We couldn't help having a wry smile at one of the lead dairy news articles this week "No danger for dairy prices" Simone Smith, weeklytimesnow.com.au, Nov 2, 2011. A search of the archives found a selection of articles with the same general expectation from January to July 2008:

Outlook '08: Dairy exports to reach $3.8 billion
Marius Cuming, farmonline.com.au, Mar 5 2008
World milk prices remain at record highs
The Land, Jul 23 2008
Fonterra lifts payout to record $7.90/kg
stuff.co.nz, May 30 2008
Fonterra dairy exports rise to quarter of entire national total
Owen Hembry, New Zealand Herald, Jul 28 2008

There is a strange absence of press releases in the Fonterra news archive from July 2007 to September 2008 but we can tell you that they did warn of impending volatility and uncertainty in May 2008.

Here is a chart showing the overlap of Oceania WMP prices from January to December 2008 and the corresponding trend for 2011. The trend comparison is just a little bit scary, and yes we got it wrong in 08/09 as well. Our general message remains however - "Don't Panic"