of america type agricultural marketing cooperative industry agriculture predecessor associated milk producers inc. ; mid america dairymen inc. ; milk marketing inc. ; and western dairymen cooperative inc. founded 1998 headquarters kansas city missouri united states website www.dfamilk.com dairy farmers of america inc. dfa is a national milk marketing cooperative in the united states . it is owned by and serves nearly 15 000 dairy farmer members representing more than 9 000 dairy farms in 48 states . dfa markets members raw milk and sells milk and derivative products dairy products food components ingredients and shelf stable dairy products to wholesale buyers . net sales in 2013 were 12.8 billion representing about 30 percent of the raw milk production of the united states . 1 headquartered in kansas city missouri dfa is divided into seven geographical areas . each area elects farmer leaders to serve on dfa s board of directors which governs the cooperative . contents 1 history 2 current operations and services 3 brands 4 anti trust issues 5 see also 6 notes 7 external links history edit dfa was formed in 1998 through the merger of four dairy cooperatives the southern region of associated milk producers inc. ; mid america dairymen inc. ; milk marketing inc. ; and western dairymen cooperative inc. 2 officials from the four cooperatives determined that merging would give the nation s dairy farmers a fair voice in national policymaking and the ability to address the needs of national customers . since then five other cooperatives have become a part of dfa independent cooperative milk producers association valley of virginia milk producers association california cooperative creamery black hills milk producers and dairylea cooperative inc. 3 4 5 6 in 2011 dfa acquired kemps of st. paul minnesota and its subsidiaries from hp hood . 7 current operations and services edit today dfa markets its members milk nationally and internationally and has joint ventures and partnerships with several food and processing companies . the cooperative which employs over 5 000 people nationwide is led by rick smith president and chief executive officer and dfa s farmer leader board of directors led by randy mooney dfa board chairman . member services include six farm services insurance finance grazing energy risk management and farm supplies leadership development programs and the dfa cares foundation which provides disaster relief through product and monetary donations scholarships to students pursuing careers in dairy and nutritious dairy and food products for those in need . brands edit borden cheese cache valley cheese dairylea keller s creamery butter plugr butter breakstone s butter trademark licensed from kraft foods sport shake la vaquita cheese hotel bar falfurrias butter oakhurst dairy guida s milk california gold kemps goodrich dairy green s dairy hagan ice cream o at ka milk products cooperative part ownership with upstate niagara cooperative inc. anti trust issues edit in 2008 the commodity futures trading commission cftc and dfa agreed to a 12 million settlement which concluded an investigation into past trading activities by dfa on the chicago mercantile exchange cme . as of 2009 17 dairy farmers are suing dfa alleging that it is engaged in anticompetitive behavior by setting up a monopolistic cartel in the southeastern united states . 8 see also edit list of dairy product companies in the united states notes edit http www.dfamilk.com newsroom press releases dfa reports 2013 financial results merger of four co ops includes mid america dairymen http www.dfamilk.com newsroom press releases dairylea members approve merger dfa morning briefing dallas firm plans to buy shenandoah s pride dairy california gold merger ok d sturgeon move best business option kansas city business journal dairy farmers of america will become owner of kemps april 15 2011 retrieved apr. 23 2015 . burnett john . independent farmers feel squeezed by milk cartel . national public radio . 20 august 2009 . external links edit dairy farmers of america website borden website cache valley cheese website keller s creamery butter website plugr butter website breakstone s butter website sport shake website la vaquita cheese website hotel bar website falfurrias butter website oakhurst dairy website guida s milk website california gold website kemps website history of elsie and borden cheese elsie.com retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title dairy farmers of america & oldid 738242209 categories agricultural marketing cooperativesdairy products companies of the united states1998 establishments in the united statescompanies based in kansas city missouridairy organizations navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages fran ais edit links this page was last modified on 7 september 2016 at 19 44 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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