
Leading U.S. refrigerated butter brands 2022, based on sales
Butter - additional information
Butter is a popular dairy product that has been used for hundreds of years in cooking, baking, and as a spread or condiment. The use of butter is very common in American households, partly due to the popularity of baking as a national pastime.
Following only private label manufacturers, Land O’ Lakes, Inc. was the largest butter producer in the United States, in terms of both sales and production volume in 2017. The company was founded in 1921 in Saint Paul, Minnesota as an agricultural cooperative, which it remains to this day. Many recognize the brand by its long-standing logo, consisting of a young Native American woman dressed in traditional garb and kneeling in front of a lake surrounded by forests. In her hands, she holds a box of Land O’ Lakes butter depicting her same image in front of the lake, holding the same box of Land O’ Lakes butter again depicting her image, continued ad infinitum.
In 2009, the dairy industry suffered historic drops in prices resulting from a sluggish economy and penny-pinching consumers. Butter prices fell to their lowest in 10 years. Many dairies were forced to sell their products at a loss, causing many small operations to close. Prices have since recovered, but many farmers still remember that year as the hardest in decades.