KGMI News
By Mike Davis
WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. – Depressed milk prices continue to hit Whatcom County dairy farmers.
Lee Mielke, author of the Mielke Market Weekly said the first 2018 benchmark class three milk price fell to fourteen dollars per hundred weight.
That’s down 2.70 from a year ago.
He said for many producers, this price is well below the cost of production for most dairy farmers.
The pressure on Whatcom County dairy farms mirrors a USDA forecast published last week saying US farm incomes are expected to drop another 7% overall in 2018.
Mielke does say the USDA is forecasting a decline in U.S. milk production in 2018, which could put upward pressure on prices…. but that is no guarantee since more and more dairy products are produced outside the U.S.