With congressional failure to approve a 2023 Farm Bill, new milk supply contracts under the Dairy Forward Pricing Program are no longer authorized.

Progressive Dairy summarizes factors potentially impacting dairy producer income based on the USDA’s latest World Ag Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) and Crop Production reports.

Here is a brief look at the news affecting dairy producers during the second week of October 2023.

Without approval in the 2023 Farm Bill, the Dairy Margin Coverage program expires at the end of the year.

Milk checks for September production will again reflect stronger protein and Class III milk prices. That will change on October production, with struggling cheese prices weakening the Class III price and widening the Class III-IV price spread, adding substantial Class IV depooling incentives.

Compared to a month earlier, U.S. average feed costs were lower and milk prices were up, pushing the milk income margin up almost $3 per hundredweight from July’s historic low.

Lower milk production cut into butter inventories in cold storage in August. The tighter supplies are driving prices higher.

With a federal government shutdown possible, October’s dairy risk management calendar has the potential to be scarier than Halloween.

The Federal Reserve Board’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted to maintain the interest rate for federal funds at 5.5%.

Dairy producers who dumped milk due to weather-related disasters in 2020, 2021 and 2022 may be eligible for financial assistance.