In the news affecting a dairy farmer's bottom line this third week of May 2025:
- Class I base price falls to $17.26 per cwt for June
- House passes domestic policy package
- Wisconsin to begin monthly milk sampling for HPAI
- Fluid milk sales lower again in March
- GDT index fell 0.9%
- Nebraska becomes sixth state to ban lab-grown meat
Class I base price falls to $17.26 per cwt for June
The Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) advanced Class I base price fell $1.11 per hundredweight (cwt) from May to June for a Class I base price of $17.26 per cwt. The price marks the lowest Class I base price for 2025 to date, and $2.82 less than June of last year. It also marked the first price announcement under the FMMO revisions, reverting calculations back to the “higher-of” formula.
Class I zone differentials are added to the base price principal pricing points to determine the actual Class I price in each FMMO. Per the FMMO amendments, every regional differential was increased, from a small 25-cent increase in the Arizona FMMO to the largest increase of $2.20 in the Appalachian FMMO. Across all FMMOs, the differential averaged $4.12, up $1.30 prior to the revisions. With those additions, June’s Class I prices will average about $21.38 per cwt across all FMMOs, with the highest in the Florida FMMO at $24.06 per cwt and the lowest in the Arizona FMMO at $19.86 per cwt. Those prices will impact June regional FMMO uniform prices which will be announced July 11-14.
June’s base Class I skim milk price dropped 90 cents per cwt from the previous month to settle at $8.55 per cwt. The advanced butterfat pricing factor also dropped 7 cents per pound to $2.57 per pound, another monthly calculation using updated make allowances and yield factors under the FMMO revisions.
The spread in the monthly advanced Class III skim milk pricing factor ($8.55 per cwt) and advanced Class IV skim milk pricing factor ($8.44 per cwt) was an 11-cent difference in June and resulted in the Class III skim milk pricing factor used as the Class I mover.
While most of the remaining FMMO modernization provisions are set to be implemented June 1, the changes won’t be reflected until July when the announcement of class and component prices for milk marketed in June is released.
House passes domestic policy package
Early on May 22, the House of Representatives passed a large domestic policy package that includes an extension of the expiring tax cuts passed in 2017, as well as the reconciliation proposal passed by the House Ag Committee earlier in the week that makes cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and includes provisions to the farm safety net established in the 2018 Farm Bill.
The measure now heads to the Senate where it will continue to be debated and likely changed.
Wisconsin to begin monthly milk sampling for HPAI
Wisconsin, the second largest milk-producing state in the country, announced plans to implement the mandatory National Milk Testing Strategy (NMTS), required by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). This comprehensive program aims to bolster HPAI/H5N1 surveillance of the nation’s dairy cattle herds, ensuring swift action to identify and address H5N1 affected herds.
Under the NMTS, Wisconsin will soon initiate mandatory monthly milk sampling. With help from industry partners, it is expected that one milk sample will be obtained per dairy farm each month and tested at the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (WVDL). These samples will primarily be gathered through existing milk quality labs that work with licensed bulk milk weighers and samplers, ensuring minimal disruption to dairy operations while obtaining farm-level results.
If H5N1 is detected, animal health officials and the farm will be notified.
Currently, there are 45 states enrolled in the NMTS and performing active survelliance. Nine states – Alabama, Colorado, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming – have been declared unaffected by HPAI.
Seven states, including Wisconsin’s neighbors of Minnesota and Michigan, are currently known to be affected, but only Arizona, California and Idaho have seen new confirmed cases in the last 30 days.
Fluid milk sales lower again in March
Fluid milk sales for March 2025 are lower than the same month a year earlier. According to data from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service:
- Total sales: March 2025 sales of packaged fluid milk products were estimated at 3.6 billion pounds, down 1.5% from the same month a year earlier. At 10.8 billion pounds, year-to-date sales of all fluid products are 1.5% lower than last year (or down 0.3% when adjusted for last year’s leap year).
- Conventional products: Monthly sales totaled 3.3 billion pounds, down 1.6% from the same month a year earlier. Sales of flavored whole milk were 4.4% higher than last year, while sales of reduced-fat (2%), low-fat (1%) and skim milk were all down about 5% from March 2024. Year-to-date 2025 sales were estimated at 10 billion pounds, down 1.7% from this time last year (or down 0.6% when adjusted for the leap year). Whole milk and flavored whole milk year-to-date sales continue to be slightly higher than 2024.
- Organic products: March sales totaled 257 million pounds, unchanged from a year earlier. Whole milk sales were up 4.2%, but flavored whole milk sales were down 38.9%. Year-to-date organic fluid milk sales were estimated at 774 million pounds, unchanged from this time last year, but up 1.1% when adjusting for the leap year. Organic represented about 7.2% total fluid product sales in March.
The U.S. figures are based on consumption of fluid milk products in Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) areas, which account for approximately 92% of total U.S. fluid milk sales, and adding the other 8% from outside FMMO-regulated areas. Sales outlets include food stores, convenience stores, warehouse stores/wholesale clubs, nonfood stores, schools, the food service industry and home delivery.
GDT index fell 0.9%
The price index of dairy product prices sold on the Global Dairy Trade (GDT) platform dropped slightly after moving higher for three consecutive trading events. It was down 0.9% in the auction held May 20.
Compared to the previous auction, prices for individual product categories were mostly lower. Anhydrous milkfat and mozzarella were the two products to trade higher, but both were only up by less than 1%. Lactose was down 13.2% and cheddar cheese was down 9.2%. Butter, whole milk powder and skim milk powder were down by 1.5% or less. Buttermilk powder was not traded.
The GDT platform offers dairy products from several global companies: Fonterra (New Zealand), Darigold, Valley Milk and Dairy America (U.S.), Inalpi (Italy), Arla (Denmark), Arla Foods Ingredients (Denmark), BMI (Germany), Kerry Dairy (Ireland) and Solarec (Belgium).
The next GDT auction is June 3.
Nebraska becomes sixth state to ban lab-grown meat
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen signed a lab-grown meat ban into law, making Nebraska the sixth U.S. state to do so.
“Lab-grown meat will continue to face pushback as people learn more about how it is manufactured,” said Jack Hubbard, executive director of the Center for the Environment and Welfare (CEW), one of the leading critics of lab-grown meat. “Consumers and lawmakers are understandably concerned about the lack of long-term health studies and use of immortal cells, so we expect the bipartisan opposition to lab-grown meat bans to keep picking up steam.”
Nebraska joins Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Montana and Indiana as the states that have enacted bans on lab-grown meat.
