People still need to eat. It’s the self-comforting statement I hear used in the agricultural and food industries when we’re looking at a weakening demand situation. Sometimes the weaker demand is driven by high prices, sometimes by weaker economic conditions, and sometimes by other outside factors.
Right now, there are a lot of headwinds hitting the demand side — all at the same time — causing a perfect storm and anxious consumers. People still do need to eat, but they don’t necessarily need to eat as much dairy, and in a recession, the price they are willing to pay is going to shift lower.