MILK PRICES INCREASES 4.4% IN MARCH
The USDA publishes the monthly milk price paid to farmers midway through the month, and this week the value of milk produced in March was published.
In short, farmers who produced milk in March can expect to be paid 4.43% more for each pound of milk than what they were paid in February.
The actual price paid to farmers can vary drastically depending upon shipping costs, amount of milk produced, and the amount of butterfat and other solids in the milk.
February’s Statistical Uniform Price comes in at $15.80 per 100 pounds of milk shipped to the processing centers. That’s 11¢ less per 100 weight than it was in January, but in March it increased to $16.50 per hundred pounds produced.
Farmers in the St. Albans area receive a lesser price of $15.65 after adjustments are made. The statistical price is calculated based on a 3.5% butterfat content, 2.99% protein content, and 5.69% remaining solids content. In actuality, the average butterfat content came in at 4.06% in February, and proteins came in at 3.18%, according to the USDA.
The USDA requires that producers be paid no later than Wednesday, April 19th.
The USDA reports that 2.35 billion pounds of milk were produced by farmers in the Northeast Region in February. That’s about 250 million pounds more than what was last month.
The statistical price of milk was $17.26 per hundredweight in December and $18.27 per hundredweight in November.
