“It’s better with butter” might be a marketing theme, but it’s also true when it comes to dairy farmer milk checks.

With monthly milk production reports suggesting weaker growth in milk per cow, the USDA’s latest World Ag Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report made further cuts to 2017-18 U.S. milk production forecasts. However, less production didn’t translate into a more optimistic outlook for farmer milk prices.

The names on Rabobank 2017 Global Dairy Top 20 list haven’t changed much from a year ago, but the world’s largest dairy companies are taking different paths as they focus on the future.

U.S. hay producers intend to harvest 53.5 million acres of all hay in 2017, up less than 1 percent from 2016, according to the USDA’s Acreage report.

Digest Highlights: Utah ‘ag gag’ statute ruled unconstitutional. HP Hood buying former Müller-Quaker yogurt plant. Find a summary of these and other news here.

The recently announced bilateral free trade agreement between the EU and Japan FTA is a threat to U.S. agricultural exports, according to American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) economist Veronica Nigh. Japan has long been a key U.S. market, consistently ranking as the fourth-largest market for U.S. agricultural products, despite high tariffs on many agricultural goods. However, EU-Japanese trade negotiations went into “hyper-drive” after the Trump administration pulled the U.S. out of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations in January.

May 2017 U.S. dairy product exports hit a two-year high, but U.S. agriculture turned in a rare trade deficit during the month. And, a new trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Japan threatens U.S. dairy sales to one of its major buyers.

2018 Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy) coverage election period is delayed until Sept. 1. May milk prices and margins were steady, but should start to improve. Cull cow and organic milk prices listed. Find a summary of these and other news here.

Digest Highlights: Upstate Niagara to buy Kraft-Heinze cheese facility. California heat wave results in heavy cow losses. French companies agree to Stonyfield sale. Find a summary of these and other news here.

Corn and soybeans garnered most of the attention following the USDA’s June 30 Acreage and Grain Stocks reports, with little change forecast in hay acreage. Implications for feed prices are highly dependent on weather and crop yields.