Milk production in Puerto Rico grew 13% in fiscal year 2023-2024 despite extreme heat, a smaller population and fewer dairy farmers. Jorge Campos, administrator of the Office for the Regulation of the Milk Industry (ORIL), said 197.7 million quarts of milk were produced that fiscal year, 23 million more than the previous year.
Campos said the Department of Agriculture has spent more than three years incentivizing grazing practices, promoting improved pasture planting, cultivation and weed control, which has helped dairy farmers depend less on grain. Despite two months of intense drought, farmers kept production levels up through pasture rotation and a variety of grasses, he said. There are currently 205 active dairy farmers, down from 209 the year before.
Three processing plants operate on the island: Suiza Caribe LLC, Puerto Rico Dairy Industry Inc. (Indulac) and Vaquería Tres Monjitas Inc., which is currently the only processor of fresh milk. Campos said the fresh milk market has contracted by between 3% and 4% annually. Camilo Román, president of the milk sector of the Puerto Rico Farmers Association, said the sector is improving its performance and maximizing its product through dairy derivatives.
He called this very positive because production had been constantly contracting. He noted that challenges remain from having fewer children and a smaller population, and that milk consumption continues to decline. The sector is betting on the high quality of its milk and on derivative products such as cheese, which Puerto Ricans are consuming.
Corrected October 8: an earlier version repeated the source’s statement that fiscal year 2023-2024 “ended last June,” under a headline that read as current. That fiscal year ended in June 2024; the figures are for fiscal year 2023-2024, as The Weekly Journal reported them.