Agriculture News
Uncertainty dominates milk price outlook
Capital Press | Posted on January 8, 2019Growth in milk production in the major exporting regions is expected to slow to a trickle in the first half of 2019 to less than 0.5 percent, bringing some recovery in milk prices.But there’s a lot of uncertainty in world markets, according to Rabobank analysts.“I think we’re going to be better than ’18, which is no great shakes, but I don’t think we’re going to be as high as we were in ’17. Rabobank is forecasting no more than a $1 per hundredweight increase in the Class III milk price, bringing the average in 2019 to $15.55, she said.
Wisconsin farmers have mixed reactions to the dairy task force proposals
Edairy News | Posted on January 8, 2019With 638 Wisconsin farms shut down in 2018, it is no secret the state is battling a dairy crisis. A joint effort between the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) and the University of Wisconsin system, the task force’s goal is to ensure a successful and profitable future for the industry, much like the first dairy task force tried to do in 1985. The new proposals, passed December 13, hinge on state funding. The first plan recommends an expansion to Wisconsin Housing & Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) loan programs that farmers currently use, essentially giving farmers access to more capital when applying for loans. “The state would use funding to guarantee a loan for special purpose facilities in rural communities,” Task Force Chairman Mark Stephenson explains. He adds that what is available to them now is considerably less than what is being proposed—and that those current limits often are not enough to help them move forward with expansions. The second proposal—ranked by task force members as their highest priority—involves an injection of $7.6 million annually into the UW system to fund a dairy research innovation hub on three of the system’s agricultural campuses. The research hub would focus on four topics, including better stewardship of farming land and resources, new product development for human health, improved animal health, and boosting farm businesses in rural communities. The proposals are not being met with unanimous approval in the farming community, however. Pleasant View Dairy farm owner James Juedes feels he speaks for many farmers when he says the task force is not addressing the true needs of Wisconsin farmers.“It doesn’t do anything to solve the problem we have of over-supply. It just kind of throws money at it,” he said.
Dairy overproduction triggers steep Idaho farm income drop
Edairy News | Posted on January 8, 2019Idaho farm income plummeted for a second consecutive year in 2018, due largely to overproduction by the state’s dairy producers. Idaho’s net farm income has continued on a prolonged downward spiral and also dropped about 27 percent in 2017 from the prior year.“It’s the fifth year that’s declined in net farm income. It’s pretty rough,” Eborn said. “Farmers are making 40 percent of what they were making in 2011. There’s low prices for everything.”Cash receipts have mostly increased for Idaho’s major crops: the economists estimated hay receipts rose 26 percent, wheat rose 16 percent and barley and sugar beet payments were both up 3 percent. Receipts for potatoes were down by 4 percent.
Global milk production soured by trade wars and plummeting prices
Edairy News | Posted on January 8, 20192018 is on track for the worst year-on-year growth in domestic milk production since 2013, according to a new report from Rabobank. Prospects don’t look much better for 2019 as the industry continues to grapple with overproduction, tariffs and volatile market dynamics. Despite increases in consumer spending, retail dairy sales have mostly declined. The hardship is in part due to a dramatic oversupply that has forced prices down and left dairy manufacturers reeling. Nevertheless, U.S. milk solids exports were up 18% across the board. Trade disputes have provoked shifts in the market. As exports to China saw a 22% decline, U.S. milk flooded markets in the Philippines and Indonesia, where exports spiked 47% in Q3.
Outgoing Michigan governor vetoes cage-free egg bill
Watt AgNet | Posted on January 3, 2019Rick Snyder says there is insufficient scientific evidence that cage-free eggs are superior to conventional eggs in terms of animal welfare or food safety.In one of his last acts as governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder vetoed a bill that would establish the effective date of requirements that all eggs produced in Michigan come from cage-free laying systems.The 2009 law that created and phased in new standards for cage-free housing for certain animals would have been effective October 12, 2019. However, Senate Bill 660, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, would change that deadline, requiring cage-free chicken housing to begin Oct. 12, 2025.The bill, also known as the Animal Industry Act, also would require all eggs sold in Michigan come from cage-free hens in 2025. Additionally, it would extend the deadline for the removal of gestation stalls for sows from October 12, 2019 to April 1, 2020.
Livestock haulers no longer must use electronic logging devices
Meating Place (free registration required) | Posted on January 3, 2019The Department of Transportation in the last weeks of 2018 permanently suspended the requirement that livestock haulers use electronic logging devices (ELDs).A brief statement on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration stated simply: “Transporters of livestock and insects are not required to have an ELD. The statutory exemption will remain in place until further notice. Drivers do not need to carry any documentation regarding this exemption.” As part of the 2012 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Enhancement Act mandated that drivers of commercial motor vehicles replace by Dec. 18, 2017, their paper logs with ELDs, which record driving time, engine hours, vehicle movement and speed, miles driven and location information.
No, dairy farming isn't dying
Edairy News | Posted on January 3, 2019Too often, in mainstream media agricultural topics are covered by someone who can’t pick out the north end of a southbound cow. When a real farmer speaks, people love to listen, and that creates ripple effect, for better or for worse, on the entire agriculture community.he current dairy economy is very challenging right now. Any producer can tell you that. But when an article pops up in The Washington Post with the grim title “Dairy farming is dying” written by a former grass-based organic Wisconsin dairy farmer, it adds a special flavor of insult to injury.This is exactly the kind of talk the anti-agriculture animal-rights activist crowd loves to hear. Frothing at the mouth, they blow up every comment section scoffing and jeering. After all, if a bonafide farmer says things are so dire and it’s all the fault of a corrupt industry, who dares to argue against him? I have no doubt Mr. Goodman loved his farm and his cows, the pain is evident in his penmanship. I just wish he showed some love to the industry that made those things possible. The dire words echo a somewhat relatable frustrated cry, but they are laced with far more emotion than hard fact and critical thinking. Dairy is certainly changing, in some ways painfully. But dying? Hardly. As long as there are folks with a cow passion, there will be dairy.
Dairy CEOs Discuss The State of the Dairy Industry
Milk Business | Posted on January 2, 2019Last week at the 2018 MILK Business Conference, we hosted three CEOs to discuss the state of the industry. Andrei Mikhalevsky (AM) is the President and CEO of California Dairies Inc. He joined CDI in 2012. Tony Sarsam (TS) is CEO of Borden, where he leads more than 3,300 employees across 13 processing plants and nearly 100 distribution centers. Rick Smith (RS) has been president and CEO of Dairy Farmers of America since 2006.
Can Farm Bill Help Fight Dairy Industry Decline?
Forbes | Posted on January 2, 2019Is the U.S. dairy industry declining? Dairy farmers, especially those with small, organic farms, have been grappling with low prices from tightened trade and decreasing domestic demand for dairy milk. The U.S. should expect its lowest year-on-year growth since 2013, according to Dairy Quarterly Q4 2018, a Rabobank report. The 2018 farm bill, recently signed by President Trump, expands some subsidies for larger dairy farmers and offers lower premiums to participate in a federal program that provides compensation when milk prices drop below a certain level.China is expected to increase dairy imports by double digits in 2019, according to the Rabobank report. But will it be enough to sustain the U.S. dairy industry?
Planted wheat acres projected to hit 100-year low
Star Herald | Posted on January 2, 2019Over the past two years, the breadbasket of America has planted less and less wheat. Acres planted to wheat in 2017 and 2018 neared 100-year lows, with last year’s 7.7 million wheat acres hitting the lowest point in 60 years. Low prices and a wheat surplus moved farmers away from the Kansas staple. This year, those problems combined with a delayed fall harvest and unfavorable weather to push wheat acres to what could be the lowest point in a century.