Milk prices paid to farmers were expected to have showed some slight improvement by now, but that hasn’t happened, says Bob Cropp, emeritus professor of agriculture and applied economics, in his July Dairy Situation and Outlook report. The good news is that milk production finally is on a trend below year-ago levels. This trend, along with a normal seasonal decline in milk production and seasonal strong fall dairy product sales, will slowly improve milk prices. But given expected milk prices, dairy farmers will continue to experience financial stress for the remainder of 2009 and into 2010, Cropp says.

Read Cropp’s July situation report and a variety of other dairy market information are posted online at the Understanding Dairy Markets website compiled by Brian Gould, associate professor of agricultural and applied economics.