News

“Average of” change costs dairy farmers a billion

A dairy farmer group says the change to the Class I milk price mover in the 2018 Farm Bill will cost U.S. dairy farmers one billion dollars in lost revenue.

Laurie Fischer with the American Dairy Coalition tells Brownfield, “We’re estimating that it will be in August, when they see their milk check statement in August it will be a billion dollars, which is something like when you add out the blended milk price, 28% Class I utilization, it’s about a sixteen cent loss on every hundredweight of milk.”

Fischer says the last farm bill changed the formula from “higher of” Class III and IV to “average of” Class III and IV.  Now, American Dairy Coalition and other farm organizations are pushing for a return to the old “higher of” guideline.  This issue is likely to be the top priority for many testifying at next month’s USDA hearing on the Federal Milk Marketing Order system.