Late last week, the USDA announced the August Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) margin at $8.08 per cwt. This represents the third month in a row of margin deterioration and the first DMC margin of the year to drop below the maximum $9.50 per cwt margin coverage. The August margin fell $1.84 per cwt compared to…
At 1.48 billion pounds, cheese inventory was a record high for the month of August. This was 3.6% more than August 2021. July 2022 ending cheese stocks, at 1.52 billion pounds, were an all-time high. The drawdown of 38 billion pounds of inventory from the end of July to the end of August was the…
According to data gathered and reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) in the Energy Use, Energy Saving, and Energy Efficiency Policy Recommendations for Pennsylvania Agriculture report dated March 2020, there are 49,924 farms across the Commonwealth. Curious about energy use across the entire agriculture sector and eager to develop programs to help…
Agriculture-related jobs have long been considered dangerous occupations. The statistics collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) confirm this thought. In 2020, the latest data available, there were 45,900 nonfatal agriculture work-related injuries, ranking 11th highest out of the 18 occupation categories listed. However, looking at the rate of fatal incidents tells a…
Fluid milk has been the pride of the U.S. Dairy Industry for many decades. I would be willing to say that milk has been the pride of the human civilization for thousands of years. In Exodus 3-8, God promises to bring the Israelites “into a land good a spacious, a land flowing with milk and…
All life depends on water. Farmers know that better than anyone. Water issues become priority on a dairy farm regardless of the time of year. How many of us have had to fix a bursted water pipe while it is 15 degrees out? I know I have. It is not fun. Milk is over 87%…
Milk production has been relatively stagnant this year. June production was originally reported as having year-over-year (YOY) growth of about 33 million pounds (+0.2%). After revised milk production and cow numbers were released this month, June milk production shrank by 12 million pounds (-0.1%) because of a smaller herd size than what was originally reported…
We have made it to the middle of August, and I’m sure many of you are gearing up for corn silage chopping season. As I travel through Pennsylvania lately, it is obvious, like all years, that some parts of the state have been more blessed with rain than others. Overall, the corn and soybean fields…
In years when the U.S. has high milk prices, it usually means exports do not perform as well as when there are low prices. When the U.S. experiences high prices, generally, other dairy exporting countries’ dairy product prices are lower and are more appealing to dairy importing countries. However, 2022 has proven to be different…
For the first time in the almost 4-year history of the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program, premiums will not be covered by triggered indemnities by the time premiums are due. Language in the 2018 Farm Bill states that DMC premium balances are due to local Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices no later than September 1st…
