For many Americans, work and social activities are returning to some form of pre-COVID-19 normal. So is milk marketing through the Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) system. Here’s Progressive Dairy’s monthly attempt to navigate through the numbers to see how “normal” might appear on your milk check.

Digest Highlights

• USDA seeks bids for millions of pounds of dairy products
• USDA unveils new cattle market reports
• Cutting emissions: Bel Brands, DFA partner on on-farm milk cooling pilot
• Dairy margins weakened to end July
• ‘Calf’ reference manual published
• Things you might have missed

Digest Highlights

• July Class III-IV milk: Prices lower, spread shrinks
• Global Dairy Trade prices mixed
• ‘Cliffhangers:’ Congress has unfinished business
• Fiscal year 2022 appropriations bills await too
• Ag Economy Barometer levels off
• USDA buys cheese, yogurt

Digest Highlights

• Small Class I milk handlers seek FMMO exemption
• High Desert expanding, adding MPC-70 line
• Sustainability award recipients in the news
• Things you might have missed

Here’s something we haven’t seen in quite some time: Producer price differentials (PPDs) in all applicable Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMMOs) were positive in June. Whether it lasts is yet to be determined.

Digest Highlights

• Lawmakers urge reimbursement for Class I mover-related losses
• Bills would ban CAFOs
• June 2021 retail dairy sales: ‘Normalizing’ and strong
• January-May 2021 DMC payments top $550 million
• Things you might have missed: FDA and yogurt, Midwest cheese, Hiland Dairy, crop insurance, COVID-19 livestock losses and more

Digest Highlights

• 1Q 2021 mailbox, all-milk prices maintain wider spread
• California QIP referendum falls short of passage
• Darigold plans $500 million protein and butter facility
• Global Dairy Trade index down again
• Ag Economy Barometer dips
• Things you might have missed: KDI and Agri-Mark expansions, Nebraska analysis
• Coming up: June uniform prices, PPDs released next week

Editor's note: The original article has been updated to include comments from the International Dairy Foods Association. With the two-year anniversary of the implementation of the change in the Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) Class I skim milk price formula near, the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) is closer to asking the USDA for an emergency expedited hearing to address the issue. Proposals from other organizations regarding the Class I pricing formula and other FMMO reforms may be forthcoming as well.

Producer price differentials (PPDs) continue their slow climb out of the historically negative depths of 2020, but their complete ascension may still be a ways off.

A deadline for dairy producers to sign on to a letter seeking Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) reforms has been extended until April 5.