U.S. dairy product export volumes in September 2019 surged ahead of year-ago levels for the first time since October 2018, propelled by sales of nonfat dry milk/skim milk powder (NDM/SMP) and cheese.

You’re busy milking cows, doing post-harvest machinery maintenance and wondering where your winter boots and gloves are hiding. With that in mind, Progressive Dairy looks at issues in the news impacting you and your dairy business.

The USDA has clarified that acreage seeded to alfalfa-and-grass-mixture forage crops is not eligible for federal payments under the Market Facilitation Program (MFP).

Digest Highlights

• FDA updates PFAS testing, contaminated dairies remain concern
• USDA buys string cheese, opens additional bid periods
• McDonald’s launching reformulated chocolate milk
• Bill provides regulatory relief to livestock haulers
• Milk Donation Reimbursement Program submission deadline extended
• Schlafer named to lead Foremost Farms
• Wisconsin CAFO rule rewrite fight escalating
• Hiland Dairy offers holiday flavors of milk
• Horizon Organic Introduces ‘Growing Years’ milk
• Minnesota: Miron Farm named MMPA Producer of the Year
• Pennsylvania: Online tool calculates value of dairy in each county
• Minnesota offers grants to prevent wolf attacks on livestock

Improving monthly average milk prices combined with lower feed costs continue to improve the margin picture for U.S. dairy farmers, and there will be no Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program indemnity payments at any level of coverage for a second straight month.

Improving milk prices are adding a few dollars to what dairy farmers are willing to pay for replacement cows, based on the USDA’s quarterly estimates.

Another attempt at immigration reform with a focus on addressing U.S. agriculture’s farm labor crisis has been introduced in Congress. The Farm Workforce Modernization Act was released in the House of Representatives by Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-California), chair of the House Judiciary Committee’s Immigration Subcommittee, and Dan Newhouse (R-Washington).

With record-high debt and more farmers extending their repayment terms, the number of U.S. farms restructuring debt by filing Chapter 12 bankruptcy rose in the past 12 months, according to an analysis by American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) chief economist John Newton.

LaClare Family Creamery has announced the completion of a $10 million expansion that will make it a national leader in Chevre cheese production.

Here are some relevant numbers as October comes to a close:

• September DMC factors to ber eleased
• November Class III futures near $19.75; Class I base moves above $18
• USDA to buy fluid milk
• First batch of ‘whole milk in schools’ petitions delivered
• September 2019 dairy cow slaughter estimates released