
Rondelé Specialty Foods	97	98
Safeway Dairy Group	14	16
Santee Dairies Inc.	55	55
Saputo Cheese USA Inc.	23	22
Sargento Foods Inc.	32	32
Schreiber Foods Inc.	6	6
Shamrock Farms	53	53
Smith Dairy Products Co.	75	68
Sorrento Lactalis/Lactalis USA	21	19
SouthWest Dairy	91	93
Stonyfield Farm Inc.	59	83
Super Store Industries	36	37
Supervalu Fluid Dairy	89	89
Swiss Valley Farms Co.	43	49
Tillamook County Creamery Association	47	46
Turner Holdings LLC	54	52
United Dairy Farmers Inc.	56	57
United Dairy Inc.	58	74
United Dairymen of Arizona	39	N/R
Upstate Farms Cooperative Inc.	51	48
Velvet Ice Cream Co.	100	100
Wawa Dairy	79	77
Wells’ Dairy Inc.	22	21
WestFarm Foods	15	15
Wilcox Dairy Farms LLC	67	70
Winn-Dixie Dairy Products(formerly Superbrand)	24	24
Yarnell Ice Cream Co.	81	78
Yofarm Co., The	95	96
Yoplait-Colombo USA	19	18
N/R: Not ranked *: Previously reported under Unilever