Ice cream is more than a tasty treat. It’s big business in the U.S. In 2018, U.S. ice cream sales at retail exceeded $6.1 billion, according to IRI data courtesy of Dairy Management Inc.

You’re busy – milking cows, packing bunker silos and watching presidential candidate debates (well, maybe). With that in mind, Progressive Dairy looks at issues in the news impacting you and your dairy business.

The August 2019 Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) Class I base price is $17.89 per hundredweight (cwt), the highest level since January 2015. It is up 71 cents from July 2019 and $3.74 more than August 2018.

Digest Highlights

• Happy ‘almonds don’t lactate’ anniversary
• Darigold opens sales office in Dubai
• Beyond calcium: Milk promotes bone health
• Midwest Dairy brings Mootopia to the Minnesota Zoo
• Global Dairy Trade index improves
• USDA extended acreage reporting deadline in 12 states
• Wisconsin accepting 2020 watershed protection grant applications

The largest dairy cooperatives in the U.S. and California will seek milk transportation and marketing efficiencies under an agreement announced July 10. With the establishment of a marketing agency in common, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) and California Dairies Inc. (CDI) will combine raw milk marketing and transportation efforts for both cooperatives in California.

The USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) has started issuing payments to producers who signed up for the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program.

The USDA’s latest milk production forecast changed little from a month ago, but the 2019 price outlook improved slightly.

Digest Highlights

• June Class IV milk price highest in 43 months
• Land O’Lakes expands farmer member health plan into Kansas
• Second half of 2019 looks stronger in Northwest
• June global dairy price index falls
• Chobani unveils ‘Milk Matters’ program
• California Cattle Council board members named
• Lactalis acquires Ehrmann Commonwealth Dairy

Editor's note: This article has been updated to include comments from U.S. dairy cattle and hay exporters. The U.S. agricultural trade balance was negative for a second straight month, even though May’s dairy export value was the highest in four years.

Digest Highlights

• Hay acreage could be lowest in more than a century
• USDA Acreage report leaves questions
• Interest rates headed lower?
• Larger cottonseed harvest forecast
• May cull cow prices improve
• Global Dairy Trade index lower
• Western Dairy Center announces new director