Despite climbing U.S. cheese shipments in March, U.S. dairy exports fell into the red with a 7% slip from a strong year-over-year performance in February. Here’s Progressive Dairy’s 30,000-foot view at dairy-related export categories.

Here is a summary of the latest news affecting your dairy operation's bottom line for early May.

The House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pennsylvania) and U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) each released overviews of their plans and priorities for the 2024 Farm Bill on May 1.

A dairy in Colorado has recently tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza A (HPAI) H5N1 virus. This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 34 across nine states, according to the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

As predicted, milk prices recovered some in April with Class III at $15.57 per hundredweight (cwt) during the last full week of the month and futures jumping more than $1 for May and June. Unpredictability is still expected in the marketplace, and producers are encouraged to enroll in the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) safety net program.

The USDA revised the February 2024 milk production estimate slightly lower. With the revisions, both U.S. and major state U.S. production were down about 0.1% from USDA’s preliminary estimates a month earlier.

In response to the threat posed by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1, the USDA has announced proactive measures aimed at safeguarding the nation's livestock industry. The actions of mandated testing and reporting are designed to curb the spread of the disease.

As we begin this week with Earth Day, much of the news in our Weekly Digest highlights conservation and planet-friendly efforts being made within the dairy industry.

Here’s Progressive Dairy’s monthly review of March 2024 FMMO data to provide some additional transparency to your milk check.

North Carolina and South Dakota were added to the list of states where highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has been detected in dairy cattle, with the USDA confirming one case in each state.