The pandemic has been difficult on Class IV milk and product prices during the last year. However, several factors have been working together recently to help facilitate a rebound in Class IV milk and product prices. March Class IV price was announced last week as $14.18 per cwt. This certainly is not where we would…
Since the Biden administration took over in late January, there has been considerable anticipation as to what was going to be done with the stimulus package that was passed the end of December 2020. Newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack recently announced that the Pandemic Assistance for Producers (PAP) program will use $12…
I wanted to take this week’s article, as we get into warmer weather prior to the full swing of spring planting, to remind everyone the importance of safety. In addition to the normal dangers associated with working in agriculture, COVID-19 ushered in a new concern relative to the safety and health of farm workers. I…
Welcome to spring and daylight saving time. I do not know about you, but when I was farming, “Springing Forward” was not something I looked forward to. It did not have anything to do with one hour less sleep. When you run a dairy, you are not guaranteed a certain amount of sleep each night…
We can certainly agree 2020 did not turn out the way it was predicted at the beginning of last year. No one would have guessed that a year later we would still be dealing with a worldwide pandemic. The 2020 U.S. all-milk price averaged $18.32 per cwt, Class III averaged $18.16, and Class IV averaged…
It is not news to any of you that last year was not a great year for milk prices. However, feed prices remained relatively low most of the year and helped offset some of the unexpected low milk price. So far, it is not looking like that will be the case for this year. Corn…
COVID-19 was a tremendous disruption to dairy markets last year, and it continues to disrupt markets the beginning of this year. Late last spring, the Center along with input from the Penn State University Smeal College of Business developed a survey to gather information on the demographics of Pennsylvania’s dairy farms and to evaluate what…
Here we are at the close of another month. It has certainly been a snowy February in Pennsylvania. Hopefully, spring is around the corner. Class III prices have moderated somewhat since the end of January. Class III futures price for the next 12 months averages $17.20 per cwt, only 3 cents less than the end…
2020 was certainly a year for the record books. Unfortunately, not all the records are things we want to remember. Record volatility in Class III and Class IV led to record low producer price differentials (PPD) in the Mideast and Northeast Milk Marketing Orders, the two orders found in Pennsylvania. In July, the Mideast order…
It is no secret that the most expensive part of running a dairy operation is the feed bill. The USDA is projecting the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) feed cost (corn + soybean meal + blended alfalfa hay price) to average about $2.10 per cwt of milk produced more in 2021 than it did in 2020….
