While the long-term outlook for agriculture is bullish, dairy producers face short-term financial challenges, Rod Wautlet, Agri-Business Consultants LLC, told producers attending the 2017 Vita Plus Dairy Summit, Dec. 6-7, in Madison, Wisconsin.

Basis – the amount received from a milk buyer above the monthly Federal Milk Marketing Order Class III minimum price – has been shrinking.

Digest Highlights: Dairy farmers may be closer to having access to another income safety net. USDA cuts milk production forecast, but price projections too. Dairy co-ops request temporary surcharge on Class I milk in the Florida Federal Milk Marketing Order. Find a summary of these and other news here.

With too much supply, milk marketing has become a buyer’s market, Larry Hermanson told dairy farmers attending the 2017 Vita Plus Dairy Summit, Dec. 6-7, in Madison, Wisconsin. The supply-demand imbalance negatively impacts his cooperative and its dairy producer members.

U.S. exports of nonfat dry milk/skim milk powder (NDM/SMP) have been unable to match last year’s record pace in recent months, dragging overall trade performance down, according to Alan Levitt, USDEC vice president of communications and market analysis.

TRENDING: DAIRY CONSUMPTION Fluid slides, but good news elsewhere U.S. fluid milk consumption continued its four-decade slide in 2017.

Aftershock 3918 new Holstein milk production record-holder Selz-Pralle Aftershock 3918 is the new national milk production record-holder for the Holstein breed.

U.S. dairy owners prefer paying their kids for doing on-farm chores other than milking. That’s according to recent online and phone surveys conducted by Progressive Dairyman. Among just the dairy producers we surveyed, the results were even more obvious in support of payment.

U.S. cheese shipments to China, South Korea, Mexico and Japan have soared, and the broader outlook is promising as the world’s growing love affair with cheese continues.

The Progressive Publishing team is pleased to once again bring you the Top 25 most well-read articles of the year. This list reflects content published from Oct. 1, 2016, through Oct. 1, 2017, and is based on Google Analytics.