The federal government narrowly avoided a shutdown in the wee hours of Dec. 21, 2024, when the American Relief Act of 2025 was signed into law by President Joe Biden. Importantly for the agriculture industry, the act also includes a second extension of the 2018 Farm Bill and $2.5 billion in additional aid that will be distributed through the USDA.

The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released its Agricultural Prices report Dec. 31, 2024, which includes feed costs used to calculate the November Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program margins and indemnity payments. As expected, the margin fell to $14.29 per hundredweight (cwt).

The 2024 year ended with Class III prices showing more traction in December than in previous months as cheese and whey protein prices improved, and Class IV prices remained elevated to reflect strong market conditions.

Last week was an abundance of activity to conclude the 118th Congress, as a potential government shutdown loomed over Friday. By the end, an agreement was reached to not only temporarily fund federal operations, but also extend the farm bill.

A short-term budget agreement passed by Congress early Saturday morning averted a government shutdown after a chaotic week in the U.S. House. In the process of passing the three-month agreement to continue funding the federal government until March 14, lawmakers also extended the 2018 farm bill for another full year. The agreement also provides more than $110 billion in disaster relief to areas still recovering from hurricanes, wildfires and floods.

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced the second round of states coming on board as part of its National Milk Testing Strategy (NMTS) that was launched Dec. 6.

In the news as we approach the middle of December, a federal committee upholds dairy dietary guidelines, dairy farmers are invited to apply for financial incentives to implement climate-smart practices, farm income falls $41 billion in two years, and the first HPAI-positive dairy case is found in Nevada.

The USDA issued a new federal order on Friday, Dec. 6, that requires raw (unpasteurized) milk samples nationwide be collected and shared with the USDA to test for the prevalence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1.