Board members of Agri-Mark, a major dairy cooperative in the Northeast, are asking for federal support for the U.S. dairy industry in light of burdensome supplies and tariff wars that have sent milk prices plummeting. The co-op has also scheduled a national meeting for mid-August to consider policy and market options as dairy farmers struggle through another year of below-breakeven milk prices.

May 2018 turned in another strong month for U.S. dairy exports, with total sales volumes the third highest on record. However, with retaliatory tariffs on dairy exports now in place, foreign sales, and prices, are already being impacted.

Digest Highlights: • Northern Plains, dairy states driving increased alfalfa acreage • Multiple component pricing proposal request withdrawn • U.S. dairy exports face pivotal dates • House, Senate farm bills headed to conference committee • Cows still dry in the Southwest • DFA Garden City plant cited for innovation

May 2018’s Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy) margin calculations continued a four-month string below $7 per hundredweight (cwt), meaning dairy producers who purchased coverage at the highest margin levels will receive indemnity payments for a fourth consecutive month.

Reacting to higher hay prices – fueled by diminishing stocks and strong export demand – U.S. hay growers intend to harvest dry hay from more acreage in 2018, according to the USDA’s Acreage report, released June 29.

I tend to gravitate toward movies that delve into the “human condition,” those telling a story about individuals navigating through the challenges of life. No horror movies for me, science fiction either.

According to most accounts (and accountants), dairy profitability was only a dream during the first half of 2018. For many dairy farmers, just economically surviving could be deemed a successful outcome.

Digest Highlights • Milk marketings through California and Federal Milk Marketing Orders highly concentrated • July Class I base gets a small nudge • Spring flush slows cow slaughter pace • Dairy Business Innovation Act proposed • GAIN report: China dairy

The House version of the 2018 Farm Bill (the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018) was narrowly approved by the full House, 213-211, largely along party lines, on June 21. Dairy provisions were untouched from an earlier version of the farm bill voted down in the House in April.

A three-judge U.S. Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court ruling that Arla Foods can no longer continue its advertising campaign implying its cheeses are safer than their competitors’ because its milk is sourced from cows not supplemented with recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST), according to Courthouse News Service.