The Economic Impact of Dairy Processing Expansion in Nebraska (June 17, 2021 Webinar)

With: Elliott Dennis, Assistant Professor of Livestock Economics; Eric Thompson, Karl H. Nelson Associate Professor of Economics and Director, Bureau of Business Research; and Ellie Foral, undergraduate research student — all with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Nebraska has significantly expanded its annual corn and soybean production over the last decade, creating an opportunity to expand value-added agricultural production across the state. In particular, opportunities are potentially available to expand livestock production and processing, which will have a subsequent economic impact on rural economies. One opportunity is to significantly expand the dairy cattle industry in the state, by bringing in a cluster of dairies in conjunction with a type of dairy processor, such as fluid milk cheese, butter, or yogurt plant. The associated leap in production would be difficult to achieve but has the potential to significantly expand employment opportunities in Nebraska’s small metropolitan and micropolitan areas, as well as rural regions. We will review findings from a recent report that considered the potential economic impact from developing a new cluster of dairies in conjunction with differing sizes of either fluid milk, butter, cheese, or yogurt plant located in either the Grand Island metropolitan area, Norfolk micropolitan area, and the Nebraska portion of the Sioux City metropolitan area.