About Us
About
Mission
McCully Consulting is passionate about food, especially dairy foods. Working with clients to ensure economic and environmental sustainability from farm to consumer while threading the needle of dairy’s unique challenges of perishability, volatile prices, and a complex supply chain. To protect dairy affordability and accessibility worldwide, nuances with the dairy value chain matter. Since 2012, McCully Consulting has provided insight for new product development, strategic supply chain investments, value-added sourcing to risk management, and more. Our goal is to improve the dairy value chain to enable future generations to enjoy the taste and nutrition of dairy products.
About
History
Led by Mike McCully, who grew up on a small family farm and has over 30 years of dairy and agricultural industry experience, we have provided trustworthy advice to a wide range of dairy and food companies, dairy processors, private equity firms, and others, with the goal to improve the value equation of our clients and to their customers. From commodity risk management, forecasting dairy ingredient prices, to delivering new plant infrastructure and products, our goal is to improve sustainability for our clients and their customers despite the inherent commodity volatility of dairy created by a daily harvested perishable product.
About
Mike McCully
Prior to creating McCully Consulting, Mike worked for over 15 years at Kraft Foods, where he held management roles in the dairy, meat, and grain supply chains. Over his career in dairy procurement, Mike was responsible for the sourcing of most of the dairy commodities Kraft bought in North America, as well as commodity risk management, dairy policy, and industry relations. Mike has provided leadership on dairy industry issues throughout his career at Kraft and continuing with McCully Consulting. He has been a board member of the International Dairy Foods Association’s Milk Industry Foundation and the Dairy Ingredients Board and the Dairy Institute of California. He has been a member of IDFA’s Economic Policy Committee, IDFA’s Legislative Oversight Committee, IDFA’s Farm Bill Committee, the National Cheese Institute’s Economic Policy and Legislative Committee, and the California Dairy Institute’s Producer Relations committee. He also has served on numerous dairy industry task forces involving dairy policy and price volatility issues while writing opinion pieces in leading dairy industry publications.
Mobile: 773-368-9561 | Office: 312-646-0361
Email: mike@mccullyconsulting.com
FAQs
Do you consult in areas other than dairy?
Yes, but nearly all the work we do is focused on dairy. We follow other ag markets and have consulted on grains, eggs, and meat/livestock.
How many people are on your team?
The principals of McCully Consulting are Mike McCully and Carolyn Gibbs. In addition, we utilize a small network of trusted outside experts to assist if needed.
How do you assure confidentiality on consulting projects?
Since the formation of McCully Consulting, clients have trusted us with confidential information and we take this very seriously. You will not see logos of clients or testimonials from clients on our website. Our business has grown with repeat business and referrals from clients because they know we are a trusted resource for them.
What type of risk management services do you offer?
We assist clients in the development of their risk management process and policies to create a robust risk management structure. We also develop risk management strategies and provide outsourced risk management services, including risk assessment, strategy development, order placement, and tracking and reporting of hedge positions.
Do you offer brokerage services for futures and options?
No, but we work with the leading dairy brokers to help clients utilize futures, options, and OTC markets for hedging.
What is The McCully Report?
The McCully Report is a monthly outlook report with price forecasts of the major dairy products. In addition, a 30-minute call each month offers clients to go into detail on specific markets as well as discuss purchasing and risk management strategies. The information provides clients a key tool to utilize in their business planning and risk management.
How accurate have your price forecasts been?
At the end of each year, we include a summary of our forecast accuracy for the year. The last 5-year average (including COVID years) had a forecast accuracy of 10% or less for all products except butter (12%). Research has shown a forecast error of less than 10% for agricultural commodities is gold standard, which is the level we strive for.