Why is Milk De-pooled?
Why is milk de-pooled? Well, it’s all about money. The concept of de-pooling milk from a Federal Order has existed for many decades. Prior to the year 2000, it was not used very often. In the 1900’s, fluid milk was the main use of milk. Class I fluid milk was the highest priced and had […]
Why is Milk De-pooled in the Federal Milk Marketing Orders?
The Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMMOs) exist to create orderly milk markets, provide fair prices for dairy farmers, and ensure a steady supply of quality milk for consumers at reasonable prices. The USDA has recently implemented significant changes to the formulas used to calculate the price of producer milk. The changes significantly decrease the prices paid […]
More on Exports and Imports – NDM and Whey
The last two posts, July 30 and August 6, covered exports and Imports of butter and cheese. This post will cover the next two most important exported dairy products, nonfat dry milk (NDM) and whey. Both products are by-products of major dairy products, such as butter and cheese. By-products must find a home. If not, […]
Are Cheese Exports Really Growing? How about Imports?
This post follows the trends of growth in cheese exports and imports based on the U.S. Trade and Tariffs database. The prior post covered imports of butter only. There are very minimal exports of butter due to limited U.S. inventories so there is little to discuss. Exports and imports of cheese are a much larger […]
Will The EU 15% Tariffs Impact Irish Imports of Butter?
As covered in the last post, butter is being imported to the U.S to meet domestic demand. Currently, about 7% of domestic butter is imported and Irish butter is the largest import source by far (Table I). U.S. Tariffs of 15% on EU products have just been agreed to. Will this increase domestic butter prices? […]
Butterfat Prices are Dropping. Is it a Trend or a Blip?
In the last four quarters, the price of butterfat has consistently dropped each quarter from $3.59 to $3.02, to $2.80, to $2.68 per pound (Chart I). Is this a sign of a declining market or is it just normal price variation? The eight charts below review the status of the various items that influence the […]
Increasing Producer Revenue in Florida and Georgia
Florida and Georgia are two of the smaller states in terms of milk production, but they are well paid, as most of their milk is Class I which carries a high value (Table I). This post is intended as an example of how revenue can be increased by following the successful processes of other locations. […]
Are New Producer Formulas Increasing Producer Revenue? NO!
June was the first month that some of the new USDA pricing formulas for producer milk were implemented. The new formulas for Class III milk paid producers $1.01 less per cwt. than the prior formulas paid. The calculations used in the tables below are based on the actual current component levels and the June 2025 […]
Dairy Producers Continue to Increase Components
Increasing components is the best way to increase producer revenue and producers throughout the U.S. are accomplishing this with a continuing increase in component levels. The most recent data published June 24, 2025, shows continuing growth for butterfat component levels and accelerated growth for milk protein levels. This post will cover the level of increases […]
U.S. Cheese Production Keeps Moving Around
USA cheese production is stable but not growing (Chart I). For the last 8 months, production has been level. This post will examine where the growth is and where the offsetting losses are coming from. The seven highest producing states will be reviewed. These states account for over 70% of USA cheese production. The charts […]
