The all milk price paid to farmers in the U.S. for 2013 was the second highest on record, while a benchmark measure of the cost of dairy feed was also the second highest on record. In a significant policy change contained in the 2014 Farm Bill, USDA will no longer purchase dairy products at announced prices under the dairy price support program. In addition, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service announced that they will no longer collect and publish the announced cooperative Class I price for 30 U.S. cities.
- The benchmark all-milk price paid to farmers increased by 8.1 percent 2013 from the prior year to $20.00 per hundredweight, only slightly below the record of $20.14 set in 2011.
- A long-standing measure of dairy farm profitability, the milk-to-feed price ratio, averaged 1.74 in 2013, the second lowest on record. This implied a dairy feed cost of $11.47 per 100 pounds, also the second highest on record.
- The annual average minimum farm milk prices under the U.S. Federal Milk Marketing Order program for 2013 were as follows: Class IV set a record high of $19.05 per hundredweight; Class III was the third highest on record at $17.99 per hundredweight; Class II was the second highest on record at $19.42 per hundredweight; and Class I was the third highest on record at $21.80 per hundredweight.
Updated February 2015
