Industry News

• Lower milk production forecast, stronger cheese demand adds some support to prices
• Rabobank: Rising risks
• CoBank: Dairy outlook better for second half of 2019

The Dairy Together Road Show continues its trek across the U.S., seeking support for dairy policy changes providing both short-term relief and long-term structural changes.

Digest Highlights

• Social Security ‘no-match’ letters: What should you do?
• Drought areas continue to shrink
• March Class III price rebounds
• 2018 mailbox prices were lower
• Midwest Dairy asks public to choose Minnesota’s ‘Flavor of the Fair’
• Consent order expedites Big Island Dairy closure
• USDA launches website feature to help manage government farm loans
• California regional water board investigating dairy lagoons
• Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers hold 99th annual meeting

There have been lots of conversations and behind-the-scenes activity related to the new federal dairy safety net program – the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program – but dairy farmers will have to wait a little longer to see the benefits.

Enrollment in the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program isn’t scheduled to start for another couple of months, but dairy farmers participating in the program at the top margin coverage level ($9.50 per hundredweight [cwt]) on the first 5 million pounds of milk will see their premium costs covered quickly.

Editor's note: The original article has been updated to include comments from Dairy Farmers of America.

U.S. dairy exports continue to struggle in the face of strong competition and retaliatory tariffs in China and Mexico, and President Donald Trump’s threat to close the Mexican border will wreak further havoc on a struggling dairy economy in which seven dairy farms close per day, two U.S. dairy organization leaders warned.