If you’re one to sing along with an old country music tune playing on your pickup truck radio, you might have heard the first verse of this song last month. The second verse sounds a lot like the first.

The USDA’s August World Ag Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report raised the milk production forecast for 2020, while scaling back the large jump in milk prices projected last month. However, the feed outlook should also translate into lower costs.

Digest Highlights

• School uncertainty likely to extend retail dairy sales trends
• Fiscal year 2021 milk donation program application period opened
• USDA gearing up for 2021 cheese purchases
• USDA buys nonfat dry milk, seeks fluid milk bids
• USDA announces changes to CRP emergency haying and grazing provisions
• Saputo merges U.S. cheese, dairy foods divisions
• FARM Program animal welfare standards receive ISO recognition
• August update: California QIP

USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue announced a number of updates to the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), including an extension of the sign-up period and a timeline for the final payment installment.

You’re busy milking cows, watching dairy markets and trying to figure out if your office will be a school classroom for the kids this fall.

Despite a highly disrupted trade environment, June capped a six-month period that saw U.S. dairy product exports post double-digit growth. On the other hand, exports of hay dipped to a five-month low, while exports of dairy replacement heifers fell to the lowest level in more than four years.

There apparently has been an update in the decade-long saga of the DairyAmerica milk powder lawsuit. Meanwhile, about 26,000 U.S. dairy farmers are waiting for approximately $26 million in settlement agreement payments.

Update Highlights

• July Class III milk price tops $24.50; PPDs will be negative
• Global Dairy Trade index drops
• Ag Economy Barometer reveals business changes due to COVID-19
• Chapter 12 bankruptcy news is mixed
• USDA extends RMA deadlines, defers interest accrual

Digest Highlights

• Growing coronavirus cases give retail dairy sales another boost
• CFAP dairy payments updated
• DOJ: Capper-Volstead isn’t shield in DFA Northeast lawsuit
• USDA pilot project to test SNAP milk incentives
• USDA buys string cheese for food programs
• Comment period on dietary guidelines report ends Aug. 13
• Maine traces high PFOS test back to dairy
• New York OKs ice cream, dairy desserts with liquor