The 2022 outlook for dairy in the Northeast is for much stronger milk prices but also lots of uncertainty, according to Christopher Wolf, Cornell University dairy economist.

Residing north of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Michael Reecy is vice president of dairy-related business for Farm Credit Services of America, an agricultural lender with offices in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.

Many issues facing California dairy producers are not unique to the state, notes Daniela Bruno, University of California Extension dairy adviser in Fresno County.

The collective mood of dairy producers in the Northwest and Mountain states was a mix of cautious optimism and apprehension as the new year got underway.

Texas and New Mexico combine to produce about 10% of the U.S. milk supply, with about 80% of that total produced in northwest Texas and eastern New Mexico. Although the distance between them is short, in some ways dairy producers in the two states are seemingly a canyon apart.

Winding its way north through the central U.S., Interstate 29 is a major artery connecting Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota.

Starting 2022, few states are home to more dairy cows than they were a year ago. Based on the USDA’s semi-annual Cattle report, Wisconsin is one of them – up 15,000 head from a year earlier.

Like many other major dairy states, last year’s story about cow numbers in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio was written in two chapters. There was growth early in the year before numbers tailed off as base-excess programs and higher feed costs put lids on production.