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Today I am delighted to talk with Professor Malini Johar Schueller about her new book, Teaching Solidarity: Critical Race Reading recently published by the University of California Press. We talk about the long history of anti-racist education and the attacks on it by the Right. In particular, we look at the onslaught of federal and state repression since the first Trump regime, and conservative incursions onto campuses take the form of surveillance of syllabi, classrooms, public events, and the establishing of conservative centers. We finish by talking about what Schuller calls critical race reading, a manner of presenting and discussing texts that develops an understanding of structural violence, and critical ways of engaging with literature that enables civil and political engagement. We press the point that these attacks, instrumentalizing the idea of student “discomfort,” severely underestimate students' hunger for knowledge and their ability to withstand so-called discomfort in the search for truth. Malini Johar Schueller is a professor in the Department of English at the University of Florida. She is the faculty advisor for Students for Justice in Palestine and was the advisor for Jewish Voice for Peace and is a member of the organizing collective for the United States Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. She is the author of several books including U.S. Orientalisms: Race, Nation, and Gender in Literature, 1790–1890 (1998), Locating Race: Global Sites of Post-Colonial Citizenship (2009), and Campaigns of Knowledge: U.S. Pedagogies of Colonialism and Occupation in the Philippines and Japan (2019). She has co-edited Exceptional State: Contemporary US Culture and the New Imperialism (2007) and Dangerous Professors: Academic Freedom and the National Security Campus (2009). She is the director of an award-winning documentary, In His Own Home (2015) about police brutality and campus militarization, based on an incident at UF is available on amazon prime. In 2019 she was selected to participate in a Faculty Development Seminar by the Palestinian American Research Council and traveled to the West Bank. Her latest book on activist pedagogy, Teaching Solidarity: Critical Race Reading was published by the University of California Press in April 2026. Her essays have appeared in scholarly journals as well as in popular publications such as Counterpunch, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Sarasota Herald Tribune. She teaches courses in comparative settler colonialism, including Palestine and courses in postcolonial theory, Asian American studies, and US imperialism.
In hour two, Crowder details his first drinking experience while at UF. Gelb doesn't think Tyreek Hill will ever get back to being an elite WR in the league. Legendary Miami Dolphins player Sam Madison joins the show and sheds light on his time coaching the Fins under McDaniel.
De Andri isch zrugg us de Ferie und startet grad mit ere Richtigstellig: Nei, er hät letzti Wuche nöd gseit, dass d Ruderer nöd me trainiere. Nur nöd me so hert. Damit isch das jetzt vom Tisch.Denn gaht's um s Wuchenend, wo de Oscar am liebschte usem Archiv lösche würd. Zäme mit de alte Schuelkolleg ufe Ortstock: 16 Kilometer, 1350 Höhemeter, und die chline Details, wo de Andri verschwiege hett, nämlich dass 900 vo dene Höhemeter uf de letzte zwei Kilometer chöme. De Oscar hät alli Five Stages of Grief durelebt, isch im rote Bereich gsi und erklärt üs, wieso das kein Type-1- und au kein Type-2-Fun gsi isch, sondern klar Type 3. Grettet hät ihn am Schluss nur eis: White Girl Music und Avicii am Gipfel.Vo dert wiiter zum grosse Thema: Runflation. Am Last Soul Ultra hät de Amerikaner Mark Dowdell 94 Rundene gmacht, also 630 Kilometer in 94 Stund. Mir diskutiere, wieso das Format so guet funktioniert, obwohl e Ultramarathon zum Zueluege eigentli langwilig isch. Es Fazit: d Lüt intressiert nöd, ob's 94 oder 76 Rundene sind, si wänd s Liide, d Battles und d Stories. Und mir chöme uf d Frag, wieso mir alli eusi Runs poste, statt eifach nur z laufe. Inklusive Oscars Abrächnig mit em VP-of-Irgendwas, wo sini 9 Mönet Ironman-Vorbereitig uf LinkedIn zelebriert.De zweiti Teil ghört de Leichtathletik-EM z Birmingham mit siebe Schwiizer Medaille:Angelica Moser verteidigt de Titel und isch wieder Europameisterin, was zweimal nachenand no einiges schwiiriger ischJason Joseph liefert am Tag X nach schwiiriger Saison und hollt Gold über 110 Meter HürdeAudrey Werro gwünnt d 800 Meter nach em Drama im Halbfinal, wo si gstürzt isch und über en Juryentscheid wiiterchoo isch. Und ja, si louft z Züri am Weltklasse, wo de eltischti Weltrekord vo de Leichtathletik uf em Spiel stohtSimon Ehammer hollt Silber im Wiitsprung. S Angebot für de Voll-ine-Boost staht wiiterhin, SimiDominic Lobalu wird Zweite über 10'000 Meter hinter em Amgren, wo s ganz Feld überrundet und 200 Kilometer pro Wuche trainiertTimothé Mumenthaler hollt Bronze über 200 Meter, plus d Kontroverse um Owen AnsahD 4x100-Meter-Staffle vo de Fraue hollt Silber, und die Story vo dere Medaille isch für üs nöd de Schlusssprint, sondern de Verzicht vo Ajla Del Ponte. Selbstlos, und für üs s Bispiel für richtig starkes LeadershipDenn no s Übligi vo eusem Stammgast Nick Kyrgios, wo mit Kokain im Bluet uffgfloge isch. Provisorisch gsperrt, im Rehab, und mir gsind wahrschinlich s Ändi vo sinere Karriere. Uf ere Skala vo 1 bis 10: Wie überrascht bisch?Us de Voll-ine-Family hämmer üs gfreut über Nina Brunner, wo mit de Tanja Hüberli s Elite-16-Turnier z Hamburg gwünnt und nach de Mutterschaft in Rekordziit wieder oben aa isch. Und über Stefan Küng, wo nach em Oberschenkelbruch s Zitfahre an de Tour de Pologne gwünnt. Sin erschte World-Tour-Sieg sit de Vuelta 2024.Zum Schluss d Vuelta-Preview: Start am Samstig z Monaco, Ziel am 13. September z Granada. 21 Etappe, 3275 Kilometer, über 58'000 Höhemeter. De Maa zum Schlage isch klar de Tadej Pogačar, de Jonas isch nöd debii, und mir hend Schwiizer Beteiligung mit Küng, Hirschi, Thalmann und Fabian Weiss. Und nächsti Wuche gaht d Ruder-WM z Amsterdam los, drum lohnt sich au s Nachehöre vo Folge 221 mit em Padi.Bliibed gsund, machid vill Sport, mir gsehnd üs nächsti Wuche. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On Friday's edition of Sportscene, Steve Russell dives into MLB logistics with former Gator, Kyle Jones. Eastside football's head coach, Gator Hoskins also talks some high school football. Today's show was highlighted by Laura Rutledge, one of the co-hosts of this year's Gator Growl. Steve and Laura talked UF traditions and NFL. Scott Rabalais, columnist for the Baton Rouge Advocate, also joins the conversation.
The Setup: Launa puts J.R. and Kevin to the test with questions based on things she talked about on the show all week.Chris Stapleton: Who did he bring onstage in Toronto to perform a Waylon Jennings cover? Zach Top.Kenny Chesney & Megan Moroney: They have another duet coming on Kenny's upcoming album.Toto's Paycheck: How much was the dog paid for The Wizard of Oz? $125 a week.Bird vs. Airplane: What are bird remains after an aircraft collision called? Snarge.A Google: One followed by 100 zeros—and the nine-year-old boy who came up with the name, Milton Sirotta.Best College Towns: Kevin rattles off several cities from the list, including Michigan, Madison and UF.Best Employers: J.R. correctly remembers Johnson & Johnson, and Launa confirms the #1 company.Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce: Their dog Wendy isn't getting along with Taylor's cats, including Olivia, Meredith and Benjamin Button.Youngest Songwriters Hall of Fame Inductee: Taylor Swift.Ella Langley Surprise Performance: She sang “Three Little Birds” at a beach bar.Pencil Fact: How far can you draw with a pencil? About 35 miles.Carrie Underwood: She performed “What a Beautiful Name” at church.New Year's Eve at the Sphere: Backstreet Boys.Most Alcohol Per Capita: New Hampshire.Miranda Lambert's New Album: Crisco — which leads to J.R. accidentally turning it into a Sisqó/“Thong Song” moment.Goosey's Girlfriend: Lucy.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The Tailgate Rewind: On Tuesdays show Zach Abolverdi and Jeff Cardozo, 25 days away from kickoff spoke about the conditions of the football players. They also broke down UF men's basketball schedule
Iránból irányítják, tinédzsereket szervez be gyilkolásra, aztán odadobja őket a hatóságoknak Független újságírók helyett a Külügyminisztérium odavezényelt munkatársait ültették be Szijjártó Péter sajtótájékoztatóira Több mint 70 éves téglagyár szűnhet meg Magyarországon, ebben az Orbán-kormány keze is benne van A héten akár teljesen leállhat az áruszállítás a Rajna egyik legfontosabb szakaszán az alacsony vízszint miatt Gazdasági összeomlásra számít Trump Iránban Öt év alatt megduplázódott a spanyol tengerparti ingatlanok bérleti díja Akár válságos helyzetet is előidézhet Baka András államfővé választása – így látja a jogtudós UFÓ-k Salgótarján felett Megfosztották a koronájától az amerikai szépségkirálynőt: ő azt mondja, a keresztény hite miatt történt ez Vitézy Dávid Kairóból jelentkezett: A magyar kocsik már forgalomban vannak az Asszuán felé tartó vonaton Túrázás kánikulában: mire figyelj indulás előtt? Dzsudzsák Balázs gólja után utolsó helyen a Fradi az Nb I-ben Jó hír: a melegedés ellenére 40 fok alatt marad a hőmérséklet hétfőn A további adásainkat keresd a podcast.hirstart.hu oldalunkon. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Iránból irányítják, tinédzsereket szervez be gyilkolásra, aztán odadobja őket a hatóságoknak Független újságírók helyett a Külügyminisztérium odavezényelt munkatársait ültették be Szijjártó Péter sajtótájékoztatóira Több mint 70 éves téglagyár szűnhet meg Magyarországon, ebben az Orbán-kormány keze is benne van A héten akár teljesen leállhat az áruszállítás a Rajna egyik legfontosabb szakaszán az alacsony vízszint miatt Gazdasági összeomlásra számít Trump Iránban Öt év alatt megduplázódott a spanyol tengerparti ingatlanok bérleti díja Akár válságos helyzetet is előidézhet Baka András államfővé választása – így látja a jogtudós UFÓ-k Salgótarján felett Megfosztották a koronájától az amerikai szépségkirálynőt: ő azt mondja, a keresztény hite miatt történt ez Vitézy Dávid Kairóból jelentkezett: A magyar kocsik már forgalomban vannak az Asszuán felé tartó vonaton Túrázás kánikulában: mire figyelj indulás előtt? Dzsudzsák Balázs gólja után utolsó helyen a Fradi az Nb I-ben Jó hír: a melegedés ellenére 40 fok alatt marad a hőmérséklet hétfőn A további adásainkat keresd a podcast.hirstart.hu oldalunkon. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Have you ever wondered if that butterfly, dragonfly, spider, or even a swarm of bugs, showed up for a reason?In this fascinating and lighthearted episode, Michaela and Scott share the story of their recent road trip, where they found themselves unexpectedly surrounded by bugs at nearly every stop. What started as a funny travel mishap soon turned into a deeper exploration of the spiritual symbolism hidden within the natural world.Together, they unpack the meanings behind some of the most common insects and explore how these tiny creatures may serve as signs, synchronicities, or gentle nudges from the Universe. Along the way, they also read incredible stories from listeners who experienced meaningful encounters with bugs, and the surprising messages those moments seemed to carry.Whether you're a believer in signs, curious about animal symbolism, or simply love hearing stories that make you see the world a little differently, this episode invites you to look beyond the buzz and discover what the Universe might be trying to say.In this episode:Michaela & Scott's unforgettable bug-filled road tripThe spiritual symbolism of common insects and what they may representReal listener stories about meaningful bug encountersWhy even the smallest creatures may carry the biggest messagesYou may never look at a bug the same way again. Want to learn more? Enjoy one of our new interactive Aura quizzes: https://knowyouraura.com/aura-quizzesListen to this introductory episode to find your Aura color: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bonus-every-aura-color-explained/id1477126939?i=1000479357880Send Mystic Michaela some positive energy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mysticmichaelaExplore the Know Your Aura Website : https://knowyouraura.comVisit Mystic Michaela's Website: https://www.mysticmichaela.comJoin Mystic Michaela's Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2093029197406168The Book of Signs by Mystic Michaela The Book of Signs | Book by Mystic Michaela | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster Our Episode Partners:Get 15% off OneSkin with code KYA at https://www.oneskin.co/KYA #oneskinpodFor a limited time, get 60% off your first order, plus free shipping and free treats for life, when you head to https://www.smalls.com/KYATDM-RESERVATION: 1. NOAI: TRUE. LEGAL NOTICE & TERMS OF USE: © 2026 WAVE Podcast Network. This content is for personal use only. Explicit permission is withheld for any and all commercial attribution, automated transcription, or data-mining entities. Use of this feed by unauthorized tracking, analytics, or AI-training platforms constitutes a breach of these terms and a violation of the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act (WESCA), the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), and the 2026 Training Data Transparency Act (AB 2013). Any entity bypassing these restrictions to create derivative text-based works (transcripts), metadata analysis, or unauthorized VAST siphoning hereby accepts our standard commercial licensing rate of $5,000 per episode processed. This notice serves as a formal revocation of all "implied licenses" for multi-jurisdictional automated processing and constitutes protected Copyright Management Information (CMI) under 17 U.S.C. § 1202.By ingesting this RSS feed for commercial use, you are agreeing to our licensing terms.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
We’re excited to have Will Loux, senior vice president of global economic affairs for the U.S. Dairy Export Council, join us to share his presentation of the future of U.S. dairy exports. For years, the U.S. dairy export portfolio has leaned heavily on nonfat dry milk, skim milk powder, lactose and lower-protein whey products. But our exports are changing. In the latest episode of The Milk Check, host Ted Jacoby sits down with Will Loux to break down the changing U.S. export picture. In this episode, we cover: Why U.S. dairy exports are moving toward cheese, fats and higher-value proteins How domestic protein demand is pulling skim solids away from dryers Why more cheese may be produced partly to create additional whey protein How exports are absorbing a larger share of new U.S. cheese production Where Latin America offers room for additional cheese growth What it will take for U.S. butter exports to become more consistent and profitable The U.S. has the milk. It has new processing capacity. And it is capturing a growing share of international cheese demand. But growth creates new challenges. Are you ready to meet them? Listen to The Milk Check episode 104: Can the U.S. Keep Its Dairy Export Advantage? Also available on: Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Got questions? We'd love to hear them. Submit below, and we might answer it on the show. Ask The Milk Check Transcript: Ted Jacoby III: [00:00:00] Coming up on the Milk Check. Will Loux: What I’ve heard from folks in Europe and elsewhere is how do they manage the U.S. tsunami of exports that’s coming? And I think that, at the Export Council, it makes me excited, but it does mean we need to keep our strategies current. Ted Jacoby III: Welcome to the Milk Check from T.C. Jacoby & Co., your complete guide to dairy markets, from the milking parlor to the supermarket shelf. I’m Ted Jacoby. Let’s dive in. Ted Jacoby III: Today, we are very excited to have Will Loux, Senior Vice President of Global Economic Affairs for the U.S. Dairy Export Council joining us. A few weeks ago I saw a presentation that Will gave that talked about where the U.S. dairy industry is going, especially from an international perspective. It was an absolutely fantastic presentation, and I couldn’t help but think that just this presentation alone would be an absolutely fantastic topic for our podcast. I have a bunch of our traders joining us, many of our usual suspects, including: Ted Jacoby III: Diego Carvallo, Joe Maixner, Miguel Aragon, Mike Brown, all from our trading team. Guys, thanks for joining us. Will, thank you so much for joining us. It’s great to see you again. Will Loux: Good to see you, Ted. Thanks for having me on. Ted Jacoby III: Excited to have all of our listeners listen to this. Will, the floor is yours. Will Loux: Perfect. Well, thank you for having me, Ted, and glad to have so many people on here and another audience for this presentation. I’ve got some slides. For those of you like me who will listen to this podcast usually while driving, feel free to go check it out on YouTube. I am also gonna do my best to reference what is in those slides as best I can remember to do so. But what is the future of U.S. dairy exports? What we’ve seen, really over the last twenty-five years, has been this tremendous, consistent growth, in aggregate U.S. dairy exports. We just got May data, and what we saw was on an annualized basis over the last twelve months, the U.S. actually set a new record again. So our exports have never been higher than they are today. But that said, our exports look fundamentally different than what they did 20 years ago. Before, when we were getting started with exports, 75, 80% of our exports were really driven by nonfat dry milk, and low-protein whey products, and lactose. That’s been the vast majority of our portfolio for much of this time, and we’ve had a few different eras where we’ve seen U.S. cheese exports picked up, especially around 2014 when the world was short of milk and we saw U.S. cheese and butter go overseas. But then we saw that stagnate for a few years. Now, what we’ve seen since COVID has been this tremendous growth of these more value-add products, these specialty products. I believe the U.S. is moving towards a portfolio in the export market that looks a lot like cheese, fats, and proteins. And that’s gonna be the core of our exports, I think, going forward because the U.S. dairy industry is really kind of, I consider it an evolution rather than, like, a true revolution. But this is one of those facets that I think is really interesting to see is the U.S. has consistently been growing its exports, unlike a [00:03:00] lot of other supply origins. But this is one that I think as we go forward I’m really excited about. But it’s gonna change how we need to think about exports over the next few years. Ted Jacoby III: Will, it sounds like what you’re saying is not only are we seeing the total volume of exports go up, but the dollar per pound value is even going up faster because we’re switching away from that low-cost carb portfolio to a much higher-value protein, fat, et cetera portfolio. Fair to say? Will Loux: I think that’s exactly right. I think there are implications for that, too. That if the U.S. is moving out of perhaps exporting as much skim milk powder or sweet whey because we’re instead making UF milk or cottage cheese or yogurt or high-protein whey, well, there’s still demand overseas for that sweet whey and for that skim milk powder. But now, it’s actually getting supplied by a few other countries, too. So, we do have to keep all of these things in mind. But to me, I think we’re moving up the value chain as the U.S., and what I’ve heard from folks in Europe and elsewhere is how do they manage the U.S. tsunami of exports that’s coming? And I think that, at the Export Council, it makes me excited, but it does mean we need to keep our strategies current with where we’re gonna go in the future. One of the things that I’ve noticed here over the last really few months but even going back to last year has been a real shift in how the U.S. dairy market is balancing itself. I would argue that for the last really 20 years, to be frank, but at least for the last 15 years, the U.S. dairy market has largely been balanced to domestic fat demand. Yes, we did see, certainly, exports of cheese grow over this time, so I don’t want to discount that as a butterfat-heavy product, but for the most part, what we’ve seen has been the U.S. has consistently balanced with where domestic demand for butterfat has grown, and then we’ve exported the skim solids largely in the form of nonfat dry milk and sweet whey overseas. What we’ve seen here over the last several years has been the U.S. switching from a traditionally balancing to domestic milkfat demand, where we’ve seen butter consumption grow, whole milk consumption grow. U.S. milk production, U.S. dairy production grew with that. And then, we exported the additional skim solids in the form of nonfat dry milk, sweet whey, high protein whey, lactose. Those products were the ones that we were really exporting. Now, what I think is happening is the U.S. is no longer really balancing to fat anymore. We’re in this precarious balance right now. We’re not quite balanced to protein yet, and we’re not quite balanced to the beef market yet because we still have high prices for protein. We don’t have enough of it to go around. We don’t have enough beef for the beef market to go around, but we also have more milk fat than the domestic market can consume. And so we’ve seen these exports really rise. So, I think what we’re seeing right now is the U.S. being pulled in different directions, and the U.S. exports as we go forward here over the next few years is in some ways at a crossroad as to which of these routes do we go. Do we swing back to balancing to milk fat, which would mean we’re probably short of protein, or do we start balancing more to protein, which means we’re gonna need to find homes for a heck of a lot more cheese and butter in the next few years. [00:06:00] Because to me, at least, if you look at the beef market, from a dairy farmer’s perspective, you are still seeing that incentive to add additional cows just based on the returns on the beef side of things. And because of that incentive to hold the dairy cows longer to get the additional black calf, also with that breeding the best of the best in the young stock, we are just seeing the largest milking herd since the 1990s and the lowest replacement herd since the 1970s. And everything we’re seeing on the beef cattle side of things would suggest this isn’t slowing down anytime soon. But from the U.S. perspective, I think what this means is we’re gonna continue to see more milking cows around, and those cows are getting more productive than ever before. And even as we’re seeing this surge in milk production, I think on a component basis, last year in in 2025 we were up 3.8%. This year we’re up not quite at 3%, but still pretty darn close. Even as we see this growth of milk, these additional black calves coming on the market, we actually still don’t see enough protein hitting the dairy markets right now. And so, what we’re seeing is even as we see this huge surge in cottage cheese production and yogurt production, my personal opinion is yogurt doesn’t get enough credit for this protein rally. It’s like 10X the volume of cottage cheese, but what we’re seeing right now is this pull of protein. I think this pull of protein is predominantly domestic. We’re seeing UF beverages, we’re seeing yogurts, we’re seeing cottage cheese, we’re seeing everything that whey protein can go into from cereals to snacks to beverages. All of that protein pull is basically sucking protein and skim solids that had been going to the export market back into the U.S. By virtue of that, we’re also seeing U.S. cheese production need to increase, not so much for the cheese demand that we’re seeing here in the United States, but rather for the whey demand that we’re seeing here as well. The cheese has really become that co-product of the whey stream. I think even conversations that I’ve had with U.S. manufacturers of, “How can I get more whey protein without building a new cheese plant” is part of the consideration. One of the things that we’ve looked at over this time has really been where is this protein in the United States going? Because we’ve seen U.S. milk production rise, U.S. milk protein production rise in the sense of protein out of the cow, but we still have less nonfat dry milk and skim milk powder than we had a year ago. What I’ve noticed over this time has been certainly the cheese vat continues to get first dibs on most of that protein. Even in the May data that we got out of USDA, you saw cheese production was up, even when nonfat dry milk was sitting at sky-high levels north of $2.00. What we’re really seeing right now is we’re pulling milk out of the dryers and either putting it into the cheese vat or putting it into these other high-protein products and the like. What that is doing is that’s shifting our export mix. So far this year, our exports of skim milk powder, amazingly, are flat somehow. But if [00:09:00] you look at our May exports of nonfat dry milk and skim milk powder, they were down 20%, and I think that’s reflective of that, and we were down last year. What we’re seeing has been the U.S. is moving out of some of these carb-heavy, as you talked about, Ted, to these more higher value uses for these products. And even nonfat dry milk production picked up in May, but it’s not that we pulled milk out of the yogurts or out of the cottage cheese or out of the natural cheese itself, it’s that we stopped making skim milk powder and instead made nonfat dry milk. This is really where we’re seeing this pull of protein, either in the form of beef necessitating more cows or necessitating more capacity to make whey proteins, milk proteins, UF products, or just high-protein dairy products. All of that pulled together is sending a, “Let’s go make more milk.” Contrasting that, you have cheese and fats, which at this point right now, and historically this isn’t too unusual, but it is something different than we’ve really seen over the last few years, has been this export push of cheese and dairy fats in the form of predominantly butter, AMF, and to a lesser extent whole milk powder. What we’re seeing here has really been this shift where right now I think we’re growing our milk production as fast as the international market can absorb our cheese and fats. Because if you look here, since COVID, what we’ve seen is about 36%, over a third of the new cheese that’s been manufactured in the United States, has gone to export. If you think about that historically, about 5% of the new cheese in the previous decade went to exports. And now we’re at 35%. And if you look at the last two years, it’s north of 65% has gone to exports. As we’re building these new cheese plants, in part for the whey, there is that eye towards, “Okay, where are we going with this cheese?” And it’s gotta be overseas. Within that, too, the United States is actually the one capturing what is a growing global market. It’s not just that the U.S. is flooding the market with less expensive cheese, it’s that global cheese demand is growing, and the U.S. is the one capturing that. Because if you look, since COVID, the U.S. has captured about 60% of that new cheese demand that’s happening overseas, and that’s really been coming from the United States. Europe’s grown their cheese exports too, so has New Zealand. Australia’s basically flat, but the rest of the world evens up. The difference here is that the United States is really the one capturing this demand growth because we have the milk, we have the cheese, and that’s really where I think the U.S. has managed to expand its footprint, be a more consistent exporter, and really break into new markets that it hasn’t before. But we’ve been in cheese for a while. Granted, it’s at a different scale today than what it has been. We were up 20% last year in cheese exports. This year we’re up about 25% so far this year. We continue to surge in our cheese exports. The difference that is new this time around is, fundamentally, that we’re seeing this expansion come not [00:12:00] just in cheese as our primary vehicle to export the fat and casein, but also in fat-heavy products, predominantly butter, but also AMF and whole milk powder, too. That you’re seeing the United States now, for every, load of high-protein beverages, you’re gonna have a load of cream that you’re gonna need to deal with, or multiple loads of cream that you’re gonna have to deal with, and that’s now going overseas. Domestic demand for butter is still going strong. Domestic demand for whole milk continues to grow. The difference is we’ve just grown production faster than that domestic demand. And so, you pull this all together, and I really think we’re seeing an evolution in our portfolio for exports. Cheese by value is now our biggest export product, and you’ve seen fats and proteins continue to grow within that portfolio, as well, from a value perspective. While we’ve seen nonfat dry milk, low protein whey, lactose, those have really been flat to declining over this timeframe. And so, if you look at that incremental growth that we’ve seen in our U.S. dairy exports since COVID, again, what we’ve seen is our two biggest stars during this period have been cheese and fats, and I think protein in the long run is still really optimistic to me. But you pull this all together, the U.S. is still gonna be a major player in skim milk powder, sweet whey, whey permeate, lactose. But if you look at where our exports are gonna grow in the future, those are really some of the key products. What do you all think about this as kind of a argument here for where our U.S. dairy exports are going? Joe Maixner: That’s been exactly what we’ve been discussing for the past six plus months, that our supply is going to continue to outpace the domestic demand. So 100% agree with everything you said in this, Will. I think that butter will continue to become a major player in the export market. Miguel Aragón: In my case, being out there in the trenches, I see this day in, day out. The penetration of U.S. cheese and butter, especially right now. We know the soaring ingredients, but cheese and butter especially, every day you could see it more and more in the marketplace. Something really interesting that you said at the beginning: If we’re gonna produce more cheese, we’re gonna have to find a place for it. We know the numbers, we see the numbers. It’s an amazing story. But right now, as we speak, that is replicating in Central America. You guys see it at the U.S. DEC. And I just came back from Colombia. The opportunity is there for us, as long as we keep doing what we’re doing now and looking at the market, adapting to the market, adapting to what the market is asking us for, and also replacing some of the product that is coming from Europe and New Zealand. But I agree with what you’re saying here 100%. Ted Jacoby III: Will, I’m gonna turn the question around on you a little bit. Is the global demand for butterfat there for us to continue to increase how much butter we’re exporting? And is the global demand for cheese there? Will that global demand keep increasing for those two products? Will Loux: From my perspective, it’s yes. What I find interesting over the last couple years has been that [00:15:00] cheese demand held up exceptionally well even during high inflation periods. Where we saw other dairy products actually feel a lot of the pressure internationally, cheese demand kept growing pretty much right on track. What we’ve seen here on the cheese side over the last couple of years internationally has been this acceleration in cheese demand, and I think some of that has to do with, as Miguel was saying, tremendous growth from our partners in Latin America. That’s been a key engine for U.S. dairy exports here over the last couple of years and, frankly, since the Export Council was founded about 30 years ago. But when we look at the opportunities abroad, I think that we still have a lot of untapped potential on the cheese side. I remain pretty optimistic about that. The other thing I’ll say, too, here is: I don’t think European milk production’s gonna keep growing at 3% a year. I don’t think you’re seeing the same investment in new cheese capacity. I think we’re seeing investment in Europe and New Zealand in new protein capacity, and that’s maybe another conversation. But I think the U.S., one, has the opportunity to capture what is a growing global market on the cheese side, and also capture market share on the cheese side. The butter standpoint has been interesting. Butter has typically been, internationally, one of the more price-elastic products. It’s one that we’ve seen when butter prices really skyrocketed, some of that may be allocation, but when butter prices were high, we did see international demand struggle. Conversely, when butter prices were low, like they are today in many ways, we’ve seen butter demand grow. And butter demand internationally is growing, not just out of the U.S., but globally. I think the question I have here with butter is less about can the U.S. compete in this market, but more, what is our price point relative to Europe and New Zealand. Because I think if you look at our butter exports, for much of last year we were probably a buck a pound below Europe. A lot of that butter was going into Europe, where coincidentally the tariff into Europe is about a buck a pound. I think my question is more crucially than can the U.S. capture growing demand for butter, it’s where do we grow our butter exports. And I, personally, think the U.S. should never be exporting really butter to Europe unless we get additional market access. I think the U.S. should be exporting butter to its higher value markets and partners, places like Mexico, like Central America, North Asia and Korea, Australia, the Middle East, assuming we can keep the strait open for a little while. But I still remain pretty optimistic that the U.S. can keep growing in those products. Some of it will be market share, and some of it will be new demand, particularly on the cheese side. Ted Jacoby III: Will, looking at this graph where it’s talking about, U.S. dairy exports by destination, there’s a big increase into Latin America since 2021. Will Loux: Yep. Ted Jacoby III: Is that fair to say most of that is cheese? Will Loux: It’s fair to say most of it is cheese. We have seen increases also in nonfat dry milk and skim milk powder exports to Latin America over this timeframe, too, but the big driver, I think especially post-COVID in Latin America, was, [00:18:00] one, that region was the first major region, I should say, where tourism increased to levels higher than what it was before COVID, and we continue to see pretty good economic performance in the region. The other thing I don’t wanna discount here, too, has also been the full implementation of CAFTA-DR, our trade agreement with many of the Central American countries came into full effect, and you’ve seen this real surge in demand from the region and collaboration with our local partners there, that we’ve really seen this growth in Central American demand and Caribbean demand. Most of that is cheese. More recently, there are also butter and AMF and so going there too, but cheese has been the engine on the Latin American side most recently. Mike Brown: Will, I’ve got a question. Anything in particular we in the dairy industry, and of course you at U.S. DEC, are watching as far as improving opportunities, but also possible disadvantages we may gain through trade. Will Loux: Yeah. Great question, Mike. I have a mix of optimism, and then probably a couple notes of caution on this. So from my optimistic take, a lot of these new agreements on reciprocal trade that we’ve signed with key partners around the world, some of these are incredibly exciting because these are markets we’ve wanted to have agreements with for a long time. In particular, Indonesia makes me very excited. I think if we are able to see that actually be implemented here soon, I would be even more excited. I think there’s still a question on when that gets fully implemented. Taiwan is another one. We are getting access into markets that we never had access to before. We’ll see when those are fully implemented but again, I am still pretty optimistic on where those have opportunities for the U.S. to build upon and get on an equal footing with our competitors in Oceania and in Europe. However, our competitors are not staying static. We see a new agreement here between the European Union and Mexico. We have an agreement between the European Union and Mercosur that gets them additional access, particularly in proteins. I think the U.S. cannot take its customers for granted. Especially as we look at places like Mexico, that’s one where competition is not going to go away. And when we’ve seen nonfat dry milk sit 75 cents plus above Europe, you’re gonna see customers start calling Europe and New Zealand and looking for alternative sources. Or when we have high-protein whey products that are in such demand domestically, are we making sure we’re contacting our customers abroad? Because what we’re seeing now is Europe is heavily investing in additional whey protein capacity. Even as the U.S. is the largest exporter of high-protein whey in the world, I think there are other origins that are coming for that. And so, when I look optimistically, it’s like, “Great, we get more market access.” But to some of the key questions that I have around like is the U.S. ready for the future of dairy exports, one of them is gonna be: How do we actually meet this international demand on the protein side, and are we gonna have the market access that we need to be able [00:21:00] to capture sales? As I look at the world market today, I have a ton of optimism for where the U.S. can really be the supplier of choice, but it’s not gonna be a straight line from here to there, even on the fats or even on the cheese. I think the last couple years, milk production’s been up so much, it’s allowed us to capture a lot of demand, but even those I think will bounce around. Mike, I don’t know if that answered your question, but that was where my head’s at these days. Ted Jacoby III: Everybody, we will be right back after these messages. Diego Carvallo: I’m Diego Carballo with T.C. Jacoby & Co.. T.C. Jacoby & Co. specializes in international dairy markets. For new customers that haven’t done business with Jacoby, I would tell them that we can provide them with many of the powders, dairy products that they consume, not only with the physical product, but we can also help them mitigate their risk. We know dairy. We know the main players. We know the main providers for the whole value chain. We are one of the strongest players in the U.S. market because we have contact all the way from the farmer moving the liquid milk all the way to the end users that buy the end products. I am Diego Carballo with T.C. Jacoby & Co., and we bring dairy to the world. Will Loux: Ted, maybe what do you think if we go through a couple of these questions and have a little debate? Ted Jacoby III: All right. We’ll ask our team. Number one, does the U.S. have the necessary market access and global reach to capture sales opportunities in a multipolar world? Will Loux: And maybe I’ll clarify what I mean by multi-polar world. Ted Jacoby III: Great idea. Will Loux: Cause what I mean by that is if you look at global dairy trade leading up to COVID especially, from 2010 to 2020, China was the engine of that global dairy import demand growth. They accounted for 40% of that growth. These days, I’m not particularly optimistic China’s gonna be the engine. I think China will be an important import market, for sure. And I think they’re still gonna need fats, they’re still gonna need proteins, but they’re growing their own domestic supply, particularly of commodities. So, what I think the future looks like from a demand perspective is collective growth. Latin America, Southeast Asia, Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa even, I think there will be a lot of countries growing that collectively equal what China was doing before. But we’re gonna have to play in a lot of markets. So, the question to you guys then is: Do we have the reach and access to be able to compete in a lot of different places, or what does that look like for the U.S.? Because China is not gonna be the engine of global dairy demand here over the next decade, we’re gonna have to compete in a lot of different markets. In the previous decade leading up to COVID, you saw a lot of the New Zealand milk production, an increasing percentage was going to China, which opened up opportunities for us in Southeast Asia and the Middle East and others. As we look at this next era of dairy exports, do we have the market access? Do we have the global reach and infrastructure to be able to capture sales in a lot of different markets [00:24:00] around the world? Diego Carvallo: That’s a good question. If we start with the premise that the U.S. is not gonna desperately need to export nonfat, I would say that it’s not gonna be that difficult to find new markets. The U.S. is not gonna have to fight to move additional volumes like they need to do for products like butter. Where do we take the skim milk powder that we’re currently making if China is not a huge buyer anymore? There’s plenty of demand still to be covered in other regions of Southeast Asia in other regions in Latin America, where we should have a good footprint and where we should have some advantages when it comes to freight. I would say the main markets where we have to gain market share are gonna be definitely Central America, the Caribbean and Latin America because of all of the advantages when it comes to freight and the relationship and other factors. The market where we’re gonna fight with the rest of the origins is gonna be Southeast Asia, we may need to go there and fight with price, with aggressive pricing, and we may need to compete even with China, ’cause we’re hearing that even China has been exporting product to that region in the past year. There’s gonna be some markets where we are positioned to gain market share and others where we’re gonna have to compete in price. Ted Jacoby III: Miguel, what do you think? With cheese and butter, do we have the necessary market access and global reach? Miguel Aragón: We do have the necessary market access. Our products are welcome where we are taking them. Our issue is more like, the cheeses that we produce at scale, cheddar and color cheddar, are not necessarily the cheeses that our markets are asking for. We need Gouda, we need Monterey Jack, we need Sadero, we need Manchego. We need the help of our partners, our plant partners, to adapt and to see the opportunity of the cheeses that those markets ask for. And I’m in particular about Latin America. But then again, that’s a big market. U.S. cheeses are well-received. We do have places to go with it. We just have to get better at exporting. U.S. DEC does a really good job at helping us get into those markets, vet the customers and teach about the products. We are doing the right things. We just need to do it a little bit better. We do have places to go with that extra cheese. Ted Jacoby III: Miguel, do you think there’s a lot of underserved regions in Central and South America? In other words, are there a lot of customers who the only reason they’re not buying and importing more U.S. cheese is because they don’t know who to buy it from, they don’t have the contacts? Miguel Aragón: I do. In the last trips that I made, especially to the northern part of South America, colombia, Peru, Ecuador, there is demand. It just reminds me of Mexico 15, 20 years ago. They don’t know who to buy it from. They don’t know that we make it. They don’t know that we have the variety that we have. It’s an education. We have to work, harder at marketing our products down there. But there is a place. There is definitely a place. There is a market. Ted Jacoby III: Thanks, Miguel. All right, Joe, I got a question for you. Can the U.S. export butterfat products consistently and in a [00:27:00] profitable manner? Joe Maixner: I think we’ve started showing that we can export consistently. Numbers have been pretty consistent and have been growing throughout the year. A profitable portion probably remains to be seen. We’ll always have to be aggressive as we’re entering into new markets ‘ cause we’re gonna have to find a way to penetrate into markets that have been historically dominated by Europe or Oceania with a product that does not look like Europe or Oceania’s product. The easiest way to do that, obviously, is to, for lack of a better term, buy our way into the market to people to try the product. But once our product is in there and they realize it’s a consistent quality butter, I think that we certainly have the opportunity to be profitable long-term. Realistically, exporting butterfat consistently makes everybody more profitable in the U.S. because it pushes fat offshore, which helps our butter price, ultimately, domestically. Will Loux: When I look at exporting butterfat profitably, for us, especially at the Export Council, it’s been one of those things that the U.S. for the longest time hasn’t had butter basically to export. When we’ve gotten long, we’ve found places to clear it. I think what’s changed this time around has been that it seems like with the pull of protein, that we’re gonna have at least some butter available long-term. The question that I still have is where are the best places for us to invest? And even as an Export Council, where are the best places for us to invest our resources into trying to make sure that customers even know that the U.S. has butter available to export, while also trying to find ways of helping U.S. exporters navigate different tariffs than they’ve traditionally had to export, making sure the product specs meet it, and then also trying to get new market access in places that, for a while we’ve seen a lot of trade agreements that thankfully got the U.S. access in cheese and in milk powders, and sometimes butter was in there, sometimes it wasn’t. And so how do we get additional access into that? I look at the U.S.-Japan phase one, that we got additional cheese access, I think we could use some additional butter access into Japan. I’m pretty optimistic on this one. I don’t know if we’re there yet, but I think it’s gonna be isolating which markets are going to be the most profitable for us. I’m probably less optimistic that we’re gonna be consistent in exporting butter here in the next couple of years. But long-term, I think it’s undeniable that the U.S. is gonna have to go in this direction eventually. Ted Jacoby III: Why are you less optimistic in the short-term? Will Loux: I’m a little optimistic in the short-term because we have been exporting effectively double the butter exports we have been. We’ve seen that gap between the U.S. and international markets close quite a bit. Inventories are pretty low. The milk fat test, until May, which surprised me a little bit, had been slowing down as farmers adjusted rations. If we get to the point where butter is $1.40, $1.50, I’m not sure it always makes sense for the farmers to pay for the incremental increase in feed inputs to boost the butterfat test to the [00:30:00] extent that would boost our exports. We may find ourselves tighter in butter in the fourth quarter because we’ve exported our way back to balance. And to me, it looks like where cheese was 15 years ago: That we are on the path towards being a consistent exporter, but we’re often still going to prioritize our domestic market. From the U.S. perspective, I think our butter looks like cheese did 15 years ago, where we’re often export competitive, but not always. Joe Maixner: Will, basically, you have summed up exactly what I’ve been saying for a while, where the butter export opportunity will be cyclical because we will get super competitive, which will drive our domestic price up, which will take us out of the market, and then in turn, cause a surplus of domestic butter to show up in the market, which will then collapse the price and make us super competitive again in the export market. We’re still early enough in the phase that we’re trying to figure out those cycles. I do think it’s cyclical. Overall, though, I do think we will be a consistent exporter. There’ll be a base, and it will ebb and flow, but I do think we will be a consistent exporter moving forward because as we’ve gained market share, we are getting loyal end-use customers in export markets that will consistently pay for our product. Will Loux: I 100% agree with that. I think it’s gonna be, where do we keep our consistent customers, and where are the opportunistic sales that maybe ebb and flow? That’s gonna be a multi-year process as that all shakes out as to where are our stickiest markets within all this? Mike Brown: You want those consistent customers. Jacoby, one of our jobs is helping people with those opportunities. So, they’re both important, but you still need that core base demand and respect for the product. And so, I have a question for you on this, Will. Let’s take butter. Butter’s a great example because the world is unsalted 82, we’re salted 80. I think Joe would attest: We’re seeing suppliers trying to be more flexible in making the product that meets that demand, yet on the other hand, if you’re gonna store a commodity, you gotta make the commodity that is the market product. What are you seeing as far as our adaptability to be that flexible supplier in the world market? What else do we need to do that maybe we aren’t currently doing? Will Loux: There certainly has been a lot of progress made. From my perspective, you have a few different things. One is, of course, the salted and the fat content in the U.S. is different. It’s rare that we’re gonna be exporting from our inventories of 80 salted unless it’s just purely a price play. But what I think about when I think long-term export opportunities is really targeting the key channels that the U.S. is likely to win in first. And some of that’s food manufacturing. I think that’s where the U.S. can be really good, especially making bulk butter for export. I think it’s the first channel. But then it’s also making sure our formats meet the expectations of the customers. Because food manufacturing, I think, will only get us so far. The next phase where the U.S. can really excel in a couple markets is in the foodservice space and in the bakery space, in particular. We have next to no [00:33:00] capacity in the U.S. to make butter sheets, basically the stuff that you would use for croissants or bakery applications. Those are things we know we’ve heard from customers on how we can make products that are specifically geared towards that. In the long run, those are some of the issues. Some of it’s also from an Export Council perspective, educating customers on why U.S. butter is a different color, helping them understand how to utilize it. And even if they choose to use 80%, how to adjust their formulations to that to help understand, “Hey, this is a simple difference of 2% fat difference.” We can work in that space here, too. Long term, I think the U.S. needs to be sure, and this is something we’ve seen in all the other export products that we’ve seen over the years, is not solely trying to sell what we make here in the U.S. and say, “Hey, you should try this instead.” But instead figuring out what our customers are asking for and really making that product. And a lot of that goes down to also the formats and trying to move beyond just bulk butter for further processing into really targeted markets with those specific products. Ted Jacoby III: Joe, do you think the butter industry will invest in those things to increase our capabilities to deliver what the customer wants? Joe Maixner: I think eventually they may have to if our fat components continue the direction that they’re going. Some of the forward thinkers will be the first to adapt, and they’ll be the beneficiaries of investing in some further processing type manufacturing to be able to account for that. Cause at the end of the day, the profit’s in the value add. It’s not in selling bulk. If there’s production capacity, and there’s space to do the addition, and somebody has the foresight to take the chance on it, I think that the payoff is there. Because if you get into that food service type packaging or laminated butter sheets or you get into a product that nobody else is making, that makes you very sticky in that market. You own that market. Will Loux: Even as we’re talking about butter here, we’ve got to think of other, fat-heavy products that could actually play really well in the international market. I tend to think whether it’s, like a UHT cream product, I know there’s always interest in like a frozen cream product. That’s a hard thing for the U.S. to make in some ways. I think UHT creams, we continue to see grow even as we see UHT milk itself actually decline globally. But we’re seeing real interest in that food service sector of, “Hey, let’s get whipping creams that are really targeted towards some of these international markets.” As much as for the U.S. it’s geared around, “Okay, what’s the most storable form of fat?” I think that’s step one, to find a way to export it. But step two is really what are these value-add fat-containing products that we can actually be targeting and competing in as well. And then I think balancing to like an AMF or a whole milk powder, but then using our butter and creams for the value add opportunities. Ted Jacoby III: I agree. Joe Maixner: Let’s not forget cream cheese, either. Cream cheese internationally has been phenomenal. That has plenty of trajectory to keep going. Miguel Aragón: I [00:36:00] must agree 100% with what Joe was saying on cream cheese. We are seeing phenomenal requests for cream cheese throughout Latin America, now in Asia. As what you were saying about channels, Will, we are now working with retailers in Central America with butter. Right now, it’s food service packaging going into retailers, but I think that’s a very interesting thing happening because once those brands of U.S. manufacturers start showing up in the retailers, I think we’re gonna have a better pool of U.S. butter. Ted Jacoby III: I agree, Miguel. Will, I think we should move on to the next couple of questions. – I’m gonna read them both out because I think they’re very related. The first question is, can the U.S. grow cheese exports fast enough to keep up with whey protein demand. And then the second question is, will the U.S. have the protein to supply both the rising domestic and international consumption? I’ll answer the Second question first, which is, my dad, one of the things he drove into us as traders was, at the end of the day, everything’s a matter of price. Which means supply and demand will be regulated by what the price of protein is in the global market. I think it’s fair to say Europe has a much greater ability to add whey protein processing than the U.S. does because a smaller percentage of the whey offtake from cheese plants in Europe is currently being processed into whey protein. So, we will see some pushback there. But in the end of the day, that’s simply gonna self-regulate over what that global price is. My prediction is, can the U.S. grow cheese exports fast enough to keep up with that whey protein demand? I think we are reaching a point where the U.S. is consistently priced where the world market is priced for cheese, and I think that is going to change the way new cheese plants get built because we have had pushback for for 40 years. It’s exactly what Miguel has been talking about, is you don’t make the cheese that we want. Well, if we’re consistently now priced properly into the international market, my challenge for the cheese industry is someone needs to build a plant that supplies the international market with what they want, because we’ve arrived at the point where we’re gonna be consistently competitive now, and that risk becomes worth it. Miguel, do you agree? Miguel Aragón: Totally. I couldn’t have said it better. The market is there; it’s waiting for us to take more of it, but we need the right product now. Ted Jacoby III: And I think that whey protein demand may actually drive someone to do it. What do you think? Will Loux: I agree with everything you’re saying. I think these are two inextricably linked pieces. Right now the signals are such: “Make more whey protein capacity” is clear. There’s also an element of “make more MPC capacity” or “make more capacity with the skim stream targeting proteins” as well. I think what’s holding back some of this capacity to date is probably much more the profitability on the cheese and on the fat side, and where those prices are at. From the dairy farmer perspective of if they’re investing is, the dairy farmer getting the price signals on the protein side? Because right now they’re getting the [00:39:00] price signals on the cheese side and on the fat side, and those are saying not as much to grow. These all need to be put into the spectrum of like, if we successfully grow our cheese exports and keep that international price relatively firm and grow demand abroad for cheese, and grow demand abroad for fats, it’s clear to me the protein demand seems pretty much insatiable here in the U.S. I think there’s a ton of untapped demand internationally, especially as GLP-1s start launching internationally. Like, there is a lot of international demand that I don’t think the U.S. should lose sight of, particularly with regards to whey proteins and milk proteins and all these other products. But it comes down to: can we grow our exports of cheese and butter, not just where we’re setting the global price for those products, but finding ways to make that stream profitable internationally, just as we’ve made the protein stream now incredibly profitable from a whey protein perspective. Folks are gonna come, particularly in Europe, as you said, I think they’re manufacturing over a million metric tons right now of sweet whey in Europe. Some of that’s gonna go to high-protein whey products. We’re gonna have more competition in that space. We’ll see what the price ends up being. All of these things are inextricably linked. And when I think about the mandate here at the Export Council, it’s like, how do we grow those cheese, those fat, and those protein exports, to keep that profitably moving and continue that investment? Because demand’s there for protein, and we’re seeing good demand internationally for cheese. We’re moving the fat overseas. But how do we do that in the most valuable way possible, I think is really what’s gonna be that next era of U.S. dairy exports. Joe Maixner: Will, I’m gonna ask you a question, ‘ cause I’m gonna push back a little bit. You said that farmers aren’t seeing the signals because of cheese and fat. You don’t think a $17 plus Class III and an $18 Class IV basically for the next year, plus your return on beef, plus your cheap inputs on feed is not enough to get the farmers to expand? Will Loux: Oh, I think they will continue to expand. When the nonfat dry milk price shot up, I think that was a reflection that we were short on protein. That we pulled so much out of the dryer, that was that reflection. But I think as Mike even said on one of your previous podcasts, that it was really shown in the PPD rather than necessarily in the protein price. I don’t mean necessarily they’re not getting the signal, it’s just some of it’s our pricing system is a convoluted signal. Ted Jacoby III: Will, you’re speaking to the choir. Mike Brown: I’m gonna have to quote you on that one. Ted Jacoby III: I’m gonna take this opportunity to say, Will, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been a fantastic discussion. I hope you come back soon and join us again, because we always love having you on our podcast. Will Loux: Always fun being with you guys. Thanks for having me on. Miguel Aragón: Bye, guys. [00:42:00] End Commercial: Mike Brown: For one part of the supply chain to be successful, everyone has to be. My superpower is practical application of data and analysis. I believe firmly that Jacoby’s success is because we help our suppliers and our buyers be successful. I’m Mike Brown, and I love working for T.C. Jacoby & Co. because I get to help people make their businesses more successful.
Zanter dem Kulturjoer 2007, an also zanter hiren Ufäng, presentéiert d'Ekipp vun de Rotonden d'Triennale Jeune Création: dëst als Plattform fir nei Kënschtlergeneratioune vu Lëtzebuerg an aus der Groussregioun. Bis Enn August gëtt momentan déi 6. Triennale ënner dem Titel “Common Ground” an de Rotondë gewisen. D'Curatioun hunn déi Kéier net Perséinlechkeete vu bekannte Kulturinstitutiounen iwwerholl, mee den Duo Liliana Francisco a Steven Cruz, selwer nach jonk Kënschtler, déi virun dräi Joer de Kollektiv La Concierge gegrënnt hunn, fir mat Gruppeninitiativ fir d'Unerkennung vum Kënschtlerberuff ze kämpfen. De Steven Cruz an de Marc Scozzai vun de Rotonden hunn dem Kerstin Thalau verzielt, wéi si hire “Common Ground” fonnt hunn.
The Gators D-line is getting a total makeover, Urban Meyer is headed to the Ring of Honor, and we've got two great sit-downs. We break down where Florida's defensive front stands under Brad White, then bring in Mark Herndon and Landon Tengwall — including Landon's inside look at new Gators OL coach Phil Trautwein.
In hour one, respect to Bendix for not punting on the season. Crowder rips Hoch and Solana for their protein intake. Cookies vs alfajores. Solana claims FIU has a better chance at making the CFP than UF. Plus, DBJ stops by to preview the Hurricanes season.
On Friday, Jeff Cardozo and Zach Abolverdi were joined by UF o-line coach Phil Trautwein to discuss the status of his guys. The duo also talked about Florida baseball's pitching staff and prepared for one more week until the Gators begin fall football camp.
Milk already feels tight across much of the U.S. That could be the setup for a perfect storm. Summer heat, warm nights, wildfire smoke and plant disruptions have pressured milk production and moved milk into unexpected places. Now, Class I bottlers are preparing for schools to reopen just as cheese plants, protein beverage manufacturers and other processors compete for the same milk solids. In this episode of The Milk Check, guest host Josh White and the Jacoby team break down what could make August, September and October especially interesting for dairy markets. We cover: How heat, smoke and limited nighttime cooling affected milk production Why school bottling demand could tighten the market further How the cybersecurity disruption temporarily increased condensed skim availability How conflict, Red Sea risk and higher freight costs are complicating dairy exports The dairy market is not moving in a straight line. But competition for milk solids is building, and the next few months could determine which product sectors get the milk they need. Listen to The Milk Check episode 103: The Perfect Storm for Milk Solids. Also available on: Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Got questions? We'd love to hear them. Submit below, and we might answer it on the show. Ask The Milk Check Transcript: [Opening commercial] Josh White: [00:00:00] Coming up on the Milk Check. Jennifer S. Kuo: The Red Sea seems to be an issue now as well. Tyler Jokerst: Yeah. Josh, if the Houthis are getting involved, when you’re looking at Yemen that’s a direct effect on the Red Sea, which is the other half of that peninsula . And then it starts to limit the only access point that you can have into the Red Sea being through the Suez Canal. Josh White: In absence of our fearless leader, Ted we invite our audience to join us for one of our bi-weekly commercial meetings, where our group gets together and breaks down the market based on our individual disciplines. Today’s group is a fairly large one but we have members representing our fluid team, our ultrafiltered and cream team, cheese, butterfat, milk powder, and whey, which makes up our trading group. We’re in the dog days of summer right now, schools are out, families are traveling. There’s people out of the office not making decisions. That’s happening both in the U.S. and in Europe. Let’s touch on current market, climate, what we’re experiencing, and then what we’re paying attention to or looking out for in 30 days time. Let’s start with where we’re at on the milk side of things. Greg, both you and Jared, have experienced a little turbulence over the past week or so with some milk movements. We’re just coming out of a big heat stretch. We’re on the cusp of the South starting to refill its bottling pipelines. What are you feeling and seeing right now, Greg? Greg Scheer: We’ve had some plant closures that have pushed milk around the Mideast, the Northeast, and, around the country. We have had a week or two of that. The first heat wave, back several weeks ago, hit the cows harder than expected, and I’m wondering if maybe that’s the age of the herd is a little older that maybe it hit them a little more. Usually, you have a heat wave, the cows recover some. Normal summer, they get another heat wave, and then, it hits them a little harder the second time or third time. Seems like the first heat wave hit the cows a little harder. I think production’s down just a little bit more than we expected or earlier than maybe a normal summer. Other than plant problems that push milk around, it feels tight. We get to next month, schools start up again or are about to, and bottlers start putting milk into the bottle for schools, then it’s gonna get really tight and could be tight through September, October when maybe production comes back a little bit and the pipeline gets filled, and then it levels off demand a little bit. It feels tight other than plant closures. It’s gonna get really tight in a month. And, we’ll see where it goes. But production does seems like it was hit harder. I’m just wondering if maybe the age of the herd may have a little bit to do with it. Josh White: It was also pretty warm nights for the Midwest. It’s pretty well documented that above 70s: tough on cows; below 70s: allows them to recover nicely. I’m in Gurnee, Illinois, which is Grand Rapids [00:03:00] latitude on the Michigan side. For us to get nights above 70 is rare. And we just went through a pretty good stretch where we had a lot of them. The entire Mideast and the Midwest, we went through a solid four or five days of pretty bad smoke. At least our area was bad enough that just walking outside to get your mail, you could taste it. So I can’t imagine that helped anything. Greg Scheer: How much it hurt is hard to quantify maybe, but definitely didn’t help things. Josh White: Are we still really talking about two different countries, more or less? California, everything seems to be fine. They’re running great. They’re just pumping out milk, and then the rest of the country where it feels a little tighter? Greg Scheer: That’s the sense I get everybody I talk to. Yes. You’ve got California on an island there just filling up their plants, and everybody else in a tighter feel, all the way from the Upper Midwest, Mideast, Northeast. And then as you mentioned, I do think the pull to the Southeast will be starting fairly soon as their production slows, and by mid-August when they’re bottling for schools it’ll really get tight. Josh White: Europe is also talking about some of the same things. Heat sounds like it’s impacted France the most. Germany’s been pretty resilient. Everything I’ve read or heard is that in the recent weeks, people have taken their milk production forecast for the remainder of the year down in Europe, and by a noteworthy amount. To be clear, I think most expect European milk production for 2026 to be higher than it was in 2025, but it’s been notably higher through June. And looking ahead, for them to be taking those numbers down to modest growth means that they’re expecting year-over-year numbers to be down the second half of the year. So Europe seems to be slowing its rate of growth. Curious to what that means going into 2027. We seem to be making good milk, and we’ve got plenty of ability to process it, but the rest of the world feels like it’s starting to slow its growth rate, and maybe start to slow down as we look ahead to 2027. Class I plants looking to start filling up a bit in the next two to four weeks. Jared, what’s that mean for you and your team and your products? Jared Miklasz: Yeah, moving over to the condensed and fluid skim side, the market has become noticeably longer over the past couple weeks, and the obvious driver there was the disruption that Fairlife experienced, which affected multiple plants across the country. With those plants still operating below full capacity following that cybersecurity event, milk that would have normally went into their UF and finished protein beverages has been redirected into balancing outlets which, in turn, made condensed skim much more available, and that increased availability was real. We saw a lot more local offers as a result. As operations normalize and those plants continue to ramp up, I would expect some of that excess product to be reabsorbed, although the timing remains still uncertain. Condensed skim has been tight for much of the year. Obviously, that’s been supported by the steady Demand from both Class II and III. And the strong nonfat demand has also kept skim solids competitive. As those dryers continue to pull available skim [00:06:00] away from the condensed markets school milk will also begin here, as Greg alluded to, which should move more milk back into the bottling programs and further reduce the amount of condensed skim available for manufacturing for these Q4 months. Moving over to the UF side of things, that continues to have the strongest long-term demand story. We’ve touched on it almost every podcast, but high-protein dairy appears to have real staying power. Demand is coming from athletes, consumers focused on weight management, older adults trying to maintain muscle. And that’s even beyond the folks using the GLP-1 medications who are told to prioritize protein. That demand also extends well beyond protein shakes. It’s into yogurt, lactose-reduced products, other nutritional beverages, other applications that require greater control over protein, lactose and total solids. But the other key part of that is the cheese, as that’s an important outlet for UF. As those butterfat levels in the farm milk continue to rise, high protein UF can help rebalance that cheese vat and improve yields. The challenge is that cheese makers are competing with higher value protein beverage and yogurt for that same UF supply. More UF capacity is expected to come online, though, here later this year and into ’27, but that does not necessarily mean that the market will become over-supplied. I think the key question is whether capacity grows faster than the demand. The category obviously remains strong, although that increased competition from a wider retail perspective and potential consolidation could eventually slow growth. But so far that demand has continued to outperform expectations. That strong UF demand also tightens the broader skim market because, obviously that milk is moving into UF and no longer available for condensed skim or nonfat. But, overall improving milk production should create more opportunities, particularly in the skim market. However, that strong demand has regional processing constraints and plant reliability all play key factors here long term. Josh White: So we’re probably not gonna be moving in a straight line here, right? As production responds, we’re trying to anticipate how demand continues to grow. We definitely know it’s in vogue. It seems structural, like that we would see more of these protein-enhanced consumer products coming online that are using liquid protein, as well as the popularity of the whey products and some of the others. But over the course of the next 30, 60 days, how are you feeling like that balances out? I heard you mention that we don’t really see a lot more UF coming on until maybe later in the year. In the meantime, if I’m mapping this out correctly, particularly in the eastern half of the country, we’re already snug milk. We have a lot of capacity for cheese that has been filling. We got hit with some heat, and we’re trying to digest the impact on milk production, but we believe there’s been some already in mid-July. And Class I’s gonna start to ramp up in August, and at the moment it feels to me like we’re gonna be competing pretty heavily in all of these sectors for the available milk solids that are out there, and it’s already snug [00:09:00] before the Class I starts to pull their share. Jared Miklasz: Yeah, it feels like a perfect storm here. Everyone’s competing for those solids in the back half of this year before that additional capacity comes online to meet some of that demand. And that competition’s been playing out all summer, but I think it’ll really heat up as we get into August and September, and October, and schools start ramping up, and all, everything aligns there. So I think it’ll be very interesting to see, if any product sectors get shorted. On the protein beverage side they have shelves to make sure they stock and keep that space at the big box stores as well. So I think they’re gonna try to get their milk, but you alluded to it, these, investments on the cheese side, they’re gonna wanna keep those plants full. Jared Miklasz: So it’s gonna be interesting to watch. Josh White: June milk production was a little bit higher than maybe most expected, 2.3% for the country, if I read it right. But most of that heat impact has been in recent weeks, right? The recent three weeks, so since July. We’re looking at a milk production number that’s dated, but we’re experiencing a milk production climate right now that seems to be a little bit tighter for a variety of reasons. But probably one of the bigger one is normal seasonal summertime heat, but may be coming on a bit earlier than expected and a bit stronger than we’re used to at this point in time. We’ve had more headwinds in July. Let’s talk cream for a second. Butter is moving counter seasonally. Overall, the market still feels heavy, but normally this time of year we wouldn’t be moving in the direction that we are. So let’s go with where everything starts. What’s happening on the cream side of things? Jared Miklasz: Yeah, fat remains tight, which has been, somewhat surprising given the amount of milk being separated for the high-protein beverages and all the value-added skim products that we just talked about. As those markets continue to grow, obviously that generates butterfat and that has to find a home. But based on that, I, I would’ve expected more cream to be available, but instead that market has continued to absorb it. Butter is currently trading in the 155 to 160 range, well below levels that we saw last year. And at those levels, cream is much easier for the manufacturers to use in ice cream, cultured dairy, cream cheese, and other Class II applications. It reduces that risk far as finished product and carrying less value. but part of that may be the manufacturers that, you know, adding that fat back into formulations after pulling back when butter prices were much higher. Lower fat cost obviously as far as the taste and texture can improve flavor and yield across the board for a range of products. Even with the stronger milk production and continued growth in the farm level butterfat I do not expect that the cream market is suddenly gonna become long, particularly during these summer months and with the heat that’s still on the horizon and pressure on both milk and volume and components. Over time, the additional milk and fat production should help bring the market back into better balance. But right now, it’s been long. That processing capacity will remain just as important as the total volume that’s being produced. Josh White: Is Class II performance still very strong this year? Jared Miklasz: It is, yeah. They’re the ones that are soaking up the majority of that fat right now. Josh White: Do we have a sense for if we had to try to measure the whole category, and I realize there’s a lot of products that go [00:12:00] into that category, it’s pretty difficult to paint the broad brush. But do we have a sense for are people looking at current markets as an opportunity to build structural inventory, or are they just moving that much more at the shelf? Jared Miklasz: I don’t have a good answer for that one, man. Josh White: Yeah, I don’t either. It’d be curious. ‘Cause if our Class II performance, we’ve seen just domestic performance in certain products look really well year to date. Like the amount of nonfat that’s been consumed domestically, the Class II numbers suggest that things are going really well in, in those markets. I’m just curious if consumer demand is up that much for some of these because maybe pricing promotions or other things, or if there’s been some structural stock building in anticipation of needs the rest of the year. Let’s move on. Let’s talk about cheese a bit. Cheese just made a pretty decent move higher. In Europe similar things, mozzarella prices have really started to move higher in Europe. And now all of a sudden with the U.S. moving higher and European cheddar quite a bit lower than the bounce they saw on their mozzarella, we’re not maybe in quite as an advantageous price position internationally as we were before. How do we see that playing out? Jeff Daanen: You just wonder the real effect is it gonna be for a month or two when we see what happens and how much cheese is out there. But there is cheese available. If you wanted extra loads, they are there. We’re pretty heavy in cheese. The only thing that we don’t have a lot of right now is mozzarella. A lot of that had to do with the World Cup, and there’s some plants that shut down for maintenance. Like Jared said, it was kinda like the perfect storm. plants shut down. People were eating a lot of pizza because of the World Cup, a lot of house parties and stuff like that. But in about another month we’ll be out of this, and there’ll be plenty of mozzarella available. Jennifer S. Kuo: Our price is a lot higher right now than compared to Europe. especially in the Middle East, and even in Asia still, so many people delayed what they would’ve normally ordered in Q2 and going into Q3 because of all the uncertainty, the much higher fuel costs. Everybody has depleted their inventory. And despite our higher prices, we are still getting many requests now still from the Middle East. Pricing really isn’t an issue. It’s just how soon can you ship, and how soon can you guarantee that it’ll get here? So price does not seem to be the barrier right now. Everybody has used their inventory, and they all need to restock. We have the supply. They’re willing to pay a little more. Europe hasn’t really been a conversation with any of our customers. They have not really tried to push back and say, “Europe is better priced right now.” But yeah, the demand is definitely there right now, despite the jump in our market recently. Josh White: Interesting. So it feels like the international demand’s there. The customer’s de-stocked. But at least for products other than mozzarella, we feel really heavy domestically. Is that still accurate? Jennifer S. Kuo: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. But we are seeing the demand in the Middle East is not just for mozzarella right now. It is more geared towards [00:15:00] cheddar. We are getting more inquiries for cheddar than mozzarella right now, which is good for us, both white and color. Tyler Jokerst: Obvious barriers there or risk can be tied around the current situation in Iran as well. Jennifer S. Kuo: The Red Sea seems to be an issue now as well. Tyler Jokerst: Yeah. Josh, you’re dealing with updated issues if the Houthis are getting involved, when you’re looking at Yemen that’s a direct effect on the Red Sea, which is the other half of that peninsula . And then it starts to limit the only access point that you can have into the Red Sea being through the Suez Canal. So it can create a major supply chain choke point for just anybody trying to get any kind of imports into the region. Josh White: Including Europe, right? Tyler Jokerst: Yeah, because, that tends to be a route that can cut down on transit times. So you can run into situations where you might have to go around the Cape of Good Hope to get where you need to get. So it can cause a lot of complications across the board. Josh White: So, you got an international market that does demand product. They’re not well covered, but we’re constantly fighting our ability to access and supply that demand. Same story two months later. Jennifer S. Kuo: Yeah, and freight has doubled, And that did not seem to be a barrier. Tyler Jokerst: Nope. Josh White: Demand seems resilient then, huh? Tyler Jokerst: Yeah, so I guess Josh, not being too familiar on the dairy side, still learning a lot I would imagine that means the price difference there is significant enough where historically logistics has been a major barrier for U.S. product getting international. I think that clearly the opportunities continue to make themselves clearer for international growth with U.S. dairy product. Josh White: If we could wave a wand and the conflict was over tomorrow, which is not likely, I understand that, do we think that customers are going to step in heavily and demand’s gonna feel strong at that moment because they’re not getting an adequate amount of product? Or have they been purchasing to be safe all along and trying to stay ahead of their needs? Jennifer S. Kuo: I think they’ve been trying to wait it out, and they keep thinking, “Oh, okay, it’s, the war is over, the war is over,” and it keeps restarting. I don’t think they have any inventory now. They wanna know how fast can you get it here and how much. Josh White: Specifically as it relates to the Iran conflict, where are we at in terms of demand destruction? Because when we started these conversations, and I think we had Cefetra on a call probably almost two months ago now, and we asked the question: how long does this have to go on before it goes into notable demand destruction within the region because people can’t import the raw materials they need to make the products that they consume? If price isn’t, really the barrier at the moment, it still is access to the supply. I think at that point in time we talked about August sort of being, like, the magic month to where if this lasts into August, we’re gonna start to really hurt dairy consumption within the region. Jennifer S. Kuo: I think that’s still the magical question we’re trying to find the answer to. Tyler Jokerst: The war is prolonging the situation. It could’ve happened by now, but that huge variable is not really giving us a good read. Josh White: Do we think the answer is gonna be universally the same between milk [00:18:00] powders, butterfat, and cheese, or is it different for different products? Jennifer S. Kuo: The answer’s the same because it’s availability. They’re all on the same boats, right? Yeah. You don’t ship cheese separately from powder separately from butter. I think it’s all just access based. Josh White: I’ll clarify the question. It’s less about the ability to get the product and more about at what point in the timeline when you can’t get it conveniently, do you start to have demand destruction on the consumer level? Because you can’t get the cheese, which you will find its way to retail, the butterfat, which is largely an ingredient for processed cheese applications and other things, the milk powders, which serve some of the same and some different manufacturing products. All three of them overlap each other like a chain, but the cheese is closest to consumer. The butterfat is very close to consumer as an ingredient making some of these processed cheese products and other things, milk powder is going into some of that, but then also as an ingredient maybe in other applications like bakery and some consumer packaged goods. If we get into August, which of those areas is most vulnerable? Is it the consumer products because they really are bringing it in just in time, they have to make what they make they’re considered more luxury type items that, you can cut from your diet if you can’t get it versus maybe something along the lines of manufactured products that they may have more deep inventories of, and they will run out, but they might not be running out until September or beyond. At this moment I don’t get the impression talking to European colleagues, talking within our own team in the different product categories, it doesn’t feel like material demand destruction yet. It seems like we’re still finding a way to get some product in, seems like they’re still willing to pay for product, seems like some stuff’s still happening. It’s just at some moment that will come to a head, I think. And we initially expected by August it would become a real problem that meant we’re going to be missing dairy demand out of that region. And we’re knocking on the door of August. Josh White: We’ll be right back after these messages. Diego Carvallo: I’m Diego Carballo with T.C. Jacoby & Co.. T.C. Jacoby & Co. specializes in international dairy markets. For new customers that haven’t done business with Jacoby, I would tell them that we can provide them with many of the powders, dairy products that they consume, not only with the physical product, but we can also help them mitigate their risk. We know dairy. We know the main players. We know the main providers for the whole value chain. We are one of the strongest players in the U.S. market because we have contact all the way from the farmer moving the liquid milk all the way to the end users that buy the end products. I am Diego Carballo with T.C. Jacoby & Co., and we bring dairy to the world. Josh White: Let’s shift gears. Diego, let’s talk a bit about nonfat dry milk, skim milk powder, and what’s happening, globally [00:21:00] there. Yesterday, we had a firm GDT. What does that tell you? Diego Carvallo: We’ve seen the market under heavy pressure, mainly in the U.S., which was the market that was the most expensive for the past I would say six months. It seems like the U.S. market is going back into a price range where we’re competitive internationally. And that had to happen because the U.S., as we’ve mentioned before, we need to export about two out of three loads that we manufacture in the U.S. for nonfat. And we were not competitive for a long period of time. Our prices were $400 to even $1,000 per metric ton higher than European prices. And now that we finally have plenty of availability we have to find a price where exports become competitive again. And that’s what’s happened. In the past few weeks, we’ve had a few additional factors that have added pressure to prices, and that’s what Jared mentioned on plant interruptions in the U.S. And that’s definitely shifted some skim milk concentrate and some products to the drying towers. And that’s adding a lot of pressure onto prices. We’re seeing more inventory, more product availability from the manufacturers. The market is looking for other outlets, and those outlets are in the Middle East, in Asia, and other places, maybe South America, where the cost of the freight has gone up to an extent where we’re paying probably twice what we used to pay. So the exports price has to come down so that we’re competitive again. We should find some support in the current levels. We’re close to the $1.40s and the physical offers are even lower than that especially for SMP. For SMP, we’re seeing offers close to the $1.35, which is ten cents under the current futures. And I think at that level, we’re starting to be competitive even with a more expensive freight rate. I think we should find support unless we start seeing Europe trend lower and New Zealand prices also trending lower, which hasn’t happened at this point. A lot of availability around and not too many customers looking for product at this moment. Josh White: Okay, on the whey product side, it is absolutely the definition of a summer market right now. I think after two quarters of prices constantly moving up for whey proteins, and the whey market trying to rebalance so many changes over the past year. Over the course of 2025 and into early 2026, we saw a lot of large sweet whey powder producers upgrade their facilities to higher protein WPC80 or WPI. At the same time, there was the commissioning of a very large sweet whey powder facility in Texas that is offsetting the production that we’ve lost, and that’s been a bit turbulent. And that just means that we’re exchanging approved brands for both domestic [00:24:00] customers and international customers for a new brand that needs to be approved. And so we’ve seen a trading range for sweet whey powder that’s been 60 to 70 cents for quite a while. But the actual spot market has seen a lot more basis volatility. New brands trying to buy their way into business, brands that remained that have legacy or approvals for perhaps Asian clientele in a market that seems to be pretty short right now, they’re getting bigger basis premiums. So sweet whey powder has been largely range-bound, but that doesn’t really tell the story. It’s been a big shift in who has the product and where that product can go. On the protein side that story’s pretty well-documented and well-reported at the moment. It is shockingly resilient. Diego mentioned that milk proteins are realizing the benefits of this health and wellness movement. Some of the current trade relationships might be supportive of milk proteins. Aside from that, we’re just seeing more demand, people formulating to it, buying more and using more of it. Jared talked about the UF side of things and how there’s just new demand creation in a lot of different categories from beverage to, some of the other Class II products. The whey category remains just on fire. It seems to be both products. Now, we had two quarters in a row where people were terrified they couldn’t get access to supply, and they watched pricing increase by 20-plus percent. Now we get into the summer and pricing hasn’t increased over the last few weeks, and that’s making some people nervous. You’ve got a lot of people out there that are like, “Oh, it’s not gonna continuously go up. does that mean this market’s going to crash?” It’s always possible, of course. These markets don’t move one-directionally. We should expect a retracement at some moment in time. But everything I read from the consumer demand aspect of it, I don’t see any cracks in the floor. What I see is we’ve moved pricing up so rapidly that now that people are going into the summer months and maybe taking some holidays, if they come back in August and need to replenish, this thing goes right back up. If they come into August and find out that the movements on the shelf at the grocery stores have slowed as much of a price increase we’ve seen, we should look out. So I’m not in either camp right now. I guess I’m a little bit more of the belief that the consumer profile seems to be growing, seems to be willing to pay the prices that we’ve seen. And every time we start to think that the GLP-1 catalyst will end or mature, the GLP-1 drug gets cheaper, you can take it in a different form, and a larger percentage of Americans are actively using the drug. I’m also starting to see the GLP-1 aspect of the protein market get reported in Europe more. We have to remember, the U.S. market is nowhere near mature and in terms of its adoption of GLP-1 as a weight loss tool, consumers are educating themselves at a rapid level, trying to understand what the right foods are, and dairy seems to be on the right side of that discussion. Whey protein maybe being the biggest beneficiary. Milk proteins, though, certainly [00:27:00] a beneficiary. And the rest of the world still can follow. So I don’t know. I remain pretty bullish protein overall, but I think it would be irresponsible to assume that this is a one-directional market, and that it’s just gonna resume an uptrend as we get past the summer slowdown that we’re experiencing in North America and Europe. We need to be aware of what some of the potential upside shocks could be to the market as the globe enters those months where we produce the least amount of milk. We should keep our eye on a few potential shocks. Not all to the upside, some to the downside but I think we’re vulnerable to see maybe a little bit of volatility in the months to come. Let’s go through the group as sort of kind of a fun round the table. Most important discussion or impactful thing in the past week that has your attention. So Tristan, let’s start with you. Tristan Suellentrop: One of the most notable developments is the continued shift towards milk proteins. As WPC80 and WPI prices remain expensive and a little bit more difficult to source, I’ve noticed more people are evaluating MPCs as a partial replacement which is creating stronger demand across the entire high proteins category. Kait, how about you? Kait Holzschuh: There does seem to be a lot of demand for whey permeate and lactose abroad that you just don’t see in the U.S., so I find that kinda interesting. Josh White: Yeah, good point. We didn’t touch on that, but it started with lactose, and now it’s even cascaded to whey permeate. The amount of inquiries that we’ve received in the past couple weeks across all sectors: international feed sectors, international food sectors, domestic food, and domestic feed. There’s clearly it’s clearly a tight market. Great point. Thank you. Miguel? Miguel Aragón: It might be just isolated to Mexico, but there is a glut of cheese in Mexico. When we were in the $1.40s, probably, a lot of cheese made its way down there, and it has affected the market right now. With the prices now, the hope of the customers that we talk to is that things will level off. But right now, still a lot of cheese, a lot of cheap cheese in Mexico. It affects current business right now. And the second one is demand during World Cup was not as good as expected, and this comes from the Association of Supermarkets and Convenience Stores in Mexico. So two things that really caught my eye in the last two weeks. Josh White: How do we feel the same question would be answered in the U.S.? Do we think that the World Cup impact on demand was worse than, equal to, or better than expected? Jeff Daanen: I think it was better than expected. Because when this first came out, I didn’t think that it would impact a whole lot. But when it was all said and done, it just seems like the snack part of the cheese business really took off, along with pizzas. I think there were a lot of pizzas consumed. That’s why mozzarella’s really tight, and it probably will be for at least another month or so. Josh White: Jonathan? Jonathan B. Powers: Yeah, I think probably the most impactful thing is talking about WPC [00:30:00] 34 and nonfat. Nonfat and SMP hasn’t been readily available in the Midwest, and there’s a need for that protein range in the calf milk replacer world, and we’re starting to get a lot more conversations around stockpiles for those products. As we’ve discussed, WPC 34 is kind of a dying product. There’s not a lot of people that are making it anymore, and there seems to be a lot of companies, even in the food space, that are still very reliant on it and trying to satisfy the need for it when it isn’t necessarily available. We’ve had people reach out for permeating lactose. The volume of requests has been astonishing, honestly. Josh White: Manuel? Miguel Aragón: Where I have a lot of my focus is cheese in general. It just feels like there is something brewing right now. Technically, it’s entered a uptrend right now again and it’s still choppy, right? At least on the futures board. But it feels like there’s opportunities there and yeah. So I’m just soaking up everything I can hear about cheese right now and really try to get a feeling for the market there. Besides that, nonfat is just shaving off more and more. We basically broke the support we had for a long time now, so it really feels like it’s on another leg down. Yeah, we’re gonna see how that plays out. I personally also think we’re gonna find support in the 140s. We might test a little lower than that, but at some point, it should stall and become a little more stable. Josh White: Diego, based on what you said about S&P in the 130s and then what Manuel just said about the technical support and what that looks like, that kind of aligns, right? Because I think I heard you make the comment that as we, a 140 nonfat, you can make S&P cheaper for those that don’t really pay attention to the difference. Lactose is really tight, too. Do we think that there’s a connection to why the milk sugars are tight, and all of a sudden, we are seeing pricing that’s a little bit more SMP competitive globally? Diego Carvallo: I do think that there is, yeah. We made very little SMP for the first six months of the year because it wouldn’t make any sense to export when we’re $1,000 higher than European markets. Now that we’re competitive, it does make a lot of sense to make SMP, especially when protein is very high and you can take it down with a cheap product like lactose or milk permeate. It makes sense to find demand in other markets for the SMP. So I do think that the demand for the carbohydrates has picked up now that nonfat has become competitive again. Josh White: For the benefit of everyone so we’re all talking the same language, nonfat dry milk and SMP are typically universally used in applications, but they’re very different products. What we call nonfat dry milk is an unstandardized product. That specification is a minimum protein percent of 34. But today’s productivity [00:33:00] of components in our milk supply, the average unstandardized protein level in nonfat dry milk is pushing 38 or more percent at least 37 and a half in most times. Now, the rest of the world standardizes their product, and they standardize to either one of two things: 32%, which is the old Codex, 34%, which I think is a little bit more common. Or at least it’s common out of the U.S. that we would standardize to 34%. When we say why would there be a connection between lactose and milk powder, you can add lactose or milk permeate to your nonfat supply to bring the protein down to a standard level. So when we stay standardized, that’s what we mean, where they’re basically bringing it to a 34% protein, most commonly out of the U.S., and then that allows us to compete for international business. Certain markets can use either, but certainly would, prefer a higher protein content at a competitive price. So when I mention our futures are at $1.40, that’s nonfat, and our average nonfat has a higher protein. So if we’re standardizing, that means that we can add this cheaper lactose or cheaper milk permeate to the volume, and that lowers the overall price. So the whole conversation there was more or less like, “Hey, are we making SMP now, and are we competing globally for international business? ‘Cause if we are, that also tells us at least we’re closer to finding a support price, finding some type of global support level for the product.” But you’ll hear us really start to break down the difference between SMP, nonfat dry milk. But many customers can use either. I wouldn’t say most, but many Okay. I, we covered a lot. Yara, any discussions over the past week that you that you feel were most interesting? Yara Morales: It’s a lot of inventory in Mexico, and the customer was offering me nonfat dry milk instead of buying. That was the most surprise, we know that since the price is going down so bad, and they have a lot of inventory with high prices. They have a contract that they have to take it. That’s hard for them. They are losing a lot of money. And the inquires, they looking for whey permeate. They are looking for lactose and proteins. But it’s hard to get the whey permeate and the lactose like you mentioned it. But this is the inquiry we have in Mexico so far, just protein basically because otherwise it’s difficult right now. Josh White: Yeah, agreed. Okay, all, I know it was an unusual discussion. Thanks for joining us today on the Milk Check. Mike Brown: For one part of the supply chain to be successful, everyone has to be. My superpower is practical application of data and analysis. I believe firmly that Jacoby’s success is because we help our suppliers and our buyers be successful. I’m Mike Brown, and I love working for T.C. [00:36:00] Jacoby and Co. because I get to help people Make their businesses more successful.
The next decade of global dairy growth may look very different from the last one. For years, much of the world's additional milk came from pasture-based systems. New Zealand added acres. Production expanded across parts of South America, Australia and Europe. But those regions are not growing the way they once did. Today, the next unit of milk is increasingly coming from grain-fed systems. That shift could put the U.S. in the driver's seat for global dairy markets over the next 5 to 10 years. In this episode of The Milk Check, host Ted Jacoby III and the Jacoby team are joined by Scott Briggs of Bridgecape Commodities. We dive into: Why marginal milk growth is shifting from grass-fed to grain-fed systems What environmental policy and structural inefficiencies mean for European milk production Why China is shifting from building milk supply to creating higher-value dairy products Why the U.S. will need to become a more consistent exporter of butterfat Plus, beef income has helped support dairy farm margins and encouraged producers to breed more cows to beef. What happens if beef prices fall? The cows are ready. The plants are being built. What's next for U.S. dairy? Listen to The Milk Check episode 102: Who Wins the Next Decade of Milk Production? Also available on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Got questions? We'd love to hear them. Submit below, and we might answer it on the show. Ask The Milk Check Intro commercial [Text not included.] Ted Jacoby III: Coming up on the Milk Check. Ted Jacoby III: You’ve got the U.S. dairy industry now in a position where even the worst-case scenario continues to be a threat for Europe or the rest of the world from a milk supply standpoint. Ted Jacoby III: Welcome to the Milk Check from T.C. Jacoby & Co., your complete guide to dairy markets, from the milking parlor to the supermarket shelf. I’m Ted Jacoby. Let’s dive in. This week, we are excited to have Scott Briggs from Bridgecape Commodities joining us. Scott lives in Australia and really understands what’s going on with dairy markets on that side of the pond. Scott, thank you so much for joining us. We’re excited to have you. Why don’t we start by having you tell everybody a little bit about yourself? Scott Briggs: Thanks very much for the intro, Ted. I’m Scott Briggs, Bridgecape Commodities, based down in Melbourne, Australia and work with a number of Asian and Oceanic consumers to try and understand global dairy markets and try and help them risk manage. Thanks very much for the opportunity to be a part of the podcast. Ted Jacoby III: Scott, thanks for joining us. We’re really excited to have you. We’re gonna have a little bit of a debate: How do U.S. dairy production costs compare to those in New Zealand, Europe, and China today? Do we think the U.S. is building a lasting competitive advantage? And what does that mean for the global dairy market over the next five years? Scott, I’ll start with you. You’re based down under. Do you think the U.S. Is developing a competitive advantage, or do you think New Zealand will continue to be in the driver’s seat? Scott Briggs: It’s a very big topic Ted, but I think the short answer is that yeah, the U.S. is really in a great position to drive global dairy markets over the next 5 to 10 years. One of the major things that’s changed probably since about 2015, we’ve been in a transition period where the marginal milk growth is not coming from a grass-fed system anymore, it’s coming from a grain-fed system. Between 2000 when a lot of global dairy markets started to deregulate and we had falling trade controls and those sorts of things, quotas in the EU eventually coming off, between 2000 and 2015, the marginal milk growth was really coming from a grass-fed system, be it New Zealand growing the number of acres that it planted or the number of acres that it farmed. Places like Uruguay or southern Brazil or Argentina growing quite strongly and other parts of Europe and Australia as well. So that was the driver of the growth, and that’s why we saw that volatility in global dairy markets driving back towards a grass-fed cost of production. But since then, those places have stopped growing and really the next unit of growth or the next liter of growth comes from grains and ultimately that does mean that the U.S. is in a great position to respond to the milk production needs of the world. At the end of the day, you’ve got the greatest exportable surplus of grains and you’ve got a fantastic platform to grow from. That’s the 10,000-foot view of why the U.S. is in the box seat. Ted Jacoby III: You mentioned that even New Zealand is starting to go towards a grain-based system. Could you tell me a little bit more about that? Scott Briggs: I would say that’s pretty incipient, Ted, but there’s certainly steps that are being taken in New Zealand that seem to mirror what Australia’s been doing for probably the last five to 10 years. You have a marginal cost of production that is grain-fed and it’s being led by the U.S. At the moment, if we looked at the margins in the U.S. for a dairy farmer, they’re pretty good given your beef situation. But if you were to remove that beef situation or that beef revenue, you’re probably at a pretty low income over feed cost. But that’s still a highly profitable milk price for a grass-fed system. And a lot of the fixed costs are already being paid off, be it the farmer’s labor the equipment on the farm all of those overheads, they’re already being paid off by a pasture fed system. So, there’s a huge marginal return for that extra liter of milk that comes out of a pasture fed system. If you look at the steps that have occurred in Australia and that are probably starting to come to New Zealand, it is a lot more shared housing in wetter areas, feed pads, dry feed pads. It's certainly not moving to the barn fed system that the States has got. More multiple calvers, if you like, to flatten out that milk curve. A lot more maize silage production, which just stores that little bit better and gives you more dry matter per acre as well. It’s these kind of marginal steps which have occurred a lot in Australia or even in some of our more grass-fed areas, and that are starting to occur in New Zealand. And some of the incentives that are being given, market-wise, in New Zealand to produce that shoulder milk or that additional milk are starting to respond with additional investment on farm. Ted Jacoby III: So, is maybe another way to put it that core pasture-based part of New Zealand dairy farming continues to be very profitable, but any marginal increase in milk production that would come from New Zealand, the cost of that marginal increase is probably the same or more likely probably less than the same marginal increase in milk production in the U.S.? Scott Briggs: Look, I would say that the marginal cost of production out of the States is pretty good. If you think that you’ve already got all the infrastructure paid for and it’s really just an additional growth there. But I think it’s more so the profit margins that sit in a pasture-fed system in New Zealand allow for that investment to try and get that little bit of extra milk as well. So, I wouldn’t say either or are better placed. It’s just that we do have a lot of low-hanging fruit in Oceania, if you like, to start moving into that kind of system. Ted Jacoby III: That makes sense. That makes sense. Mike Brown (2): One thing I think about New Zealand and why the system is the way it has been historically has been your cost of concentrates or grains hasn’t always been as competitive. You lead world price in a lot of cases, and your location makes you very competitive. Your dairymen have more room to pay some of those higher costs for that marginal production. So my question is the strong world price has a fair amount to do, obviously , with everybody’s growth, but in your case when you look at that difference in marginal cost versus that pasture based cost, are you more sensitive to that marginal change in price than maybe some other markets just simply because your feed costs are higher? Scott Briggs: Let’s have a look at world milk prices at the moment. The U.S. at $17 a counterweight, if you like, $16.50, $17 a counterweight. That’s low on your range. On the New Zealand numbers, that’s coming out at a $9.50 dollars per kilo in New Zealand dollars, which is a historically pretty high milk price. So, they do have that ability to just bring in PKE exports. One of the major sources of additional feed or additional milk growth in New Zealand is this palm kernel expeller which comes off of the palm kernel crushing. It’s kinda like soybean meal, if you like that they bring in from Indonesia and other palm kernel or palm crushing countries. Fonterra had placed limits on that for a long period of time because it was affecting the fat composition of the milk. Once they removed those limits, PKE imports went up 20% or 30% almost in one or two years. The last two seasons, New Zealand milk growth has been about 4% or 5% this year, and probably 2% or 3% the year before, so 6 or 7%. Nearly a third to a half of that has come from the additional energy that’s coming in the PKE. So it’s having a huge marginal impact on their growth, and it’s coming at a pretty low cost ’cause it’s a low-cost feed source. So, I think, Mike, going back to your question, they have that ability to grow because there’s such a lot of low-hanging fruit between that grass-fed cost of production, which is already paying for their farm, and the milk price that they’re getting paid, which is actually a marginal cost of production out of the U.S. Mike Brown (2): What kind of world fat price might change their incentive on PKE? We’re seeing a little bit of that here because it’s very expensive here, and people look at their marginal return. It isn’t, of course, near what it was when fat was $2.50. Do you think, depending where that world market settles, will that change the incentive to use PKE? ‘Cause in our case, it’s fat production is the real gain that you get compared to other alternative rations we feed. Scott Briggs: I think it’s seen more as just a bulk source of feed and source of energy- to get the cow up early in the season, Mike, and peak it as high as possible, and then to keep going on the shoulder. It’s a milk solids game rather than a tweak the fat percentage game. At $9.50 they’ll be feeding it. Mike Brown (2): Yes. Scott Briggs: $9.50 a kilo of milk solids they’ll be feeding it. Mike Brown (2): Oh, yes. Yeah. I would be feeding it here, too. Yeah. At that price for sure. Yeah. Ted Jacoby III: My thoughts immediately go to Europe. The U.S. is well-positioned for growth. New Zealand is building off a very profitable base, which insulates them and puts them in a very good position of at least maintaining their position in the global market. Where does that put Europe? Scott Briggs: Europe is an interesting situation where realistically I think that they’re gonna struggle for the main drivers of additional milk production. They seem to be struggling to add any additional land at a reasonable cost, whether it be to the feed base or to the dairy base. That’s obviously being driven by environmental policy, which is very different in Europe than it is say in the U.S. or even Latin America. So I think that they’re gonna struggle at that policy level to be able to keep driving forward. The other thing that does sit within Europe is that we’re only 10 years removed from quota coming off, and so we’re still in that process of losing milk production where we should in the more marginal areas, or from the smaller farms, or from the more marginal land, and trying to drive it into places like Germany or the Netherlands. And so whenever you’ve got a core base of pretty uneconomic sticky milk, it takes a fairly heavy price response to drive change in those farms. So down at the lowish milk prices that we’ve got globally at the moment and I say, I’m happy to debate that point. I think we’re at pretty low milk prices on the range since the end of COVID, particularly with the low feed prices. Where we are at the bottom of the price range, you’re gonna still struggle to get some of these European guys out given the subsidies that they’ve got. But that also means you’re not driving efficiency back into the system. So it feels to me like Europe’s gonna really struggle to meet the global needs and be a quick mover like the States has been. Probably the call-out on that one to me would be Russia. They’ve got probably huge settings if they wanted Russia and the Stans to really grow into dairy production. But it’s not gonna be something that’s being done for the rest of the world. I think it’s gonna be getting done for their part of the world and for China. Ted Jacoby III: Speaking of Eastern Europe, do you think Poland still has a lot of room to grow as well? Scott Briggs: I wouldn’t know the specific micro settings of Poland. It does seem like they are growing pretty well. If you look at the investments that are going into some of the Stans, eventually Ukraine and some of the other parts of the former Eastern Bloc, if you like, it does seem like there’s a lot of investment in Belarus still. It does seem like there’s a lot of investment going in there to help feed parts of the world that longer-term probably aren’t gonna be getting fed by the U.S. Ted Jacoby III: That makes sense to me. With all these different factors, what about China? China’s in a pretty interesting spot from a milk production standpoint. They really increased their milk production three or four years ago, and then more or less stabilized it. Where is their cost of production and where does China go from here? Scott Briggs: Probably the first point to make is that we’ve all learned not to bet against China on dairy production in the last four or five years on milk production in particular. That’s been an incredible rise. And I think the second thing is that lesson to me is then, don’t bet against them and what they might be able to do with the quality of the product, and the investments that they’re making in manufacturing capacity now. There’s a huge push from China to value add, particularly on the protein side, and to then try and drive that down in sales into Southeast Asia and other parts of the world. They’ve obviously got a huge domestic market, but when it comes to starting to grow into things like processed cheese or fat exports or even micellar casein exports and MPC exports, that’s where I think that their next push is gonna be, is trying to move out anything that they don’t need domestically. So it’s not just gonna be bulk whole milk powder, which has been the story of the last two or three years. The structural issue that they’ve got is that their population versus their arable land is just huge. That’s a long-term limiter, if you like, for how much you can push into exports. Ultimately, as their productivity grows and their incomes grow, they’ll be consuming more dairy themselves. The steps that we’ve seen the last four or five years were really about shoring up domestic milk capability so that they weren’t a victim of world markets, and then now they’re trying to value add that milk. They’ve learned the lesson that you don’t grow milk but not grow factories, and they’ve learned the lesson that you don’t grow demand without growing milk. The policy now is, let’s do step changes as productivity rises to drive income rises. I think that they’re gonna be putting a push on certain functional products into Asia But I don’t think that they’re necessarily in a place to be the driver of global milk production because ultimately their cost of production, going back to where you started, Ted, is higher, and it’s structurally higher because of the fact that they just don’t have enough arable land for the population that they’ve got. Ted Jacoby III: But with China doing that and really trying to expand into value add and even trying to export, I gotta believe that’s causing Fonterra and the other New Zealand exporters to really shift their export strategy. What’s happening there? Scott Briggs: When you look at Fonterra, their stated strategy is to basically be a skim protein and fat company. They have recognized that the days of whole milk powder are limited. China went through a period where they went from 500,000 tons of imports pre-COVID to 800,000, and now they’re back down to 500,000 again. They’ve really gone through that boom and during that period, Fonterra’s basically said, “We need to move out of whole milk powder and move back into being a skim and fat company.” And when I say a skim and fat company, a skim protein and fat company. And so, we have seen them push 50 to 70,000 tons more skim into Southeast Asia. But what they’re now starting to do is to value add that skim, similar to what the U.S. is doing: putting on more ultrafiltration in front of dryers, ’cause that’s the highest marginal investment that you can do. Starting to do more MPCs, starting to do more value add on the fat side, as well. There’s been some huge investments in UHT cream which are gonna be going ahead or have already gone ahead and are being launched for this year, which draws fat away from butter and AMF. Overall, their stated strategy is to be a nutrition and food service company. Nutrition: protein-heavy products. Food service: fat-heavy products. And so they’re moving away from that whole milk powder. I think that the next stage for them is to try and drive those two sorts of products into Southeast Asia. Because China itself is already quite a big market for those sorts of products and is probably screaming out for, “How do we not use WPC and WPI?” ‘Cause that’s the highest priced protein in the world right now. So how do we move away from that? I think they’re also trying to help Southeast Asia grow protein as a category. Ted Jacoby III: But based on what you said of China’s strategy, it almost sounds like it means China and New Zealand are going head-to-head in that market in Southeast Asia. Scott Briggs: Yeah. Yeah. I think- And- And look, that’s a 5 to 10-year view. We’re already seeing traditional Fonterra markets or New Zealand markets, Open Country Dairy’s obviously nearly 20% of the market down there now, as well, and are making their own steps towards value-adding fat. So that’s always one to keep in mind. We’re certainly seeing a competition of powder flows and functional product flows from China, including fat, laminated fat, pastry butter, those sorts of things, coming into Southeast Asian markets that were traditionally New Zealand-dominated markets. Diego Carvallo: Going back to China’s milk production, a lot of rumors about a disease in the northwest of China hand, foot, and mouth. Very little information. We have several customers that have asked about it. Without going down the rabbit hole, is there any update in that regards? Scott Briggs: Super important if it were to be a big story. I think that the likelihood of it being a massive story is low at the moment from what I’ve seen at least. The key thing to watch for me in China is always the spot milk price. They’ve got a fantastic not that it’s particularly visible, but they do have a huge trade of liquid milk market between different zones and between companies in specific zones. It’s a little bit like your plus/minus to the Class III. So that spot milk price to me is always the one which tells you: are they having any problems? And it does seem to me like the containment strategy was quite effective early on. Lock down the zones, stop the movement of the cattle. So yeah, it doesn’t look like it, but, it’s a bit of a black box. Diego Carvallo: So, we don’t expect a long-term impact to their production as of right now? Scott Briggs: Not at this stage, but that could change tomorrow. Ted Jacoby III: Everybody, we will be right back after these messages. Diego Carvallo: I’m Diego Carballo with T.C. Jacoby & Co.. T.C. Jacoby & Co. specializes in international dairy markets. For new customers that haven’t done business with Jacoby, I would tell them that we can provide them with many of the powders, dairy products that they consume, not only with the physical product, but we can also help them mitigate their risk. We know dairy. We know the main players. We know the main providers for the whole value chain. We are one of the strongest players in the U.S. market because we have contact all the way from the farmer moving the liquid milk all the way to the end users that buy the end products. I am Diego Carballo with T.C. Jacoby & Co., and we bring dairy to the world. Ted Jacoby III: Josh, I’m gonna put you on the spot. Is the U.S. gonna continue to increase our exports? And if so, who do we increase those exports at the expense of? How is that gonna play out? Josh White: Yes. We’re going to absolutely continue to increase our exports. The most obvious area is where there’s gonna be a need, and that’s fat, at the moment. It’s pretty well-noted that we’ve invested heavily in cheese production, boy, if those new cheese process facilities are running at the moment, they’re happy to have a co-product in whey proteins. Things are looking pretty good at the moment. As a result of that, we’re assuming that anybody who can produce cheese or process cheese is trying to process just as much as they possibly can. As a result of that, it seems pretty eminent that the U.S. will continue to have available cheese for the global consumer. Now we’ll take a look at the protein side. One of the expected results of this protein movement in the U.S., and now again, I wanna clarify this movement because I think there’s a lot of chatter about GLP-1 being the main driver, and I would almost view that as just a catalyst and a reason why the U.S. market might be leading in protein consumption. ‘Cause if you look around the world, this is a health and wellness trend that is not exclusive to the United States, not exclusive to Europe. It’s happening everywhere. We receive inquiries from all over the world, including import regions, for protein. Given the limitation on whey protein availability, one would assume that we’re gonna see quite a migration to milk proteins, and Scott did a great job of alluding to that earlier. We’re finding different ways of concentrating protein and delivering it to the consumer. The result of that, fat’s going to come along with it. I’ve listened to Gus, Mike and the team talk fairly openly about the incredible improvements in components over the past several years from the U.S. dairymen. Scott alluded to component growth in other parts of the world as well. We’re going to have surplus fat, and there’s going to be extra fat beyond what the U.S. consumer can take in, and as a result of that, we’re going to be hungry to capture market share in the global market. Now, you ask, “At whose expense?” And that’s a loaded question in some ways because I think there’s two things going on. I also think fat consumption globally is increasing, maybe not at the rate protein is and maybe not as popular right now, but if you look, ever since the early 2000s when we made this paradigm shift in the U.S. to moving away from the old food pyramid model and moving into this clean label, healthy consumable products, fat no longer was the enemy, and it seems like ever since that happened, the world has also agreed, and we’ve continued to see more clean label dairy fat being consumed per capita globally. So, two things will happen. One is the U.S., we’re in position to grow our milk production more quickly than anywhere else in the world. We have the infrastructure, currently, we have the economics to do that, and we might outpace that fat consumption growth globally. Which means then, yes, we will have to capture some market share. And from who? It, it’s either going to be Europe or Oceania, and I think that’s a seasonal thing. I don’t know that I would point to either single market as being the loser in that, other than that the dairy support and economic situation and the outlook for dairy growth in Europe seems to have more headwinds than the rest of the world. One would assume that they’re a bit more vulnerable, right now, to the U.S. capturing market share. Ted Jacoby III: Joe, what about fat? Joe Maixner: Josh summed it up pretty clearly. We’re going to have to continue to be a net exporter of fat. We’re gonna continue to add fat into our system with all of these high protein demand and these components that just continue to creep higher and higher. We’re not going to consume everything that we can supply. We will have to be a net exporter of fat moving forward until either the supply structurally shifts or we find a different way to utilize it. I agree with Josh and Scott that it’s going to be seasonal dependent on whose expense it comes at because I think that our fat market, our butter market specifically, is going the direction that cheese has gone over the past 15 years, where it becomes almost a cyclical market. We’ll be really competitive, we’ll get a lot of exports on the books, we’ll clean up our inventories, and then our pricing will spike, we will not be competitive on exports for a while, which will develop this surplus of domestic inventory and force us to depress pricing again and go back into the export markets. Josh White: We have a U.S. bias obviously, as we’re looking at the world. The one limitation to U.S. capturing fat market share is the reputation of U.S. fat being quite a bit different. Our commodity butter is an 80% salted butter. Our packaging is different. The visual appearance of our product is different. The flavor profile of our product is a bit different. Up until now, the opportunity for us to capture market share has happened largely in the processing sector as an ingredient to make something else. As of late, we’re starting to realize a little bit more of a win in, say, food service applications in developing markets and other things. From your perspective, how close is the U.S. to penetrating into the food service or retail business in import regions for butterfat? Scott Briggs: Yeah. It’s a good question. I think there’s two parts to that answer. The first is that you break down trade barriers slowly, but it happens. It’s been happening since the start of trade, right? You know, I do think that there’s the ability to continue educating the consumer to get them comfortable with the product, the appearance of the product. I think I said that to Joe once: U.S. butter, it’s not terrible. It’s a great tagline. But I’m not a marketing guy. It will continue to gain acceptance, I think, Josh. I think the second thing to recognize is that with Fonterra, so New Zealand, trying to put so much fat into food service applications, I think for the point of educating, as you say, what does that mean in Asia and China? It’s not necessarily just butter. UHT cream is just this massive category which keeps on growing in Asia. Asia’s not this singular thing. Like they’re all sub-markets. But as a generalization, bakery is huge through a lot of Southeast Asia China itself. If you travel there, it’s cakes, it’s pastries, it’s a hell of a lot of really nice product. It’s seen as a luxury good if you like and through the supermarkets and convenience stores and everything like that. That’s a huge sector which needs a more functional application. There’s a lot of growth in there. That’s actually leaving behind ingredient markets for U.S. fat, whether that be in Australia or whether that be into Southeast Asia or the Middle East. So that is actually to me, probably the lowest hanging fruit, and it’s what you’ve already seen. So it’s not like you need to necessarily change the spec immediately to go for these applications. It can be just as easily going for what’s been left behind by New Zealand. Just one point that I’d make about whose market share is the U.S. gonna take on certain products? The European milk growth in late last year really does mask the fact that we probably still need U.S. butterfat exports to balance the world market. If you were to take the 100,000 excess tons that Europe made in the second half of last year out of the market, say that was unsustainable milk growth for a period of time, once we eat through that stock, we’ve taken a lot of the U.S. growth, if you like. We’ve absorbed a lot of that growth in what you’ve made, and we needed it. So I do think that we’re going through a process of still eating through those European stocks overall, and that glut that we had, which was driven by two years of fantastically high milk prices. But once we get through that, the global consumer is buying $5,000 butter, and they’re buying $3,000 skim. And that is a price level that’s comfortable in a lot of the world. Mideast is obviously going through a few lumps right now, so we may have some problems on demand in the next six months. But once we get through that and, hopefully the conflict there is over and they return to some kind of growth, we do get to a position where we probably need U.S. fat in the world market. Mike, you made the comment about how well the U.S. farmer is now not feeding for fat, and it does seem like some of that fat component growth at least is slowing. Do you see responsiveness to fat prices significantly, and how can that change the U.S. fat balance of being a reliable or necessary exporter? Mike Brown (2): As far as producer decisions, I’ve had some conversations, particularly with cheese plants, who are seeing some changes and talking with their producers. And some are making some adjustment to ration changing sources, and what those sources are finding is what we’re seeing in the milk supply, protein remains relatively strong and still grows. Fat has slowed down a bit, and most of it is PKE. That seems to be the change. Talking with producers, I had a good conversation, actually, last fall with a very high producing Jersey herd who said that if fat gets below about $1.70, it doesn’t really make sense for him to feed PKE anymore because he isn’t getting enough return from it. I think there’s probably some doing that. Is it broad? I think when the U.S. cows are milking so well, they’re reluctant to make a lot of ration changes that might slow things down. But we’re seeing somewhat on the margin. Will it solve the problem? No, because it’s genetics. It’s the genomics, our selection for fat. There’s so much variability in fat genetics within cattle, particularly Holsteins, that they’ve been able to make huge progress, and of course that’s permanent. So I expect that fat will continue to stay high. So, will we see some moderate fluctuations from time to time? Sure. That market will, I think, have some effect, particularly since they’ve gotten so high. Will our trend change? No. We’ll continue to improve in fat and in protein with time just because genetic selection in the U.S., particularly with sexed semen and genomics, has just gotten so intense that I don’t see that changing. The rate of gain will slow because the base population is higher versus the sires that are being used, but that will continue. We may slow down. We’re not gonna turn around and go the other way. Ted Jacoby III: Awesome. Thanks, Mike. Jacob Menge: I was gonna stir the pot a bit and almost take the other side by saying I have a degree in economics, so I succumb to liking to pretend that free trade is how everything works in the world. And it doesn’t. And I think we’re pretty clearly going down this path of almost a bifurcated world of trade relationships. And I really think it would be a mistake to ignore that moving forward, especially with Russia potentially being able to supply China in the future. We’re almost taking for granted that everyone is gonna buy from the most efficient producer in the world, and we’re really going into this kind of tumultuous geopolitical landscape that it feels like we’re probably ignoring. I don’t think that changes the fact that the U.S. is still gonna have to export. We’re producing more than we’re gonna consume. We’re not gonna let the product rot. We’re probably not gonna shut down all these nice facilities we just built. But it does make me question what price we are going to be getting when we go to export the products. What happens to the basis on those export sales? There’s a big geopolitical issue when it comes to a lot of the analysis we’ve just been doing. Scott Briggs: How much of the cake is baked? How much growth are we guaranteed to see on U.S. milk supply in the next two to three years, and cheese supply, just as a function of these investments that have already been made? How much of the world trade has already bifurcated? China’s getting it from New Zealand. Okay, that could break. I could see that breaking. I could see the Middle East possibly breaking, like you’re already seeing Iran getting certain product from Belarus or you already seen China get part of it. So there could be massive breakages in there, you’re right. The challenge is if we were to stop trading between Russia, the ‘Stans, and China, if that became one zone and we all became the other zone, like the two biggest linkages are the Middle East and New Zealand, and you probably do flood the market if you were to stop that. Who would get hurt in that scenario? It’s probably Europe. It’s Gonna be a race to the bottom to try and kill some of the highest cost milk production. Yeah, how much of the cake is baked? Ted Jacoby III: I would say it is pretty baked. But I think of it more in terms of between the current trends we’re seeing and how sticky we suspect they are from a breeding-to-beef standpoint, specifically cattle supply, beef cattle supply, and being able to continue to supply the beef market with beef, I think we’re gonna continue to see some really good returns to dairy farmers breeding to beef, which means they are going to resist and be pretty resistant even when the milk price is low to reducing the number of cows in the U.S. That’s number one. That puts in a really hard floor. In addition to that, those dairy farmers, especially the really big ones, are making really good money when you add the beef income on top of the milk income, and they’re looking to continue to expand as a result. So, in terms of the capacity that’s already added, they’re gonna fill it up. In terms of the additional capacity, which, let’s just put it this way: Over the last two to three years, we’ve had a lot of new capacity. Over the next couple of years, we will continue to have additional capacity added, but at a lower rate than what we just saw, but it’s all gonna get filled up. I don’t think we’re gonna have a problem over the next three to five years filling the capacity that we build because I think that the income situation for the dairy farmer in the U.S., it’s just in a really good spot. Even if you take, what’s our worst-case scenario from a milk revenue standpoint? Whey protein prices collapse. We produce so much milk that butter prices stay low, nonfat prices stay low, cheese prices stay low. All that means is we’re just gonna be that much more competitive in the global market, and I think our overproduction is probably gonna hurt Europe more than it’s actually gonna hurt the U.S. Josh White: I’ll just maybe add to it that, the most obvious way that the U.S. has invested is to add a lot of cheese processing capacity over the past few years, massive investments. People are well aware of it. But the aggregate of all of the incremental expansions and all of that has been really significant as well. It feels almost imminent right now that we were already investing in dairy growth before the beef on farm income reached a level that it’s at today, and it just doesn’t feel like that’s going to change any time in the near future. And as a result of that, it only maintains or accelerates that desire to make more milk. We were having conversations 24 months ago about how would we have the heifers to grow the herd? How would we do this? We found a way to grow the herd. The component growth outperformed expectations, and it’s only been more consistently profitable because the revenue stream’s been spread across more things. So we’re gonna have milk, and if we’re gonna have milk, we’re going to figure out a way to process that milk. And so far, there must have been some really good foresight to do that and build all of this cheese processing capacity to absorb it up till now, and we’ve got a little runway left to continue to fill them up. But there’s conversations at every major place about how do we extend our put-through and extend our yield by shipping more condensed skim, by processing more UF milk products, by… I can go on and on. I don’t know if it’s exactly what you were asking, but are we done in investing in our ability to process more milk? I don’t believe so. The next move had to have already been thought about and has to be under construction. We’re years out from the one after that. I think there’s plenty that are thinking about the next move. Mike Brown (2): It’s kinda like the beef has created this amazing revenue stream for dairy producers in the U.S., and our use of sexed semen and beef selection has just improved that. Same with whey proteins and plant profitability. With these very high whey protein isolate and whey protein concentrate prices, even at a 70-cent whey market, your margins on your whey proteins are very high, which gives those plants a little more room to grow. But I think the other part is: we’ve always talked about growth in cheese, the milk proteins are growing, too, and as whey protein prices get higher, manufacturers and product developers are figuring out ways to use lower-priced dairy protein alternatives, and that market’s gonna grow as well. How much milk do we have left to dry into whey? How much milk are we gonna have left to dry into powder if those markets continue to grow? We don’t think they’re done yet. We think that growth is there. Will these prices stay where they are forever? Probably not, but the demand seems to be continuing to grow. Part of it isn’t will we grow our plants, it’s also what will we be making in those plants? Are we gonna be making more focus on other protein products than just cheese? Ted Jacoby III: I think one of the most ironic things about milk production in the U.S. right now is the fact that the biggest danger, the thing that would hurt the dairy farmer the most right now, is actually not milk cost. It’s beef price. What would happen if the beef price collapses to the point where breeding the beef is no longer profitable? We’re going to double the amount of dairy heifers we start producing. You know how that plays out? That plays out by, right now the number of lactations out of a cow has gone from two to three to four, which is decreasing the rate of increase of the components in the milk because you’re turning over a smaller percentage of your herd every year. All you’re gonna do is speed that up. So maybe our milk production plateaus or even drops a little bit, but the components in the milk increase will speed up as a result. You’ve got the U.S. dairy industry now in a position where even the worst-case scenario continues to be a threat for Europe or the rest of the world from a milk supply standpoint. Mike Brown (2): We look at the percentage of milk in the U.S. that is now produced by these extremely efficient, very well-managed, very well-leveraged herds, and so our susceptibility is less. It’s kinda like we’re going through a heat wave right now, Scott, and everybody says, “What’s that gonna do to milk?” A whole lot less than it used to because of the controlled environments of our modern barns. We’ve done a lot and kinda like I think in a lot of industries, we’ve had some good profitability, people have made investments for the long term. And when you make big investments for the long term, you don’t usually turn around. You’re committed to being in the business. I think the biggest thing for us, in my mind, is for years we’ve been looking at the whey and dry milk markets, exports are a huge part of those sales. Cheese is growing, and we’ve reached a point with cheese where those export sales are becoming more and more important, and so how do we sustain them over time? What do we need to do? I think a good example, Joe’s been working a lot with our opportunities in butter over the last few years and working with folks that we work with and what do I need to make to take best advantage of those export markets? We’ll continue to do that as well. We’re just thinking a lot more world demand than just, “I need to make a 40-pound block of cheddar and who will buy it?” We’re trying to think a little harder than that now. Scott Briggs: Mike, you touched on if we’d had the milk production growth that we’ve had in the last two years 10 years ago, we would’ve wiped out certain pieces of milk production around the world. The market would not have absorbed that level of additional product. Now, we certainly had a period in October, November, December last year, where things got uneconomic in certain part of the world, and we didn’t last. Because ultimately, the demand shone through and, having listened to the podcast, protein demand and that protein story is a huge part of that in the States. That, to me, is a trend that’s really only beginning around a lot of the other parts of the world. It can go underestimated from your side of the world. You guys are the vanguard in that. You’re the leaders in it. You’ve got the category. China’s got a great category in this area and is making some huge investments in it. But, we’ve just seen here in Australia and in Southeast Asia some massive investments from European companies into cottage cheese, into ready-to-drink categories with the principal idea of exporting them to Asia. And, that growth model into developing markets is always put a high price product in there that’s branded from a developed market, and then grow the category with the local champion. You get an imported product, it looks sexy and it looks great, and it’s like a luxury product, and then you grow the category by producing a lower price point product to try and then get the local population really going for it. And so that’s just started. The other thing that’s really hot in different parts of Asia is, funnily enough, processed cheese for food service. It’s a really quickly growing category. It’s a category that gets a lot of interest. We’ve spent a lot of time on the point of does the U.S. have a competitive advantage for supply, in this kind of changing world. I think one of the biggest pieces of competitive advantage that the States has is its ability to grow an export pathway. It’s a mindset; it’s a trade infrastructure, as well, with government relations and everything like that allows you to grow into world markets in a way that probably a lot of other places don’t have. If we’ve got a growing demand, and I made this point before, we might see a few lumps here, mainly because of the Middle East, right? The Middle East looks a little bit overbought, looks a little bit quiet. Southeast Asia’s having a few little hiccups with changes in Indonesia and some of their currency devaluation, like these sort of short-term issues. But longer term, it’s very comfortable for a Southeast Asian consumer buying $2,800 to $3,200 skim and $5,000 butter. These are price points that work now, which never worked before, that’s the growth price point now. I do think that we’re going to have a situation where the world market is gonna be the next engine for some of the growth in protein demand and fat demand as well. Tristan Suellentrop: Scott, being based in Australia, I’d be interested to hear your perspective on the potential super El Niño that was confirmed this week. How does that factor into your outlook for dairy production in Oceania over the next year or two? And how concerned should producers in Australia and New Zealand be if it develops as forecasted? Scott Briggs: So it’s a very detailed topic. The El Niño indicator that everybody looks at is the Southern Oscillation Index, which is screaming El Niño at the moment. The reality is that what impacts Australia and New Zealand is not just the El Niño. It can be a major impact, but we’ve also had years where it has had no impact, and probably even at a similar level of El Niño indicator. And the reason for that is the El Niño obviously talks about what’s happening out in between South America and Asia, so that pressure, but our weather system, particularly in our dairy regions, is just as impacted by how much moisture is exiting Antarctica and moving north, into the southern parts of Australia, which are our heavy dairy regions, and also into New Zealand. The other weather system that impacts our dairy production during spring and our moisture levels is how much tropical cyclone activity is actually exiting the Pacific Islands and moving down into the North Island of New Zealand, which really doesn’t have a lot to do with El Niño either. The key point is that, right now El Niño, yeah, it’s a real phenomenon, but it’s not the only thing that’s gonna impact Oceania. when you look back at the history, which we have, some years it’s a really important thing, and other years you can have a fantastic spring in what seems to be an El Niño year. The other point that I’d make is that we have fantastic moisture right now. We’re getting huge rainfalls through Australia particularly, but also in New Zealand, which are really recharging things over winter. Economics would also mean that we’ve all got a fair bit of silage buffered away from the last 12 months of good weather. So I don’t think, at this stage, we’re seeing anything that’s like a huge impact on Oceanic dairy, but it’s very early. The thing that we’re all gonna need to watch out for is how much does it rain, particularly in New Zealand in December. New Zealand in December, January, that’s really when we have to start looking at what might happen. Ted Jacoby III: Cool. All right. Scott, this was a fantastic discussion. Thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate your insight and your expertise in what’s going on the other side of the pond. Thank you. Thank you. Lockhart, thank you very much. Cheers, guys. Next time on The Milk Check. Will Loux: The U.S. exports as we go forward here over the next few years is at a crossroad. Do we swing back to balancing to milk fat, which would mean we’re probably short of protein? Or do we start balancing to protein, which means we’re gonna need to find homes for a heck of a lot more cheese and butter. Ted Jacoby III: Join us and our special guest, Will Loux from the U.S. Dairy Export Council as we discuss the future of U.S. dairy exports. Ending commercial: The best part of my job is working directly with cheesemakers and helping their businesses run better because they make wonderful, great products. Anything we can do to make them more successful not only helps them, but helps Jacoby. We look at how milk flows through their plant, what their real cost of products are, so when they’re making marketing decisions, making new investments, particularly on whey processing, they have a benchmark to use to determine what opportunities they have and what the returns would be. Whey has become so valuable with these high-protein markets. There’s added value that they can get by just condensing it, and maybe moving further down the supply chain in the longer term, making products themselves. My role is to help them cost that so they have a better understanding of what the opportunities can be. Longer term, we expect the whey protein market to remain very valuable. For one part of the supply chain to be successful, everyone has to be, and part of my role is trying to help people be as competitive as they can possibly be. My superpower is practical application of data and analysis. I believe firmly that Jacoby’s success is because we help our suppliers and our buyers be successful. I’m Mike Brown, and I love working for T.C. Jacoby & Co. because I get to help people make their businesses more successful.
Ben Castanon became Unitary Foundation's first CEO in February 2026, after roughly four years with the organization as Chief of Staff and then COO. He came into quantum from an unusual direction — leadership roles at Pioneer Works, the Brooklyn arts-and-science center — and that background shows in how he thinks about scaffolding communities, funding public goods, and borrowing what works from other fields.This conversation matters now because Unitary Foundation sits at an inflection point. It has scaled from a microgrant program (the "Unitary Fund") into a foundation with a global developer community, corporate members including NVIDIA and IBM, an active compiler collection, a benchmarking initiative, and an annual open-source survey that increasingly serves as the field's ground truth. If you care about how quantum computing actually gets built — not just who wins the hardware race — this episode lays out the infrastructure argument clearly.What You'll LearnWhy Ben argues quantum open source falls into a structural funding gap between academia (chasing novel papers) and venture capital (chasing profitable businesses), and what philanthropy has to do about itWhat "public goods" and "digital commons" actually look like in quantum — from benchmarking to compilation to error mitigation toolingHow to interpret the 2025 QOSS Survey finding that ~40% of full-time quantum OSS contributors are unpaid, and why Ben sees it as both an opportunity and a warningHow Unitary Foundation is experimenting with continuous compensation for contributors via bounty programs and pilots with Merit SystemsWhy corporate members like NVIDIA and IBM invest in a vendor-neutral nonprofit — and how governance keeps the "open" in open sourceWhat a healthy pipeline from first-time contributor to sustained open-source maintainer would look like, and why Ben wants an endowment behind itWhy Ben resists top-down definitions of the "open substrate" and prefers to let the community surface bottlenecksThe long-term vision: a "Linux moment" for quantum, and what it would take to install it before proprietary stacks lock inResources & LinksGuest & OrganizationAnnouncing Our New CEO — Unitary Foundation — The February 2026 announcement of Ben as UF's first CEO, with the full arc from Chief of Staff to COO to CEO.Ben Castanon on LinkedIn — Ben's professional history, including his Pioneer Works tenure and current UF work.Unitary Foundation — The organization's homepage and hub for grants, tools, membership, and community.Papers & Reports2025 Quantum Open Source Software Survey Results — The fourth annual QOSS survey, including the finding that ~40% of full-time contributors are unpaid.The Young and the Relentless — The Quantum Insider — Independent coverage of the QOSS survey's demographic findings.Celebrating Over 100 Microgrants — Impact report: 420+ citing papers, 3 startups, 1 nonprofit, and 400+ OSS contributors funded.Tools & ProgramsUnitary Compiler Collection (UCC) — The frontend-agnostic quantum compiler collection Ben references as a candidate for the open substrate.UCC on GitHub — The active repo, supporting Qiskit, Cirq, PyTKET, and OpenQASM 2/3.unitaryHACK 2026 — The sixth annual bug-bounty hackathon, one of UF's core mechanisms for compensating open-source contributors.EcosystemNVIDIA Joins Unitary Foundation as Core Member — The May 2026 announcement referenced in the conversation.Announcing Unitary Foundation (Rebrand) — Context on why "Unitary Fund" became "Unitary Foundation."Key Quotes & InsightsOn the structural gap: There are "third spaces" where projects don't fit the incentives of either a startup or an academic lab — but where the whole ecosystem benefits. Benchmarking is the clearest example.On unpaid contributors: "We've developed the field to a place where we're starting to hit up against the classic open source community issues." The volunteer surge is real — but so is the risk of losing those contributors to better-paying fields if UF can't convert enthusiasm into compensation.On why big companies join: A functional field needs people to hire. Ben's argument to corporate members is partly workforce development — thousands of developers getting on-the-job training on neutral, community-owned tools.On the substrate: Ben resists top-down definitions of what belongs in the open substrate. "It's much better to have all of the practitioners giving voice to what open tools they need."On his long-term ambition: Build a philanthropic endowment that funds the microgrant pipeline in perpetuity — because "I don't see that as ever becoming a resource that is not of use."Related EpisodesQuantum Open Source with Will Zeng and Ziyaad Bhorat — The direct companion to this episode, unpacking the white paper co-authored with Ben on why quantum OSS is structurally underfunded.Quantum Error Mitigation using Mitiq with Misty Wahl — A deeper look at Mitiq, one of UF's flagship open-source tools.Quantum Education and Community Building with Olivia Lanes — A parallel view on developer community and workforce development in quantum.Careers in Quantum with Anastasia Marchenkova — Relevant context on where quantum developers actually end up.Stay in the EcosystemSubscribe to The New Quantum Era on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or Amazon Music.Sign up for the newsletter at newquantumera.com for episode notes, essays, and follow-ups.Follow along on LinkedIn and Bluesky.If you're building open-source quantum tools — or want to support the people who are — start at unitary.foundation....
SEGMENTS | Indigenous People and Fort Caroline | The Hurricane of 1811 | 1960s Activist Marshall Jones at UF
Dr. Monica Esposito, Concierge Medicine, UF, Dance and More by Tommy McElroy
Nick Wize opens the show with his thoughts on the Rays' attendance during Evan Longoria Weekend before introducing a new segment, Heroes & Headaches. The show also features a spirited debate over ESPN's quarterback rankings, a reaction to Conor McGregor's injury-shortened fight, an extensive interview with Phil Steele discussing all things college football. They take a deep dive into UF, FSU, & USF, plus many more, and a visit from Rock Riley ahead of SEC Media Days.
El miedo. Uf, qué tema. Hoy me meto en terreno de miedo, de dudas, de las que te paralizan y no le suman nada nada nada NADA nada a tu vida.――――――――――――――――――――――Esto es MeLoDijoBraga El Podcast. Yo soy Mariano Braga y te espero cada lunes, miércoles y viernes con un nuevo episodio lleno de charlas, experiencias, curiosidades y consejos desde mi mirada del mundo del vino. Para más información, te invito a navegar estos enlaces:➡ Recibe gratis “El Boletín Serial”➡ Mi página web➡ Sé parte del club¡Me encantaría que seas parte de esta comunidad gigante de bebedores seriales, siguiéndome en las redes!➡ Instagram ➡ Facebook ➡ Twitter ➡ YouTube ➡ LinkedIn ➡ TikTok ――――――――――――――――――――――No te olvides valorar nuestro podcast ★★★★★ y suscribirte para no perderte nada y que sigamos construyendo juntos la mayor comunidad de bebedores seriales de habla hispana.――――――――――――――――――――――
DOCKET ALERTS: Florida's Attorney General James Uthmeier is getting paid $50,000 a semester to teach a single class at University of Florida's law school. The Trump Administration finally obeyed the court order and put the exhibit on enslaved people back at President's House in Philadelphia. The Supreme Court has decided to eliminate corruption by asking litigants to add their stock ticker symbols to filing disclosures. Oh, you thought maybe the justices would agree to stop trading individual stocks? LOL. And a JAG lawyer sent to help out the US Attorneys Office in Minnesota got cited for contempt after ICE responded to a habeas order by dumping a Minnesota man on the street in El Paso without his identity documents. Judge Laura Provinzino ordered the lawyer to pay $500 per day until the petitioner got his ID back. MAIN SHOW: In California, Judge Sunshine Sykes issued a major benchslap to the Trump administration's claim that it can — or must! — detain immigrants who haven't been granted permanent residence. In December, she granted class certification and ordered the government to give everyone not detained at the border a bond hearing. The government ignored her ruling, based on a decision by the immigration courts housed inside the Justice Department. Separation of powers, how does it go? And Andrew and Liz talk about two "surveillance" issues: commercially-aggregated data tracking our every movement and "dynamic" pricing. The Supreme Court first started considering surveillance in US v. Jones, 565 U.S. 400 (2012) and endorsed the "mosaic theory" of the Fourth Amendment in Carpenter v. US, 585 US 296 (2018). Sens. Lujan and Merkley have co-sponsored the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act of 2026. Gizmodo recently ran a story about it, referencing prior research into dynamic pricing. Florida's attorney general gets $100K part-time teaching job at UF https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2026/02/17/uthmeier-uf-adjunct-teaching-contract-pay-attorney-general/ Soto Jimenez v. Bondi https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72221590/soto-jimenez-v-bondi/ Matter of Yajure Hurtado https://www.justice.gov/eoir/media/1413311/dl?inline Maldonado Bautista v. Noem https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70895584/lazaro-maldonado-bautista-v-ernesto-santacruz-jr/ US v. Jones, 565 U.S. 400 (2012) https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3066032366235422373 Carpenter v. US, 585 US 296 (2018) https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=853695326923033538 Text of the Stop Price Gouging in Grocery Stores Act of 2026 https://www.lujan.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/MUR26086-1.pdf Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod
In this episode of Green Side Up, Jordan and Jason sit down with Zack Pitchford, owner of Wilcox Nursery & Landscape in Largo, Florida, to unpack his unconventional journey from high school nursery hand to retail nursery owner and landscape leader. Zack walks through his early days in environmental horticulture at UF, sweating it out on Jordan's maintenance crews, his eye‑opening internship at Valley Crest, and the multiple times he launched (and quit) Pitchford Design & Landscape before ultimately acquiring the historic Wilcox Nursery. He shares how he navigated the numbers, financing, and risk of buying a land-heavy business, rebuilt the team and hierarchy from the inside, and grew both the retail and services divisions. The conversation dives into leadership development, promoting from within, marketing strategy (Google Ads, SEO, email, and video content), and what he's seeing in today's softer design/install market. Zack also breaks down his water-conscious irrigation approach and lawn philosophy, talks about the rise of native plant demand and fine gardening maintenance, and reflects on building a business that can run without him while still serving his community and family. Connect with Zack:
The Gators are on an absolute heater — a top-5 recruiting class, a deep NCAA Tournament run, and Todd Golden locked in for another season. Tonight we've got it all.This Episode Covers:
What if the future of medicine is hiding beneath the ocean's surface?In this fascinating episode, I sit down with one of the most intriguing scientists I've ever encountered: Dr. Hendrik Luesch.Dr. Hendrik is a professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Florida, director of UF's Center for Natural Products Drug Discovery and Development, and author of more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers. But what makes his work truly remarkable is where it begins — not in a traditional laboratory, but in the ocean itself.Dr. Luesch reveals how cyanobacteria, seaweed, and ocean organisms may hold powerful clues for the future of medicine, healthy aging, inflammation support, and longevity.You'll also learn the science behind NRF2 activation, glutathione production, immune health, mitochondrial support, and how compounds found in sea lettuce inspired the ingredient Algevity Factor® featured in one of my latest supplements: Gundry MD Longevitine Plus.On this episode, you'll learn: Why the ocean may contain some of the most promising untapped sources of future medicines (04:00)Dr. Hendrik's incredible stories on scuba diving for “chemical gold” in Hawaii and Florida (04:40)All about one of the most important organisms for studying healthy aging and longevity (05:20)How marine organisms create compounds that may inspire future therapies (05:46)The incredible story behind marine compounds that helped inspire FDA-approved anti-cancer drugs (07:10)How sea lettuce became the inspiration behind one of my newest supplements (18:10)What NRF2 actually is — and why it may be more powerful than simply taking antioxidants directly (19:25)How marine compounds may help support immune and mitochondrial health (22:50)For the full episode transcript and show notes: https://drgundry.com/is-seaweed-good-for-youThank you to our sponsors! Check them out: Shop my new air filter, Homekind Total Air! Use code CLEANAIR for 10% off. For all your blue-light and EMF-blocking accessories, go to boncharge.com/GUNDRY and use the coupon code GUNDRY to save 15% off your entire order.Transform your sleep experience with Cozy Earth bedding. Go to cozyearth.com/gundry for 20% off.Get a quote today at Progressive.com.Go to timelinenutrition.com/GUNDRY to get 10% off any Timeline Nutrition product.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Right now, high-protein diets are hot and cheese is still the biggest user of U.S. dairy. But will it last? In this episode of The Milk Check, we pull out our crystal balls and try to see into the future of U.S. dairy. Why GLP-1 may be a catalyst, not the whole protein story How health and wellness trends are reshaping dairy demand How exports could change the future of cheese demand The consensus? Find out in The Milk Check episode 100: Is Protein a Fad, and Is Cheese Still King? Got questions? We'd love to hear them. Submit below, and we might answer it on the show. Ask The Milk Check Transcript: Ted Jacoby III: [00:00:00] Coming up on the Milk Check. The debate is: have GLP-1s changed dairy forever? Our second debate is will cheese remain king? Welcome to the Milk Check from T.C. Jacoby & Co., your complete guide to dairy markets, from the milking parlor to the supermarket shelf. I’m Ted Jacoby. Let’s dive in. Ted Jacoby III: Excited for our topic today. We are going to have a debate. The debate is: have GLP-1s changed dairy forever? The demand for protein right now is clearly extremely strong. It’s really a question of whether we think this demand for protein is a fad, or we think it’s a fundamental shift in demand that’s gonna be with us for a long time. And so I’m gonna actually put Mike Brown on the spot first. Mike, has GLP-1s changed dairy forever? Mike Brown: It certainly changed me forever. And I’m a big eater dairy for a long time. I’ve had good success with GLP’s getting my weight to where it needs to be, and one thing you do discover is that you do need to really watch your protein intake. You need to make sure you’re getting adequate amounts because you will lose muscle. I think diets in general, we’re becoming less carb-focused. We’re becoming more protein-focused. So, I don’t see it going away. Does that mean we’ll have the record-high prices we have now forever? Probably not the markets will stay strong, and I think it’s a shift in consumer demand . You just need to go into any Costco or Sam’s Club, and the amount of protein beverages they offer now versus three years ago, they’ve tripled in some cases. So, it’s definitely a market of strength. And despite the high price of proteins, people still seem to be buying it. I’ll see limits when there’s sales in different stores, which tells you that demand is still extremely strong. Ted Jacoby III: Josh, I’ll ask you next. Are we changing demand forever, or is this a fad? Josh White: I don’t know that GLP-1s are necessarily what’s changing demand forever, but they definitely are a catalyst and a disruptor right now. We were listening to a HighGround Monthly Update earlier today. I’ll echo something that was said during that update: A health and wellness trend [00:02:00] is absolutely happening, is global. They noted and cited in that, that over the last two years, gym memberships have been up in the U.S. If you go to other parts of the world that we export products to that GLP-1s haven’t yet reached, we’re seeing incredible health and wellness movements and protein consumption uptake. So, what I think the GLP-1 aspect of it is doing is that it served as a bit of a catalyst and ignited this market and forced us all to recognize this shift that we’re seeing from just calories taken in to quality of calories taken in, and that is driving a lot of incremental protein demand that the dairy space is a benefactor of to date. So, I don’t know if I really answered it, Ted. I think GLP-1 is a catalyst in forcing us to recognize a bigger trend that we’re seeing, not only in the U.S., but globally. Jacob Menge: I do think it’s pretty important to talk about the time horizon that we’re discussing because there’s a really big difference in both availability and dietary preference of protein sources globally, right? Like India, Sub-Saharan Africa, even China up until very recently was very plant protein-based. And so, even though protein consumption as a whole has certainly been growing where you are looking at depends on how much that’s actually impacting animal proteins. And so, I think that time horizon is important, right? Because we know where population growth is occurring worldwide. Population growth worldwide is actually in areas that are plant protein consumers not animal protein consumers . And you’re getting some animal protein consumers actually trending lower on population, right? You look at the population outlook for a lot of Europe. Korea was in the middle. I think they’re, like, 50/50, if I recall, on plant versus animal proteins. But I think that time horizon is a pretty important piece of the discussion. Ted Jacoby III: So Jake, I’ll ask you the [00:04:00] question. So, five years from now, are we gonna be looking back on 2025 and 2026 and talk about the whey protein fad, or do we think that we will have seen a fundamental shift in where people have invested their investment dollars in terms of what kind of dairy production facilities, processing facilities have been built in the U.S. and around the world? Jacob Menge: Five years is way too short of a timeline to see what I would call a freight train changing its course. And so, I think that’s pretty clear. We know what’s gonna be happening with U.S. exports, right? We are just set up to be the export powerhouse in the short term, and I would call five years short term for trends like this. Even though this has happened very fast, knowing again what is happening with the U.S. export picture, I don’t think there’s any way we see a material change in what’s happening in the protein space in a five-year period. Mike Brown: I think there’s one point of difference in milk proteins versus whey proteins. I think we see, because of cost difference, I think, more interest in finding, how can I use milk proteins in a product versus whey? I noticed this weekend, again, looking at a sports beverage that 30 gram protein, number one ingredient’s milk, and it’s not a fairlife(R) product. It’s an amalgamated product. Jacob Menge: Couldn’t agree more. I was certainly one level higher in just saying any dairy protein or animal protein for that matter. But yeah, when you drill down, do I think there could be shifts within that makeup? Absolutely. Mike Brown: The other thing is with whey proteins is that you gotta sell the cheese or you gotta sell the casein. And as we look at that spread in price, what’s that value of that whey protein worth versus what you get for the remaining part of the product? As we know, right now, Class IV, which is even dry milk powders and fat are worth way, way more than milk for cheese, even when you adjust for the higher protein revenues. We have a $5 spread right now between Class III and Class IV. And that always takes care of itself, but exactly how it will, I think we all know there’s interest in do I add casein-producing capacity so I [00:06:00] can get to my whey proteins rather than just cheese? If I make those caseins, where’s the market for those products? Where am I gonna be able to use them? So I think there’s lots of questions that we don’t know yet. ‘Cause if I’m a processor, one very high-value product, whether if it’s a half a pound or three-quarter of a pound yield per 100 pounds of milk, it’s not gonna drive all your decisions. It’s gonna be a factor. Ted Jacoby III: Gus, I’m gonna ask you the question: Has GLP-1 changed dairy forever? Or do you think it’s a trend? Gus Jacoby: I’m of the impression that we are certainly following the trends within Western culture to evaluate more and more the health benefits of eating better nutrition. And certainly, as time moves on, the protein component in your meal is going to be more and more important. So, I’m not going to take away from that. I think that will continue to evolve, but I also think that as we continue to evolve in that setting, other pieces of that nutrition will come to light and become the fad for a period of time. At the moment, protein is hot, and I don’t think we can get away from that. For me, just looking at U.S. milk production and how much of that milk production goes into cheese ,the ever-increasing demand in cheese, I don’t see that going away either. I think that’s an entrenched part of our society, and I think cheese is a pretty important part of the daily food consumption here in our culture as well. I think there’s a place for both of them, and it’s hard for me to distinguish one from the other as being where we go as an industry. Mike Brown: One thing we may see is more of these protein-based dairy beverages that aren’t Class I milk take more and more of that consumer stomach. And so, we’re gonna see more of those UF-based products, which aren’t necessarily what we think of traditionally as fluid milk. And that’s where a lot of the growth has been: in the high-protein milks. Is that where the substitution will take place as much as in some other ways? Gus Jacoby: I don’t think there’s any doubt, Mike, but I would also argue that we’re probably going to eat into that Class I consumption a bit by more of this dairy protein shake, which tends to be in the [00:08:00] Class II area. Mike Brown: Yeah, that’s, and that’s what I, that’s what I meant. Yeah. Okay. If you’re gonna drink it as a Class II product, it all gets down to how regulation basically makes those products more competitive- Yeah … because of the regulated minimum price. Gus Jacoby: That would be a very Interesting discussion probably for another day relative to- what we wanna cover in our debate today. Mike Brown: Yeah. It’s a bit of a nerd fest, But we look at consumption trends, it isn’t hurting the high-protein products because they are priced differently. Gus Jacoby: Yep. Ted Jacoby III: Diego, what are your thoughts? This demand for protein: fad or a long-term trend? Diego Carvallo: I think the trend is clear, and it still has a lot of room to grow. So, I think in a five-year period, it’s very easy to say that they’re gonna continue to grow. Ted Jacoby III: You see the international space a lot more clearly than most of the rest of us. What’s happening here in the U.S., is it happening internationally as well? Diego Carvallo: Yes, and that’s why I said that there’s gonna be growth ’cause I still see areas of Latin America where that trend is just getting started . You still do not see any of the products that you’re seeing in the U.S. at the supermarket showcasing and showing marketing that much the protein content on the end product. So I think that growth is still getting started. Ted Jacoby III: Joe, last but not least, fad, long-term trend? Joe Maixner: I think that the consumer shift is a long-term trend. I don’t know if necessarily the GLP-1 is the long-term trend because technology will continue to advance, and there’ll be something that comes out at some point that makes this old news. I think that the health and wellness trend is certainly here for the foreseeable future. estimating 40 million people within the next five years are going to be on GLP-1s. That’s a big number. The one thing we’ve seen the effect on selfishly for my market is the amount of cream and fat that it’s spun off because of all the demand for the protein. We did not expect to have this fundamental shift in the fat market domestically this quickly. Unless the farmers decide that they’re gonna change how they feed their cows and produce less fat, we’re gonna see that for a while too, and we’re gonna be surplus fat. And that [00:10:00] product is also affected by this GLP-1 because people tend to eat less sweets and snacks and fat-heavy products, so consumption’s been down on that side as well. Ted Jacoby III: It’s gonna be interesting. And I’ll just give my two cents. I do think the demand for protein is a long-term trend. I think it’s a trend both within certain segments of the population and I think it’s a trend in that I think, just comparing my generation and how I ate and drank in my 20s compared to how my children eat and drink in their 20s, they sure do live a healthier life than I did when I was that age. I think I’m speaking for a good portion of that generation and not just my kids. So, we’ll see. It sounds to me that the consensus is pretty clear on this one. Whether it’s GLP-1s or not, this protein trend is a long-term trend, and it is fundamentally changing the dairy industry. And we’re all curious to see how it’ll play out. All right, now I’m gonna switch to our second debate. This debate is will cheese remain king? So in my lifetime, milk production, when I was born, milk production was roughly 20% of milk was made into cheese. Today, it’s 55%. It is very clear that the driver in dairy consumption in the United States is a per capita increase in cheese that is part of a long-term trend. My question for everybody today is: Have we started to reach the point where that trend is starting to plateau? Is cheese still king? Will it continue to be the driver of increases in per capita dairy consumption, or have we reached a point where we’re not going to see cheese driving the bus anymore? It’s 55% of milk production goes into cheese today. Is it gonna be 65% in 10 years, or is it still gonna be in the 50s? Gus, I’m gonna throw you out there first. What are your thoughts? Gus Jacoby: I think it’s hard to say that it isn’t still king considering the large amount of milk in U.S. milk production that goes into cheese. And even with respect to the protein segment that we just talked about, you can’t make whey [00:12:00] without making cheese, so you’re not gonna get whey protein without cheese. I don’t think the American consumer is going to lose their appetite for cheese anytime soon. I understand that certainly with the GLP-1s we’re gonna eat a bit healthier. But I find it hard to believe that while maybe the growth might become less than it has been over the last number of years I do believe that cheese is gonna be with us as the majority taker of milk at least for the foreseeable future. Ted Jacoby III: Do you think the trend is strong enough that 15 years from now 65% or 70% of all milk goes into cheese? Or do you think maybe we’re gonna plateau right around here at 55%? Gus Jacoby: I think it still has room to go a little bit higher. I think there’s a possibility of plateauing, though maybe at some point north of 60. But at the end of the day I just don’t see how it can be removed from the diet. If people wanna start playing with what type of cheeses are in their diet for better health benefits, I guess that may happen. Ted Jacoby III: All right. Gus Jacoby: Not in the near term. Ted Jacoby III: Jake, what are your thoughts? Jacob Menge: I would imagine that the percent of milk that is turned into cheese goes lower. That’s my gut feel. We’re gonna be export-dominated. We maybe can capture some markets that we haven’t historically gotten into before with more shelf-stable products. We’re just gonna have to export a lot of product. And cheese is exportable obviously, but it just feels, with the new markets we’re gonna be moving into, the amount of product as a percent that we’re gonna be exporting, dietary shifts, it all points to me that, as a percent, it’s hard for me to make the case that cheese goes higher. And so by default , I’ll argue it goes lower. Ted Jacoby III: Joe, what are your thoughts? Joe Maixner: I think that what happens with cheese moving forward depends on how well the dairy industry markets cheese moving forward. If we do a better job of [00:14:00] marketing the protein benefits, the fact that it’s the cheapest protein per gram and playing into those strengths that would help keep it as king and increase consumption. If we continue to sit on our laurels and not really do any additional marketing, I think that we have a chance to lose capacity. Jacob Menge: So what’s your gut? Do we do a good job marketing it or not? Joe Maixner: Okay. I don’t think we do. But we could. The potential is there. We just, we’re not doing it. Ted Jacoby III: I think dairy has struggled for a long time just to market itself as how healthy it is, and some of that I think is because we sit in a position of strength in the marketplace, and so everybody’s always coming after dairy to say they’re better than dairy and dairy’s got issues. So all the plant guys can grow their plant-based products. All of those food products that don’t come from dairy tend to attack dairy in order to grow their own market share. And I think that’s why dairy struggles. I think your point about how the value of a gram of protein in cheese is a lot less than the same cost of that protein, let’s say, in whey powder or in other things. I’m curious to see how that plays out, because I think it’s a really good point. Mike Brown: I’d make a point on the competition. Where we’ve seen shrinkage in the refrigerator dairy case is the non-dairy beverages. They are losing market share. Milks are doing better, particularly the protein milks, are doing so much better. I think there’s still potential, so we can’t assume that. I also think there’s two questions on cheese to me: market share and total market. I think total market still has a little room to grow. I think market share will not grow, maybe decline modestly, and that’s more because of the Class II demand for proteins now with yogurt, Greek yogurts, and cottage cheese, and all the Class II-based liquid beverages. So, it’s more of an issue perhaps of market share, and that takes time to build capacity. We all know that. But the demand is there. Cheese is gonna continue. We [00:16:00] look at the supermarket sales data, it’s still growing modestly, as is butter, and that’s just total sales. I think the other factor we gotta think about here is population growth because our growth’s gonna be much slower. With current immigration policies, I don’t see a quick turnaround in growth of population like we’ve experienced in the past. A lot of that from folks who are big users of dairy in their diet. In the benefit of cheese, as we get older, we drink less, and we eat more milk proteins, and that’s part of our growth, of course, with cheese. The other one is food service. It’s huge, particularly the mozzarella side of the business, and it’s looking pretty tepid right now. That tends to go with health of the economy. I expect it’ll rebound again when people have more money to spend. I think that’s part of it, too. So, cheese is gonna remain strong. Jake made a very good point, though, as did Joe. It’s kinda sold itself, and we’ve had no trouble selling it. We are now the export market, kinda like we did with non-fat dry milk, what, 20 years ago, Josh? We’re, and we’re dependent on that export market. So, it makes us more vulnerable to world price, term, but it also means it’s a chance to grow if our industry adapts to meet those demands. And as we see, everything from powders to butter to cheese, the industry is working on that. But it’s a slow process, ’cause it’s always been that market when we have a little extra it was an opportunistic market, now it’s becoming part of sales strategy, and that’s a very different way to look at your business. Ted Jacoby III: Yeah. It means It’s really matured. Mike Brown: Yes, a lot. Ted Jacoby III: Diego, what are your thoughts? I know you’re not the cheese guy, you’re more of the ingredient guy, but internationally, cheese is definitely growing. Cheese gonna remain king? Or is the other protein sources gonna take over and pull milk away from cheese? Diego Carvallo: So I have contradicting thoughts here. I think that everybody here agrees that the demand for WPCs and WPIs is gonna continue growing, and that’s definitely been making cheese plants very profitable . But at the same time, I’m seeing that many cheese plants being built in the past few years that I think that [00:18:00] the competition is gonna get fierce in that aspect. I would say in the coming years, I see more probabilities of people who build, and companies who build dryers, for example, for non-fat and skim , to have an advantage and definitely a good incentive. Ted Jacoby III: So my two cents is this: I think we are underestimating how much the export demand for cheese is gonna keep driving it. There’s a lot of proof that cheese consumption in developing countries tends to follow a generation or two after milk powder consumption. It starts with infant formula, then tends to stay in the diet as they get older, and eventually manifests itself in cheese, mostly as an ingredient in something like pizzas or burgers, et cetera. And so, I do think cheese demand for cheese out of the U.S. will continue to grow. I do think the curve will flatten a little bit. I also think that you are going to get a continued pressure to build more cheese plants just so you have access to the whey protein, because I think the whey protein is gonna maintain its value. But I’m a little bit like Diego, ’cause on the other side, one of my thoughts is I hear a lot of conversations lately about instead of making cheese, what if we make micellar casein and we pull the native whey, and then we dry the native whey separately? So, I can also see technology continuing to evolve where maybe you don’t actually need to make cheese in order to have access to the whey proteins, and I think we have to keep our eye on that. But I do think cheese is the dominant use for milk in the United States. I don’t see that changing anytime soon, but I do think the trend is probably gonna start to slow down a bit. Josh? What are your thoughts? Josh White: I’m gonna step back a bit and start with one belief, and that belief is that United States dairy economies of scale have now reached a point where we’re gonna grow in our market share for the global dairy consumption. We’re gonna continue to grow in our participation in that business, and we will capture more market share. And if you believe that, at its core, cheese is maybe one of the… If not, it’s the most calorie-dense product that we have. [00:20:00] And there’s an argument that it goes into products as both ingredients and as the primary food service or retail product, which accesses a lot of different demand potential. If you think about the cheese factory, maybe not how they’re run today, but if you think about it, I’ve made the mistake multiple times of saying that we’re gonna start balancing to cheese, and there’s been a big argument about that, internally. And I can understand why there’s an argument on the surface level. But in the bigger picture, it’s what may be the most versatile way to process milk and balance out whether we have extra protein, extra fat, or we’re short of either of those product or whatnot. You can spin off more cream. You can bring in more solids. You really optimize that recipe, and I feel like that makes it foundational. And if it’s foundational, you’re gonna continue to see investment in these large cheese plants. If whey protein’s hot, great, whey protein benefits, and cream prices are poor it’s offsetting . If cheese demand globally is growing or fat demand’s growing, great we’ll maneuver our recipe a bit to take advantage of that. It feels very… Optimized maybe is not the right word. Someone help me with a word for it. But it feels like it’s a natural hedge, and it just seems if we’re gonna continue to grow in the commodity foundation of dairy products and then optimize all the ingredients and all the special opportunities around it, the cheese processing facility is maybe going to be the best to build around. And so with that in mind, I don’t know if that necessarily takes a greater market share, but it’s gonna be the foundation for our growing volume of milk solids out of the U.S. over the next several years. Ted Jacoby III: Josh it’s funny, you mentioned, are we gonna start balancing into cheese versus balancing into a powder plant? And my initial reaction when you first mentioned it a year or so ago was to say, “A cheese plant is just way too expensive.” It’s two, three times the cost to build a cheese plant as it is to build a plant that [00:22:00] dries non-fat. But the more I thought about it, the more I started to realize this: Already today we’ve seen a fundamental shift, and it will continue. I think cheese will always get enough milk to run the plant, but the competition for that marginal next pound of milk that could go to any of those plants, I think the competition for that last pound of milk has been ratcheted up a notch or two, and I don’t think cheese is gonna win that battle at all costs, like it historically has. And so I think there are times when your UF milk plants, when your ESL plants, and even when your non-fat butter plants are gonna win that competition from time to time. And so, the balancing function for a milk supply is gonna start getting spread over the course of multiple plants rather than the way we’ve been over the last 50 years, where everything was balanced in and out of a milk drying plant. All right. So have we decided? Have we come to a conclusion? Is cheese king? Let’s just go around. Is cheese gonna stay king? Mike, is cheese gonna stay king? Mike Brown: Cheese will stay king, but the strength of its kingdom will be a little weaker, ’cause it’s gonna have some strong competition from other proteins. Ted Jacoby III: Perfect. Jake? Jacob Menge: Couldn’t have said it better. Agree completely. Yep. Ted Jacoby III: Gus? Gus Jacoby: I would agree with how Mike said it. Yeah. Ted Jacoby III: Awesome. Joe? Joe Maixner: Yeah. No, no argument here. Ted Jacoby III: Diego? Diego Carvallo: I’ll have to say no. It’s because of the high competition and the amount of plants that are being built right now. Joe Maixner: Yeah. Ted Jacoby III: So are you saying you agree or disagree? Diego Carvallo: I disagree. Mike Brown: It’s the degree that cheese is ahead; it’s gonna take a lot of time for that to shift. Ted Jacoby III: A little bit like the Roman Empire in the year 200 AD, it’s still got 250 years to go, but it’s no longer gonna be the powerhouse it was 50 years previous. Josh, what do you think? Josh White: Yeah cheese is the king, and we’re gonna build a bigger kingdom around it. Ted Jacoby III: All right. And I agree with the general consensus that the cheese stays king, but the trend of an ever-increasing percentage of the supply is starting to slow down a bit. All right, everybody. Hey, this was a great [00:24:00] conversation. Thanks for joining us today. To all of our very valued listeners, we thank you for taking the time to listen to us. And if anybody ever has any questions about some of the topics we talk about, don’t ever be afraid to reach out and contact T.C. Jacoby & Company. We’re always happy to help. Take care, everybody.
SS Rewind: On Thursday's show Steve broadcast live from Hoover and was joined by UF Track & Field coach Mike Holloway after the women's' team took the SEC Triple Crown. Sean Deveney joined to discuss NBA playoffs, UF mens golf head coach J.C Deacon talked his team's regional win, and Santa Fe head coach Savanah Webster discussed her team earning a national bid.
Co-hosts Ryan Piansky, a graduate student and patient advocate living with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and eosinophilic asthma, and Holly Knotowicz, a speech-language pathologist living with EoE who serves on APFED's Health Science Advisory Council, interview Phillip Arceneaux, PhD, on his journey with EoE and balancing his career. Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast is designed to support, not replace, the relationship between listeners and their healthcare providers. Opinions, information, and recommendations shared in this podcast are not a substitute for medical advice. Decisions related to medical care should be made with your healthcare provider. Opinions and views of guests and co-hosts are their own. Key Takeaways: [:50] Co-host Ryan Piansky introduces this episode, brought to you thanks to the support of Education Partners GSK, Sanofi, Regeneron, and Takeda. Ryan introduces co-host Holly Knotowicz. [1:12] Holly introduces today's topic. It's May, and each year in May, there are several awareness observances for eosinophilic-associated diseases, including National Eosinophil Awareness Week, World Eosinophilic Diseases Day, and World EoE Day. [1:29] Throughout May, APFED is sharing stories from individuals and families living with eosinophil-associated diseases to highlight the impact of these chronic conditions. [1:38] Ryan says, Today, we'll be discussing eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). EoE is a chronic allergic inflammatory disease of the esophagus. It occurs when eosinophils, a type of white blood cell, accumulate in the esophagus in elevated numbers, causing inflammation that can make eating or swallowing difficult or uncomfortable. [1:56] Holly introduces today's guest, Dr. Phillip Arceneaux, a patient advocate living with EoE since 2019. [2:18] Phil is 35. He was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana. He received his undergraduate degree there. He worked at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Then he worked at the University of Oregon. [2:38] Phil moved to Florida and did his Ph.D. in Mass Communication at the University of Florida. Since 2020, he has been based out of the Cincinnati area, working at Miami University of Ohio. [3:05] Phil was diagnosed with EoE in March of 2019, while finishing his degree at UF. [3:12] Phil was eating dinner with his girlfriend. He took a bite of a roast beef sandwich, and it didn't go down smoothly, it became impacted. [3:56] Phil thought he had food stuck in his windpipe. He was running around banging his chest. He calmed down and was able to get some of the food out, and he was breathing again. [4:12] Phil thought he was fine. He quickly realized he wasn't. He still had a partial impaction. He didn't know what was going on in his chest. He spent about 30 minutes moving around, coughing, and trying to get his chest to feel right. [4:44] After about an hour, Phil decided to go to the ER. His girlfriend insisted on driving him to the hospital. It was spring break, so the ER was not busy. It still took a couple of hours to be seen and treated. [5:25] The doctors assessed him. They gave him medicine to induce vomiting. About 12 hours after the initial choking, his impaction cleared. They kept him overnight and gave him an endoscopy in the morning to check his esophagus and take biopsies. [6:31] Phil was in the ER for four to six hours before anyone told him what they thought he had. Then the ER doctor told him he was 95% certain Phil had eosinophilic esophagitis. Phil had never heard of it. [7:04] The ER doctor gave Phil a rundown of EoE. He said Phil would have an endoscopy, and then he would be referred to a GI and set up for treatment. The doctor said he couldn't confirm it before the endoscopy, but he thought it was EoE. [7:31] Ryan says he's talked to people who have had months-long processes of getting their diagnosis. Phil gives all the credit to the hospital. He was fortunate that his experience was good. [7:55] Phil says that the staff at the ER and the GI specialist were so knowledgeable about the research and where things were going in this area of medicine. They were very confident about the diagnosis and treatment plan. [8:11] Dr. Arcenaux gives a shout-out to his GI. He spent well over an hour with him during his initial consult. He explained how EoE would impact him, from diet, grocery shopping, and challenges eating at restaurants, because of cross-contamination. [8:42] The GI specialist talked him through impacts on dating and dining out and how to approach social activities. [9:09] Phil's GI specialist talked to him about employers. He would need employers with health insurance that will cover the endoscopies and treatments for EoE. Phil appreciated the initial onboarding for his EoE diagnosis. [9:41] Ryan says he needs to discuss this with Phil, as he just finished his Ph.D. a few months ago, and he's looking at insurance for his new job, and how to figure out business lunches. [9:51] Ryan says Ph.D. students are so motivated by free food. As someone with EoE, that never applied to him. Ryan says shifting from normal eating habits to an EoE diet is a major shift. [10:27] Phil knows now that there were signs and symptoms, but he had no idea about them before his diagnosis. [10:33] Phil is on a special diet for his EoE. When he's not great at avoiding his trigger foods, he starts to see dysphagia symptoms in his swallowing, and he has quite a bit of regurgitation. He had been seeing that for months before this initial major food impaction and ER visit. [10:54] Phil had no idea what was going on. He just thought it was weird that he was regurgitating more than he used to. Sometimes food didn't go down well. Once or twice, he had a small aspiration event. He thought he needed to chew better. [11:11] He didn't know what those symptoms meant, and he wrote them off. None of it made sense until that diagnosis. Even then, it took a while to wrap his head around it. Years removed, he sees there were so many signs and symptoms he never processed. [11:28] Holly asks what Phil means by aspiration. He says he means water going down his windpipe, making it hard to breathe, with liquid in his lungs. Holly says that aspiration can be caused by inflammation in people who have EoE. [12:07] Holly says people with EoE can be sent for a swallow study to look at the anatomy of their swallow function. That's a subject for another episode! [12:35] Ryan says Phil noticed he was regurgitating more than normal and remarks that people with chronic illnesses don't realize that most people don't normally regurgitate at all. It's a sign that something's wrong. [13:03] The ER doctor didn't offer Phil any other diagnosis than EoE. The doctor was 95% sure he had EoE, but confirmed it with an endoscopy. [13:20] Holly asks Phil what food allergies he has. As an infant, he had an egg allergy that limited his vaccines. Now he knows his primary allergen is egg, and it led to his EoE issues. [13:51] When Phil started his Ph.D. program, he wanted to eat healthier foods. He cut out fast food, and he ate more eggs. He consumed many eggs during his Ph.D. program. A snack was scrambled eggs or something with scrambled eggs. [14:22] Phil went through a carton of 18 eggs in less than a week. He knew that when he was younger, he'd had egg sensitivity, but as an adult, he'd eaten eggs and nothing happened that registered as an issue. He thought he had outgrown it. [14:40] Phil says he had outgrown other food allergies. He assumed eggs were fine, so he adopted a heavy egg diet to increase his protein intake and be healthier. Then all these symptoms manifested. [15:00] Phil never associated the symptoms with eggs. His treatment plan is dieting and minimizing egg as much as possible. That is not easy in the United States, where everything is processed and often contains egg. [15:19] Holly says she has seen an influx of adult-onset EoE patients with a history of a dairy or egg allergy who were putting cottage cheese and eggs in everything, and all of a sudden, started having regurgitation and food getting stuck. [15:51] Phil doesn't eat scrambled eggs anymore. One slice of a cake with eggs in it will not send him to the ER. It takes a couple of days of high exposure to reach that point. He knows what he can have daily that will not impact him in the long term. [16:20] Holly and Ryan agree that it's important to know your limits, and consult with your physicians about foods. Rice is a trigger for Ryan, but if brown rice syrup is about the 20th ingredient, he can have it and be fine. If he were to eat a lot of rice, he will have issues. [17:21] Phil says he recently got married, and his wife is a health nut. She has radically changed his diet. They eat very high-protein, low-fat, and low-carb. It's been easy to manage that without eggs. They eat a lot of chicken, turkey, and fish. [17:41] Being from Louisiana, Phil says if he had to give up seafood, he doesn't know what he would do. He's a huge craft beer lover. If he had to give up gluten, he doesn't know what he would do. He can manage without eggs. [18:21] Ryan says dairy was a big trigger for him when he was younger, but now he's on dupilumab, a biologic approved for treating EoE, and that's helped him a lot. He's started to integrate whey protein and milk protein back into his diet. [18:47] Phil says once he finished with school, he graduated and lost health insurance. He didn't have a source of income or health insurance, so he declined to have dilation therapy. That's also why he deferred to dietary therapy. He removed his allergens one by one. [19:12] Phil was diagnosed in 2019, not long before the pandemic hit. He lived in a bubble for two to three years and kept to a very regimented diet. That's where he started to find his balance. [19:30] Phil travels quite a bit as a professor. He goes to international conferences. In 2022, a big annual conference opened in Paris, France. He was living his best life, but didn't register that every pastry he put in his mouth had an egg wash. [20:14] Phil was there for seven days. On the sixth night, he was eating a tough, dry steak. He had a severe food impaction, worse than the one in 2019. He was with colleagues who didn't know what he had. [20:40] He paid, excused himself, went to his hotel room, and tried to vomit it up. He couldn't do it. He called an Uber and went to the nearest ER. He had an emergency endoscopy. It's not easy to navigate another country's healthcare system, but he did it. [21:14] When Phil returned from the conference, he said he needed to get serious. He had a GP, but he needed a GI specialist. Cincinnati has multiple great health systems, so he got a GI specialist and started down a path of treatment. [21:38] He told his GI specialist, this has happened to me, and I never want it to happen again. What can we do? He started with proton pump inhibitors. No effect. He doesn't have acid reflux. Next was the topical corticosteroid, swallowed budesonide. [22:22] Phil used a pump for asthma, but this was to swallow. After two weeks, he developed a bad case of thrush that took a long time to get rid of. He had never had thrush and didn't know what it was. It took a couple of rounds of treatment to clear up. [22:43] After that, in 2022, he moved to dupilumab. The FDA had just approved it as a course of treatment for EoE. Phil did not do well with the treatment, and has since gone back to back to a diet-only course of treatment. [24:13] Phil says the dupilumab shots did help. He had been having reactions to some foods for years, and after a couple of weeks on the shot, those reactions went away, and he could eat the foods, like avocado and watermelon, again. [24:39] The dupilumab did him some good, as he returned to some foods that he loved, but it wasn't a long-term solution for him. [24:50] Ryan shares that he started his Ph.D. in 2019. He felt great, he had no symptoms, and he was following up with his GI every year. With no symptoms, he wasn't scoped until 2025 for insurance reasons. His scope was horrible. [25:11] His symptoms were in remission, but his esophagus looked terrible. He had to switch up his treatment plan. Ryan advises all listeners to follow up with their GI. [26:14] Phil says he thinks he's in a very lucky position that what his allergen is, what his dietary preferences are, and how he manifests symptoms, do not significantly impact his day-to-day. [26:36] Phil's doctor in 2019 had advised him that EoE would impact his work and his business lunches. With the treatment plan he has opted into, it doesn't impact his day-to-day. He says he is very lucky, compared to what other patients deal with. [26:50] It hasn't impacted his day-to-day, but the problem is, when it does impact something. It's very big, very noticeable, and it's in front of everyone. He recalls his Paris episode. He's very vocal about it. That's why he reached out to APFED. [27:13] Phil likes talking about it. The only way we know more about it is when we talk about it and share our stories. His colleagues all know he has EoE. They don't understand exactly what it is, but when he's having trouble, they understand. [27:44] When Phil has an issue, he doesn't tell anyone; he just gets up and walks out of the room and paces the hall, doing his stretches. [28:09] Largely, it's just letting people know he has EoE. They recognize that he manages it himself, and he's OK. [28:24] Phil says figuring out your medical treatment plan and balancing your quality of life is different from having a disease that can eventually be treated. [28:51] This is something you have to deal with the rest of your life. That's going to fundamentally change things, not drastically, but in fairly subtle ways. [29:18] No matter how comfortable you get, you have to be diligent. You always have to be cognizant of your symptoms and stay on whatever your treatment plan is, whether that's dieting or medication. This will not go away. You're always going to have it. [29:37] Phil says you have to frame it as a lifelong marathon and find a very sustainable pace. That's where the quality of life is so important. We're human beings. We have to enjoy life. Settle in for the long haul. That's how it will be sustainable. [30:18] Ryan thinks self-advocacy is important, whether talking with doctors, co-workers, or friends. Take care of yourself and make sure you're doing OK. Make sure you're putting yourself in a position to stay healthy, especially while balancing a career. [30:45] Ryan says those are great things for our listeners to keep in mind. [30:49] For our listeners who do want to learn more about eosinophilic disorders, we encourage you to visit APFED.org and check out the links in the show notes below. [30:55] If you're looking to find a specialist who treats eosinophilic disorders, we encourage you to use APFED's Specialist Finder. available at APFED.org/specialist. [31:04] If you have personally been impacted by eosinophilic disorders and are interested in sharing your experience, please check out APFED.org/shareyourstory. [31:12] If you'd like to connect with others impacted by eosinophilic diseases, please join APFED's online community on the Inspire Network at APFED.org/connections. [31:23] Ryan thanks Phil for joining us today. This was a super interesting conversation. Phil thanks Ryan and Holly for having him on. He is happy to represent on the podcast. [31:35] Holly thanks APFED's Education Partners GSK, Sanofi, Regeneron, and Takeda for supporting this episode. Mentioned in This Episode: APFED on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram Real Talk: Eosinophilic Diseases Podcast Apfed.org apfed.org/specialist apfed.org/connections Phillip Arceneaux, PhD Education Partners: This episode of APFED's podcast is brought to you thanks to the support of GSK, Sanofi, Regeneron, and Takeda. Tweetables (Edited): "I took a bite of a roast beef sandwich, and it wasn't going down smoothly. I drank some water. The bite became an impaction. The water stayed in my esophagus, and I started to aspirate." — Phillip Arceneaux, Ph.D. "The ER doctor told me he was 95% certain I had eosinophilic esophagitis. I had never heard of it. He gave me a quick rundown of what it was." — Phillip Arceneaux, Ph.D. "I want to give a shout-out to my GI. He spent well over an hour in my initial consult. He explained how [EoE] would impact me, from diet, grocery shopping, and eating at restaurants, because of cross-contamination." — Phillip Arceneaux, Ph.D. "I never associated the symptoms with eggs. My treatment plan is diet and minimizing egg as much as possible. That is not easy in the United States." — Phillip Arceneaux, Ph.D. "This is something you have to deal with the rest of your life. That's going to fundamentally change things, not drastically, but in fairly subtle ways." — Phillip Arceneaux, Ph.D. "No matter how comfortable you get, you have to be diligent. You always have to be cognizant of your symptoms and stay on whatever your treatment plan is, whether that's dieting or medication. This will not go away. You're always going to have it." — Phillip Arceneaux, Ph.D. Guest Bio: Dr. Phillip Arceneaux is an Assistant Professor of Strategic Communication at Miami University in Ohio, where he teaches mass communication courses focusing on media psychology and content strategy. Phil was diagnosed with EoE in 2019 following an ER visit to UF Health Shands Hospital that required an emergency endoscopy. A Cajun French native of Lafayette, Louisiana, he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Florida and has resided in Cincinnati since 2020.
Send us Fan Mail✨ YOUR FREE GIFT - Daily Spiritual Practices for Irish Paganism - Simple PDF Guide - https://irishpagan.school/practice Have you ever wondered where the Tuatha Dé Danann came from or what happens to them when they die? Jon O'Sullivan from the Irish Pagan School explores the origins, journeys, and legacies of Ireland's gods, as well as their connection to the Otherworld.✨ In this video:The Tuatha Dé Danann's Origins: Lineage from the sons of Nemed and their journey from Ireland to the mystical cities of Gorias, Findias, Fáilias, and Murias.Connections to the Fomorians: The adversarial role of the Fomorians in Ireland's mythological history.Are the Tuatha Dé Danann and Gaulish Deities Related? Understanding the distinctions between Irish and continental Celtic mythology.Do the Tuatha Dé Danann Die? Exploring mythological deaths of figures like Nuada, Lugh, and the Dagda.The Otherworld: Teach Donn, transmigration of spirit, and Irish Pagan beliefs about life after death.Ireland's Mythological History: Insights from Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of Invasions) and other ancient Irish texts.✨ Key takeaway: The Tuatha Dé Danann have rich, detailed origins in Irish lore and remain present in the Otherworld, challenging us to explore our own understanding of life, death, and the divine.✨ Irish Pagan Resources Checklist available NOW - https://irishpagan.school/checklist/
TWiM explains how an enhanced domestication method allows for growth of uncultured bacteria, and identification of the oncogene SLC35F2 as is a high-specificity transporter for the micronutrients queuine and queuosine. Hosts: Vincent Racaniello, Michael Schmidt, and Michele Swanson. Guest: Mark O. Martin Become a patron of TWiM. Music used on TWiM is composed and performed by Ronald Jenkees and used with permission. Links for this episode Domestication method for uncultured bacteria (ISME Comm) Transporter for the micronutrients queuine and queuosine (PNAS) How diet and microbiome can impact your health (UF blog) Take the TWiM Listener survey! Send your microbiology questions and comments (email or recorded audio) to twim@microbe.tv
The Florida Gators just picked up two huge commitments and once again Phil Trautwein is at the center of the story. Four-star offensive tackle Elijah Hutcheson out of Roanoke, Virginia chose UF over Clemson, Vanderbilt, and Virginia Tech after a visit to Gainesville that left him in tears, and three-star safety Kailib Dillard picked the Gators over Georgia and Oregon. We break down the full story behind both commitments and why this 2027 class is building into something special. Sign up for PrizePicks with code: HMA and get $50 in lineups instantly when you play your first $5+ lineup! https://link.prizepicks.com/LME0/GATORS #FloridaGators #GatorsFootball #SECFootball #CollegeFootball #GatorsBreakdown #GoGators #CFB #FloridaGatorsFootball JOIN Gators Breakdown Plus: https://gatorsbreakdownplus.com Gators Breakdown Merch: https://gatorsbreakdown.printful.me Get Florida Gators merch at Fanatics: https://fanatics.93n6tx.net/DVYxja Questions or comments? Send them to gatorsbreakdown@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nonfat is sitting north of $2.25 on the CME spot market. But the bigger question is how long it can hold. In the latest episode of The Milk Check, the Jacoby team breaks down a dairy market that feels tight, fragile and increasingly dependent on timing. Here's what they're watching: Why nonfat prices surged, and what could break them How protein demand is pulling milk away from dryers Why MPC and MPI are outpacing nonfat What the inverted futures curve suggests for the second half of the year How depooling and Class III–IV dynamics are shifting milk flows Why butter feels weaker, even in the middle of flush Plus, the team talks through what happens if the nonfat market doesn't break soon. There's still a lot of milk moving. Just not where it used to go. Let the Jacoby team help you get up to speed on the new dairy market dynamics. Click below and listen to The Milk Check episode 98: A Market on Borrowed Time. Got questions? We'd love to hear them. Submit below, and we might answer it on the show. Ask The Milk Check Ted Jacoby III: Coming up on the Milk Check. Jacob Menge: if this doesn’t start falling soon, I think there’s gonna be people that are trying to make money on the short side of this thing because they didn’t make money on the long side. Ted Jacoby III: Welcome to the Milk Check from T.C. Jacoby & Co., Your complete guide to dairy markets, from the milking parlor to the supermarket shelf. I’m Ted Jacoby. Let’s dive in. Today is May 1st. It’s a couple of days after the ADPI and a couple of weeks after the Cheese Expo, and it’s usually after those two meetings a really good time to talk markets. So, we’ll go ahead and start with the market that everybody was talking about at the ADPI. Josh, Jake, Joe, what’s going on with our nonfat market? We’re at $2.26 today, I believe. Are we gonna stay up here for a while? Josh White: It’s a more challenging question than just the absolute price today. I think that if I were to summarize the show, there was a recognition across the entire dairy industry that there might be some legitimate reasons for nonfat to be tighter than they have been over the last several years. It feels like a lot of different things have resulted in the current spot price that we’ve seen today. Over the last five years, we globally have made more skim milk powder and nonfat. We’ve consumed more skim milk powder and nonfat, but the real story is in the fact that we’ve also made a whole lot more milk, and that milk doesn’t seem to have found its way to the dryer. Seems to have found its way to a variety of different products. And equally as important during the ADPI was the talk about the protein market, which I think we can likely get to later. But things like RDT products, beverages, protein consumption, cheese consumption, a lot of things have consumed incremental milk growth, particularly in the U.S., and that happened after many years where buyers had very little concerns over access to supply. And as a result, I think in the background we watched global inventories decline, and that all seems to have come to a head here in the early part of 2026. And now as we’re getting into the northern hemisphere flush, and particularly in middle America, yeah, then we have ADPI. And so, what’s interesting about your question is throughout most of the conference people were pretty convinced, “Yeah, we’re in a tighter nonfat market. We’re all buying into that.” Yet, the days following ADPI, we’ve seen futures sell off a bit and we’ve seen a little bit more volume traded at the CME spot call. What’s that mean going forward? Jacob Menge: The most interesting thing going forward is you don’t talk to single person that says these prices are gonna stick around for six months. And so it’s really a matter of timing, how long do we stay up here? I think we’re already up here longer than most anybody thought. And the other thing is, nobody got this market right. Some people got in at a buck 25. Those guys sold at a buck 40. They said, “I’m gonna take my 15, 20 cents and run.” And they felt like a genius for about three days before we were quickly at a buck 60. And we’ve got this really interesting dynamic of no market participant really happy with it being up here because nobody really made money on the way up. And everybody convinced that, okay it’s on the clock for when it comes off. And I’m not even gonna disagree with that, right? I don’t think anybody would argue that long-term we’re gonna have $2.50 nonfat in 2028 or whatever. But this really comes down to a question of timing, and I think that’s where you get mixed opinions. But in general, I think most people are of the opinion that it’s not gonna be that long before this thing does start to fall. I don’t have that strong of an opinion actually, but what I do have an opinion on is if this doesn’t start falling soon, I think there’s gonna be people that are trying to make money on the short side of this thing because they didn’t make money on the long side, that they’re gonna start feeling some pain. And as our curve has come up a bit over the past month, we’ve got this really interesting market conditions where, again, if we’re up at these levels even a month from now, two months from now sure, I’d make the argument, why couldn’t you have another squeeze higher? Because there’s still not that much product available right now today. We’re starting to see that change. We saw some really nice volume on the CME spot auction just this morning. But that’s what the eyes are on is how long does this thing take? And if it starts this week versus six weeks from now, I think those have very different implications for how the market reacts. Josh White: We’ve got three different reactions to the nonfat market right now. You’ve got the true nonfat participants that need product now, and that’s priced in the $2.25-plus type range right now on the countryside. And to your point, we’re seeing a few more loads available which is a decent sign. The market participants seem pretty convinced that we’re gonna see an easing from this price, but so are futures. And I think that’s another important thing to point out is that the futures curve is inverted and it’s quite a bit lower than the spot price today. So, you can have both situations. You can have a spot price drop while the futures price maybe doesn’t as much. Over the past few days, the futures curve has definitely traded lower, confirming what we heard there is that most people don’t believe in this market being as tight as it is currently into the future. And we have to remember, this is traditionally a globally traded product and our competitors across the pond are still quite a bit lower and making a whole lot of skim milk powder today. So, I think longer term, if the assumption is that we need to compete globally for at least some business, particularly in markets like Asia, we’re gonna have to be a little bit more aggressive to compete, but futures are saying we will be. Another important topic was now we’re starting to see an acceleration of the NDPSR price now that we’ve had several months of higher spot prices, and that’s starting to have an impact on markets other than just the powder market. And I think maybe, Gus, you would have a little bit more to say about how the market’s reacting to some of the component prices moving higher in the solids nonfat side of things. Gus Jacoby: The situation as we’ve talked about in the past is protein is being pulled in a lot of different directions and we don’t see that demand going away anytime soon. The one comment I would make though is your isolated protein, certainly UF milk in fluid form, are seeing some of the highest demand that we’ve seen in a very long time. So, if you’re cheese maker, if you wanna fortify, and certainly on higher butterfat milk, there’s plenty of folks that wanna fortify right now, there’s probably a little bit of a pull on all the skim solids at this moment in time. I don’t think that story has changed. We’ve beaten that up for a while. But that’s certainly gonna pull a fair amount of milk out of the dryer for nonfat. You look at where the capacity has been added, whether it be in the Southwest with all the large cheese plants that have been added there, and then Upstate New York where some dryers are also gonna sit idle as some new processing capacity comes on there. That’s two areas of the country that are gonna get a lot less milk into the nonfat dryers than previous. And certainly here we are now in the flush as these plants ramp up, it would typically be your highest powder production timeframe, and instead those solids are going elsewhere, and that will keep nonfat production down for the foreseeable future. Ted Jacoby III: Gus, are you seeing milk move towards Class IV plants instead of Class III plants this year? Gus Jacoby: We still see fortification solids during this flush finding its way into cheese plants. But that’s your surplus skim solids that might exist, and those are only available, I believe, because of the flush. Now, it’s not UF milk, right? UF milk tends to be going elsewhere whether it be going to some sort of IV or II-type arrangement, whether it be a high-protein beverage or a high-protein dry product. But you are still seeing a fair amount of condensed and other skim solids going to the cheese vat for fortification purposes. I think the way that will unfold likely is that those surplus skim solids that aren’t being turned into isolated protein products, they’re gonna probably get pulled out to a certain degree of the cheese plants, and then cheese plants will just not be able to utilize fortification as they are typically used to or would like as we move through the year. Ted Jacoby III: So, what you’re saying is if the price stays up here, the milk that is going into the dryers making nonfat will continue to do so longer than usual, and they won’t lose the flush-specific skim solids? Gus Jacoby: I don’t know if I’d agree with that, Ted. I think the flush, no matter where you’re at in the country, the surplus solids find its way to the dryer typically. And as we come out of the flush, certainly less solids everywhere will go toward the nonfat dryer, just as it always does during those seasonality changes and we come out of the spring. It’s just that the areas I talked about, Southwest and Northeast, they’re not getting near as much as they used to in the flush, and so overall that production is going to be missed upon the market. Ted Jacoby III: Do you sense any kind of competition right now between Class III and Class IV for the surplus milk, or is it just following its usual path? Gus Jacoby: There’s some surplus condensed solids going to cheese plants that if a better price could be had into a powder plant, it would go there. Ted Jacoby III: Okay. Gus Jacoby: And that’s happening predominantly in the upper Midwest, and maybe a little bit in other areas. But certainly if you’re gonna get a higher return going into cheese than you could going into powder, you’re gonna go after it right now. And that’s where the demand I would say is. But surplus is surplus, and you’re gonna sell it to the highest return you can. Ted Jacoby III: Okay. That sounds good. Joe, anything to add on the nonfat side? Joe Maixner: Any milk that is making it to dryers, they’re prioritizing the milk to try to get into the milk protein concentrate (MPC) sector or milk protein isolate (MPI) as opposed to nonfat because the return is better. Ted Jacoby III: Makes sense to me. Joe, Josh, are we seeing MPC prices rise faster than nonfat right now? Josh White: Yeah, no, it has to be faster than nonfat because basis is appreciating. You’ve got an MPC market that likes to trade on a multiple of nonfat, and that has appreciated. That has continued to increase. Now, again, I noted earlier we got an inverted forward curve, which means that basis can be going up and price could stay the same or even go down the second part of the year. So, that’s the dichotomy we’re dealing with right now, is that from a cost basis, it looks like it could be pretty okay the rest of the year. And if there’s dry time available, you would think you’re gonna maximize that MPC. And when compared to whey protein concentrate (WPC) prices, MPC 85 is a bargain. But again, not everyone can easily substitute between the two, and that takes some time for the market to figure out which market participants may be able to switch between WPCs and MPCs, may take a little time for them to make that switch. Ted Jacoby III: So, I just wanna clarify for the audience. There’s two different ways we can look at it. If we’re selling it forward into the second half of the year, from a market perspective, we may be selling it for a lower price because the futures curve is a lot lower than the cash price is today. But if we’re selling MPC or nonfat today, you’re telling me that the nonfat price has effectively doubled in the last three months, and the MPC price has more than doubled because not only has its basis doubled based on the nonfat market, but the overage above that has also gone up. Josh, you’re on mute. Josh White: I thought you said clarify for the audience, so I didn’t realize it was a question for me. Ted Jacoby III: Oh the answer is yes. That’s exactly what’s happening. Josh White: Yes. Nailed it. Ted Jacoby III: All right. So, basically what we’re saying is skim solids and protein are in high demand. That’s loud and clear. [Center commercial] Ted Jacoby III: Mike, what about from a federal order perspective, how this all feeds through the federal order? Obviously, since it’s a higher market right now, Class IV is what’s driving Class I prices. Obviously, it drives Class II prices. Is there anything else that kind of shifts around in a market like this? Mike Brown: There’s a couple things. First of all, a lot of your Class IV production is co-op owned. And what we’re seeing is depooling in Class IV, and to some degree Class II where it’s possible. So, rather than to go into the pool and get a blend price that’s below your class price, they’re electing to depool, just like we saw with cheese last fall when it was much higher than butter powder. We’re seeing some of that. But if you’re pooled, you’re ambivalent because you’re gonna pull the pool draw out anyway, and it’s not gonna make a lot of difference. It’s markets like the Southwest where a lot of that milk is never pooled or rarely pooled, and even in the eastern part of Kansas, changes in central order, you less have to pool it because the differential is so much wider now from Kansas City than it used to be. You may see more activity as you watch pool decisions being made since last June when the changes, people are getting a lot better at predicting whether or not they should be involved with the pool or not because it’s getting easier to predict because behavior is more what you’d expect. So, from my point of view, it has some effect, certainly, and if you’re trying to maximize a return to your owners and you have a plant with capacity and you get a higher value product, you’re gonna try to run the milk through that plant. Second part of that, of course, if you already have obligations, and some of these new cheese plants have supply obligations, they’re gonna get their milk regardless of the shift in price. So, it has less effect than you might think, but there is still effect, particularly if you’re having to pool your IV. There’s certainly a lot of IV being depooled right now. Production isn’t much lower. It’s just regionally shifted some, a lot more in the West Coast right now than in the Southwest. The orders kinda mute what would be the normal market decision to maximize return on milk for a producer because if you’re gonna blend it anyway, you don’t have the incentive that you do if you don’t. That said, right now, Class III guys, they’re pooled. The other part of this III-IV spread is, of course, what is the value of those solids into those cheese plants? I’m working on that today, Ted, trying to figure out how much does the high-WPC80 and WPI market bring to the value of buying outside Class IV solids to justify the price? Just on the price of cheese, I got some numbers here in front of me, you’re looking at on a per-pound cheese yield basis, if you buy powder in the powder market right now, it’s 25 to 40 cents more per pound cheese yield than it would be if you’re getting it from Class III. Mike Brown: You better either have a great margin or you’re really hitting up the whey market, and I’m gonna figure out exactly what that is. But that decision isn’t just a cheese decision, particularly with whey protein so high. There is a value of that nonfat dry milk whey protein that in the past didn’t matter as much as it does now. So, it may make that slightly more attractive or less unattractive than it would’ve in the past because your whey returns are so high on that protein compared to what they have been historically. So, it’s complicated, but it’s not just the value in cheese. It’s the value in cheese and in whatever your plant can make for whey. If you can make WPC80, you can pay more for those nonfat solids, obviously, than you can if you don’t. Ted Jacoby III: So to clarify, usually when you ship fluid into a Class III plant, you pay the Class III solids price. Mike Brown: That’s correct. Ted Jacoby III: If you use powder, you’re gonna have to pay whatever the prevailing nonfat price is. And most everybody running a cheese plant right now would really like their skim solids in fluid form so they can pay those Class III values instead of the Class IV values. Mike Brown: Oh, absolutely. But if they’ve got excess fat, and a lot of our American-style cheese plants now do have excess fat, what’s your market for that fat, and does it make sense to pay a little more for that protein from the Class IV side so that I can get a better price for that fat? Although we all know multiples this year aren’t near as horrible as they were a year ago. Yeah. So it’s a little better market. If you’re gonna get right down to dollars and cents, really you gotta look at your whole product mix out of your cheese plant and figure out what can you really afford to pay for those solids . And plus the opportunity of running your plant more full. What’s your fixed cost savings by running more product through your plant even if the cost is a little higher? Ted Jacoby III: Speaking of butterfat, Joe, this butter market just feels like it’s gone a lot lower than we expected it to go. Joe Maixner: Yeah, it’s weak. Cream’s not sloppy. It sure doesn’t seem like it’s super long in the market. But there’s still plenty of butter being made, and I think that this market’s also pricing in the fact that we’re anticipating that export reports are gonna decrease in the amount of butter that will get out monthly moving forward until this Middle East conflict gets resolved. And we’re basically peak flush through east of the Rockies, so this is the highest production point we’re gonna see through the rest of the year until we get past the holidays. Ted Jacoby III: Gus, are cream multiples poor right now as well? Gus Jacoby: We’re still on the flush, right? But they’re much, much tighter and higher than they were a year ago this time. It just goes to show that the additional churn capacity we’ve seen around the country and some better preparation by a lot of folks in dealing with excess butterfat has made this market a fair amount healthier when it comes to cream. Not near as sloppy as it was a year ago. Multiples have held at or better than even the year previous for flush times. So, I would imagine that what we’re gonna see here going forward is representative of this new marketplace. Ted Jacoby III: Josh, anything to say about the whey protein market? Josh White: Maybe some early signs of a market trying to figure out if it wants to continue on the trajectory it’s been on. WPC80, the general consensus out of ADPI is it remains tight. Seen a few extra spot loads trade this week though, so maybe some people were waiting for that information to let go of a little excess inventory or some incremental loads. WPI feels like it’s pretty stable. And the market came to the conclusion, I believe, during the ADPI conference, that, okay, it seems to be priced right. It doesn’t feel like WPI needs to go up at the moment. And we’ve definitely seen more offers since the show. Not ready to conclude that’s going lower because of where the WPC80 price is and how tight the WPC80 market is. So, those two have really converged at the moment, almost to a point that doesn’t make a lot of sense, the price spread between the two, so the market’s going to figure that out. So, yeah, that would be the only changes. Other than that, maybe just reiterating that we are constantly talking to new customers about new demand creation, and also outside of the traditional sports nutrition category, a lot of new CPG product launches and things like that are absolutely still in motion and consuming a lot of dry protein. Ted Jacoby III: Makes sense to me, and I would agree. And then, what I would say about cheese is it was easily the most boring market at the ADPI. I’d start by saying that. It feels like a market where a lot of people are complaining that the price isn’t low enough for them to get new sales on, but they also can’t find a ton of product out there. There is some spot product trading around, but there’s not massive quantities of it like you sometimes see in the height of the flush, which just makes me feel that right now the cheese market is in balance. In balance in a way that maybe we’re not getting a huge amount of additional export sales on the books, but we are continuing to export at a pretty high rate , especially considering there’s a lot of sales on the books that were put on the books earlier in the year that are gonna continue to ship. And it’s kept this market, this cheese market, I think, relatively well cleaned up considering we’re in the height of the flush. So, we don’t see a lot of movement going forward, at least in the next few months in cheese. You’re gonna trade in a 30 cent range, 20 cent range around where the current price is. That would be my take on the cheese market. All right. To all our listeners, I really appreciate you guys listening to us. I hope this information is helpful, and we look forward to talking to you soon. Take care. [Ending credits]
The Tailgate Rewind: On Friday's show, Zach Abolverdi and Paul Gardner discussed how much might Florida Football's offensive line and defense improve in 2026. They also spoke about Gators Baseball's conquest to host a regional and UF's NIL situation as a whole.
This episode with Kimberly is one that I think a lot of law students and young attorneys will find themselves in. Kimberly is a triple-graduate of the University of Florida, a diehard Gator, and is currently a partner at an AmLaw 100 firm with 17+ years as a commercial litigator, specializing in work for banks and financial institutions. Kimberly takes us down her journey, from originally wanting to be a journalist at the Orlando Sentinel, to discovering law through a media law class in her junior year of undergrad, to pursuing a joint JD and master's in mass communications at UF with dreams of becoming a First Amendment attorney, to eventually finding her path in commercial foreclosure and secured transactions litigation an area she never would have imagined herself in but has come to truly love.Beyond her practice, Kimberly is the creator of Latina Legal Minds, a podcast and platform she started during the pandemic as a creative outlet that has since become her passion project. She also founded the Latina Legal Minds Power Summit, a live event creating space for Latina attorneys to have critical conversations about salary negotiations, big law, and navigating the profession. Her message on authenticity, that it isn't something to figure out later but something to protect from day one, is one that every law student and professional needs to hear.This was an incredible conversation with someone who truly exemplifies what it means to advocate for yourself and build community along the way. Kimberly's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlylopez/Latina Legal MindsBe sure to check out the Official Sponsors for the Lawyers in the Making Podcast:Rhetoric - Empowers your teaching and training with AI that strengthens learning, protects integrity, and proves authentic understanding, for students and professionals alike, with CICERO. Find them here: userhetoric.comThe Law School Operating System™ Recorded Course - This course is for ambitious law students who want a proven, simple system to learn every topic in their classes to excel in class and on exams. Go to www.lisablasser.com, check out the student tab with course offerings, and use code LSOSNATE10 at checkout for 10% off Lisa's recorded course!Start LSAT - Founded by former guest and 22-year-old superstar, Alden Spratt, Start LSAT was built upon breaking down barriers, allowing anyone access to high-quality LSAT Prep. For $110, you get the Start LSAT self-paced course, and using code LITM10, you get 10% off the self-paced course! Check out Alden and Start LSAT at startlsat.com and use codeLITM10 for 10% off the self-paced course!Lawyers in the Making Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Lawyers in the Making Podcast at lawyersinthemaking.substack.com/subscribe
The Florida Gators keep stacking the 2027 class and this time it's both sides of the line. Four-star OL Peyton Miller picks UF over Texas Tech straight out of Texas, and hometown DL De'Voun Kendrick stays in-state to live out a childhood dream. Full breakdown of how Sumrall's staff is building the trenches and what each prospect brings to the table. Sign up for PrizePicks with code: HMA and get $50 in lineups instantly when you play your first $5+ lineup! https://link.prizepicks.com/LME0/GATORS #FloridaGators #GatorsFootball #SECFootball #CollegeFootball #GatorsBreakdown #GoGators #CFB #FloridaGatorsFootball JOIN Gators Breakdown Plus: https://gatorsbreakdownplus.com Gators Breakdown Merch: https://gatorsbreakdown.printful.me Get Florida Gators merch at Fanatics: https://fanatics.93n6tx.net/DVYxja Questions or comments? Send them to gatorsbreakdown@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This episode of the Green Side Up Podcast is a lively, story-packed conversation featuring Jordan, Jason, and returning guest Erin Alvarez. The trio starts with weekend plans—kayaking, manatees, race car–themed kids' parties, daddy–daughter dances, and tax woes—before drifting into hilarious side tangents about trolling lettuce for manatees, oversized margaritas, and the realities of squeezing tree crews through tight access. From there, Erin shares her winding journey into the green industry: growing up outdoors, bouncing between zoology, political science, and English at UF, burning out on office life at the student newspaper, rediscovering herself through hands-in-the-dirt yard work, and ultimately finding her home in Environmental Horticulture. They dig into UF horticulture culture—plant ID war stories, cheating (or trying to) in physics, the love–hate relationship with Landscape Architecture, and the birth of Deep South Landscaping (DSL) with all its youthful hustle, tax dodging, and terrible-but-memorable merch. The episode wraps by connecting Erin's past to her current role in business development at SkyFrog Landscape, touching on long-game relationship building, commercial maintenance bidding cycles, and future growth, all while maintaining the loose, funny, and unfiltered vibe that defines the show. Connect with Jason and Jordan:
Quantum Open Source with Will Zeng and Ziyaad BhoratIn this special live-streamed discussion, Will Zeng, co-founder of the Unitary Foundation, and Ziyaad Bhorat, VP at the Mozilla Foundation, join host Sebastian Hassinger to unpack their co-authored white paper, The Open Foundation Quantum Technology Needs. The paper argues that open source quantum software is structurally underfunded — too applied for academic grants, too public-good for venture capital — and that philanthropic organizations need to step in before the window closes.This conversation arrives at a pivotal moment. Google recently published a paper showing Shor's algorithm could break ECDLP-256 with roughly 500,000 physical qubits — a 20x improvement over prior estimates — while Oratomic launched claiming 10,000 reconfigurable atomic qubits may be sufficient for cryptographically relevant computation. The timelines are compressing. The question is whether the software ecosystem can keep pace with the hardware.The video of our conversation can be viewed on YouTube.What you'll learnWhy open source quantum software falls into a structural funding gap between academic grants and venture capital — and what that means for the field's trajectoryHow Mozilla Foundation evaluates emerging technology fields for philanthropic intervention, and what specifically convinced them quantum was ripe for engagementWhat Google's 20x efficiency gain for Shor's algorithm and the Oratomic launch mean for Q-Day timelines and post-quantum migration urgencyWhy the "quantum Linux" analogy is useful but incomplete — and what the real risk is (fragmentation, not monopoly)How Unitary Foundation's microgrant program ($4,000, six months) has become a faster on-ramp to quantum careers than traditional academic pathwaysWhat PyMatching, PyZX, and other microgrant-funded projects reveal about the scalability of small open source investmentsWhy open source benchmarking through Metriq Gym matters — and why vendor-driven benchmarks can't fill this roleHow the Qiskit team reductions at IBM illustrate the fragility of corporate-backed open source in quantumWhat specific policy asks the quantum open source community has for the NQI reauthorizationThe von Neumann vs. ENIAC lesson: why openness wins over secrecy in building transformative computing platformsResources & linksThe Open Foundation Quantum Technology Needs — The white paper by Zeng, Castanon, and Bhorat (March 2026) that anchors this conversationUnitary Foundation — 501(c)(3) non-profit building, governing, and sustaining open source quantum software since 2018 Mozilla Foundation — Non-profit championing open source and internet health, supporting Unitary Foundation's quantum workMitiq — Open source toolkit for quantum error mitigationMetriq — Community-driven quantum benchmarking platform Metriq Gym — Open source benchmarking suite for quantum computers Unitary Compiler Collection (UCC) — Quantum circuit compilation toolsQuTiP — Quantum Toolbox in Python, stewarded by Unitary FoundationPyMatching — Open source decoder for quantum error correction, originally funded by a UF microgrant PyZX — ZX-calculus library for quantum circuit optimization, also originating from UF support Unitary Hack — Annual bug bounty hackathon connecting open source quantum projects with global contributors CSIS Commission on U.S. Quantum Leadership — Warning on quantum decryption surprise referenced in the white paperWill Zeng — President and co-founder of Unitary Foundation; Partner at Quantonation; DPhil in Quantum Information, University of OxfordZiyaad Bhorat — VP of Imagination and Strategic Growth, Mozilla Foundation; PhD in Political Science, UCLAKey quotes"Do we want a future where quantum computers are developed by secret government contractors with specialized PhDs who have top secret security clearances? Or do we want a future where quantum computers are built in the private sector, competing to provide economic value to everyone around the world?" — Will Zeng"Do not be afraid to experiment. We're doing ourselves a disservice to be slow, especially in a space that really warrants experimentation." — Ziyaad Bhorat, on his message to philanthropic colleagues"There's billions of people on the planet who want to do exciting and interesting things. Building quantum technology is one of those. If you have enough motivation, you just need to provide some on-ramps." — Will Zeng"We should put forward an affirmative vision of what that future should look like and drive towards it — because otherwise it will be built in secret." — Ziyaad Bhorat"The US spends 30, 35 billion on potato chips every year. There's a lot of room to grow." — Will Zeng, on the scale of quantum investment relative to what's neededRelated episodesEp 19: Quantum Error Mitigation using Mitiq with Misty Wahl — Deep dive into Mitiq, one of Unitary Foundation's flagship open source projects discussed in this episode.Ep 35: Quantum Benchmarking with Jens Eisert — Explores the challenges of quantum benchmarking that Will Zeng addresses with the Metriq platform.Ep 29: Quantum Education and Community Building with Olivia Lanes — Parallels to the community-first approach to workforce development that both guests advocate.Ep 53: Fostering Quantum Education with Emily Edwards — The Q12 initiative's approach to quantum education, complementing UF's open source on-ramps.Ep 79: Building a Quantum Ecosystem from Scratch with Martin Laforest — How Quebec built a quantum ecosystem — relevant context for the white paper's argument about building open infrastructure early.Subscribe & connectListen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify |
Miami Hurricanes surge ahead in recruiting as Mario Cristobal locks down elite South Florida talent. Will the Florida Gators and Florida State Seminoles catch up, or will out-of-state programs keep poaching Florida's top prospects? Recruiting analyst Brian Smith breaks down Miami's local dominance, spotlighting future stars Nick Lennear, Josh Johnson, and Demarcus Deroche. The episode examines Florida's urgent need for offensive linemen despite landing standout Maxwell Hiller, and questions whether Florida State can recover in the trenches or if Mike Norvell's hot seat will cost them key commits like Mekhi Williams and Jemari Foreman. National powers like Texas A&M, Georgia, Notre Dame, and Ohio State continue to raid the Sunshine State. While Miami's momentum will likely hold versus national programs, but will UF and FSU keep top recruits from signing with out-of-state schools? Get the latest insights on recruiting battles, NIL impact, and which Sunshine State teams are best positioned for long-term success. Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it's time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join the community: https://theportal.supercast.com/ Support us by supporting our sponsors! Rugiet Get 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnhl Rugiet. Performance medicine for men. Rocket Money Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at https://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDON. Turbo Tax This year you're getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get two-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expire in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
2024 Olympian David Johnston recently announced his transfer from Texas to the University of Florida. The NCAA Champion explained there were 3 big reasons why he chose to leave Austin for Gainesville. One was plain and simple: the money. Johnston acknowledges that he didn't plan to be competing in the NCAA this long and sees why some would call it unfair. However, with the rules being what they are and new NIL opportunities sprouting up, Johnston wanted to go somewhere that could offer him income that could potentially supplement his future as he strives to qualify for the 2028 USA Olympic team, and it just so happened that UF was that place. In this conversation, Johnston is exceedingly honest about the fact that he is doing what is best for his career with this move, not only in the short term but moving toward LA28. In Gainesville, he will be training with arguably the best distance group in the world, swimming alongside Katie Ledecky, Bobby Finke, Ahmed Jaouadi, and Ahmed Hafnaoui, to name a few. He also opens up about dealing with the shoulder injury that sidelined him for the entire 2025-26 NCAA season.
Florida just landed four-star QB Davin Davidson out of Sarasota, and this one feels like a cornerstone commitment. Full scouting breakdown, his own words on why he chose UF, and a look at the offensive line targets that could build a wall in front of him for years to come. Sign up for PrizePicks with code: HMA and get $50 in lineups instantly when you play your first $5+ lineup! https://link.prizepicks.com/LME0/GATORS #FloridaGators #GatorsFootball #SECFootball #CollegeFootball #GatorsBreakdown #GoGators #CFB #FloridaGatorsFootball JOIN Gators Breakdown Plus: https://gatorsbreakdownplus.com Warner Safari Polos: https://warnersafari.com/discount/gatorsbreakdown Gators Breakdown Merch: https://gatorsbreakdown.printful.me Get Florida Gators merch at Fanatics: https://fanatics.93n6tx.net/DVYxja Questions or comments? Send them to gatorsbreakdown@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Florida Gators quarterback battle heats up as Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones Jr. vie for the starting job, leaving coaches—and fans—eager for separation as spring practice progresses. Can either QB reach the 2,500-yard benchmark with dynamic weapons like Dallas Wilson and Eric Singleton Jr. at wide receiver? Buster Faulkner's offensive system, paired with impact transfer Harrison Moore at center, promises to shake up the Gators' attack. UF added 5-star offensive line recruit Maxwell Hiller to the 2027 class, providing hope for future teams. It's a good start for the coaching staff. On defense, DJ Coleman's arrival at safety highlights a revamped secondary, and the addition of tight end Lakota Dipri brings surprise playmaking potential. Host Brian Smith and Brandon Olson dissect the Gators' recruiting momentum following Maxwell Hiller's commitment, discuss the critical opening SEC matchup against Auburn, and weigh whether Florida's new-look lineup can deliver an eight-win season. Will improved coaching and roster upgrades fast-track the Gators back into playoff contention? Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it's time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join the community: https://theportal.supercast.com/ Support us by supporting our sponsors! Mazda Like our players, we're driven by the details. Highlights make the reel. But the work behind them makes it count. The all-new Mazda CX-5. More to move every side of you. Wayfair Get last-minute hosting essentials, gifts for all your loved ones, and decor to celebrate the holidays for WAY less. Head to https://Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair. Every style. Every home. TurboTax This year you're getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. Robinhood You're no longer just a spectator. Play by play. You decide. Trade Every Play with Robinhood. Now available across the U.S. Download the Robinhood app now to begin. Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC., a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get two-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expire in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Chuck reacts to UF's recent announcement they will not remove seats from the Swamp in the stadium renovation project. Chuck and Heath discuss the latest executive order on college sports from President Trump. David Murray of Gene's Page analyzes Mississippi State spring football so far.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Channing Crowder joins the show to push back on Omar Kelly's claim that Miami's party culture is hurting the Dolphins. Crowder insists that off-field fun has nothing to do with success, emphasizing that “talent wins.” He shares examples from his own college days at UF, where he partied hard yet still earned All-SEC and All-American honors, and highlights other Dolphins players who enjoyed Miami nightlife but still performed at a high level on the field.
Welcome back to Stadium and Gale as we break down the latest Florida Gators spring football update and take a closer look at the biggest storylines surrounding the program. In this episode, we're joined by Josh Newberg to discuss Florida Gators recruiting and the latest conversation around Jon Sumrall. Finally, we welcome Ben Chase, the Florida Gators' former Director of NIL, to discuss NIL and what changed during his time at the University of Florida. Finally, we welcome former Gators offensive lineman Antonio Riles to talk about this career at UF!We cover:Florida Gators spring football updatesKey takeaways from spring practiceFlorida Gators recruiting news and buzzJosh Newberg's insight on the recruiting trailBen Chase on NIL and changes throughout his tenureWhy did Antonio Riles come to UF and what was his time like making a transition from defensive line to offensive line?If you follow Florida Gators football, Gators recruiting, and the latest Florida football news, this episode is for you.Be sure to like, comment, and subscribe for more Florida Gators news, analysis, and recruiting coverage from Stadium and Gale.
The legendary Robert Vigna of Immolation joins me this week to dissect one of death metal's most enduring legacies. We dig into the band's remarkable longevity, the creative fire that still drives them, and the making of their upcoming album Descent. Robert reflects on Immolation's early days in the underground, his decades-long creative partnership with Ross Dolan, and what fans can expect from their upcoming tour alongside Deicide, Behemoth and Rotting Christ. On the Weekly News Rant: I tackle your latest questions and round up the latest singles by Doedsvangr, Moonspell, Dimmu Borgir, Nargaroth and more are rounded up for judgment. Canadian black metal insurgents Beholder return to the Unsanctioned Filth spotlight—while another UF alumni finds themselves on the receiving end of the Swirly of the Week. Featured Bands: Immolation - https://immolation.bandcamp.com/ Beholder - https://beholderqc.bandcamp.com/ Ulcerate - https://ulcerate.bandcamp.com/ Support Nick Barker: https://www.gofundme.com/f/nicholas-barker Visit intothenecrosphere.com for playlists and more. Subscribe for weekly black and death metal interviews, news rants, and reviews. Follow on X, Instagram and Facebook, and check out the Horsemen of the Podcasting Apocalypse: Horrorwolf 666, Iblis Manifestations, Everything Went Black, Necromaniacs and The Sol Nox Podcast.
Dave Caldwell went from scouting Super Bowl rosters to rebuilding the Florida Gators — and he's bringing an NFL front-office playbook to Gainesville. In this exclusive interview, the Gators' GM opens up about the chaotic first 60 days, the pitch that kept UF's core together, working alongside Jon Sumrall, and why he believes Florida is about to compete for championships. #FloridaGators #GatorsFootball #SECFootball #CollegeFootball #GatorsBreakdown #GoGators #CFB #FloridaGatorsFootball JOIN Gators Breakdown Plus: https://gatorsbreakdownplus.com Warner Safari Polos: https://warnersafari.com/discount/gat... Gators Breakdown Merch: https://gatorsbreakdown.printful.me Get Florida Gators merch at Fanatics: https://fanatics.93n6tx.net/DVYxja Questions or comments? Send them to gatorsbreakdown@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Bri's bracket looks very good through 2 rounds (only UF and UVA are out) and Fiz wins the Valspar
Buster Faulkner's Day 2 spring practice comments gave us the first real clues about Florida's QB battle, and the hints are louder than people think. We also dive into Faulkner's rave review of Vernell Brown III's leadership and what Dallas Wilson's “mental reps” tell us about how UF is handling him this spring. If you want the early blueprint for this offense, this is where it starts. #FloridaGators #GatorsFootball #SECFootball #CollegeFootball #GatorsBreakdown #GoGators #CFB #FloridaGatorsFootball JOIN Gators Breakdown Plus: https://gatorsbreakdownplus.com Warner Safari Polos: https://warnersafari.com/discount/gatorsbreakdown Gators Breakdown Merch: https://gatorsbreakdown.printful.me Get Florida Gators merch at Fanatics: https://fanatics.93n6tx.net/DVYxja Questions or comments? Send them to gatorsbreakdown@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this Gators Breakdown Plus Member Chat, we discuss John Sumrall's instant success track record and whether Florida's roster needs rebuilding or just recalibration. We compare UF's coaching transition to Auburn and Arkansas, debate realistic year-one expectations in the SEC, and analyze Sumrall's roster-building philosophy versus the transfer portal approach. Join the conversation about what success looks like for the Gators in 2026. #FloridaGators #GatorsFootball #SECFootball #CollegeFootball #GatorsBreakdown #GoGators #CFB #FloridaGatorsFootball JOIN Gators Breakdown Plus: https://gatorsbreakdownplus.com Gators Breakdown Merch: https://gatorsbreakdown.printful.me Get Florida Gators merch at Fanatics: https://fanatics.93n6tx.net/DVYxja Questions or comments? Send them to gatorsbreakdown@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
YouTube DescriptionFlorida is staying busy — and we're breaking it all down on Stadium and Gale, the Flagship Florida Gators Podcast, with one of the most plugged-in voices covering the program: Zach Abolverdi (On3 / Gators Online + UF adjunct professor).Tonight's Show: