Staffing issues and lower milk production in the first half of the year have led to a dairy shortage, resulting in less butter on store shelves and in storage facilities.

Butter prices increased 28% from January 2022 to September 2022. Factors leading to the increase in costs of food production include severe weather and the Russia-Ukraine war.

This post is based on the WYTV article, Butter shortage: How the holiday baking season could be affected (https://www.wytv.com/news/butter-shortage-how-the-holiday-baking-season-could-be-affected/), by Laura Morrison and Addy Bink, September 27, 2022; the CNBC article, The price of butter is sky-high and 'not going to come down,' says supply chain experthere's why (https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/05/the-price-of-butter-is-sky-high-and-not-going-to-come-down.html), by Aditi Shrikant, October 5, 2022; and the YouTube video in the Spotlight. Image source: FoodCollection

Discussion Questions:

2. What are the challenges in butter inventory management facing the dairy industry, given staffing issues and lower milk production?

Please use citations and references