Digest Highlights: ‘Flexitarians’ are impacting fluid milk consumption. I-9 Form scam alert issued. Additional salmonella Heidelberg cases linked to contact with dairy bull calves. ACA enrollment deadline is Dec. 15. Find a summary of these and other news here.

Editor’s note: The following article is based on information as of Nov. 16. Progressive Dairyman will provide updates as they become available.

Digest Highlights: All signs point to continued low corn prices. Dairy co-op takes a new name. DFA celebrates new plant opening. Find a summary of these and other news here.

Foremost Farms USA has secured land to build a new dairy facility in Michigan, signaling the cooperative is taking its own path toward building processing capacity in the state. The facility is scheduled to be operational in 12 to 14 months, with capacity to process up to 6 million pounds of milk per day.

With a pending deadline requiring some dairy farms to file air emission reports by Nov. 15, there’s still a lot of uncertainty. In an alert posted Nov. 8, PRO-DAIRY’s Karl Czymmek and Curt Gooch said they had been in consultation with National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) legal counsel. The latest advice: wait.

Digest Highlights: Cheese consumption is a bright spot. NMPF continues dairy label enforcement fight. Dean challenges continue. Find a summary of these stories and updates on previous Progressive Dairyman news stories here.

Those hoping dairy exports would provide a springboard for milk prices received some disappointing news. Weak sales of nonfat dry milk/skim milk powder (NDM/SMP), particularly to Southeast Asia, depressed overall U.S. export totals in the third quarter, according to Alan Levitt, USDEC vice president of communications and market analysis.

Since January 1, CWT has assisted in selling the equivalent of 606.6 million pounds of milk on a milk-fat basis.This is equivalent to the annual milk production from 26,634 dairy cows.

Nearly half of all “new” milk produced in this country over the last 13 years has gone to markets beyond our borders. Since 2004, the expansion in U.S. dairy exports alone added an average of $1.25 per hundredweight per year to U.S. farm milk prices. That has meant an additional $36 billion in milk revenues since 2004.

Downward-trending milk income margins may be pulling the Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy) back into play as an income safety net for 2018. Dairy farmers are advised to watch market conditions over the next six weeks to determine best options the next year.