From the PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW:
… According to the Indiana County Agricultural Extension Agent Gene Schurman, the March price for milk — $14 per hundredweight (100 pounds) — “was not enough to cover the cost” of production. He predicted that unless prices reach the $17-$18 level, farmers will begin to bail….
Mark Douglass, the extension agent for Jefferson County, said the $17-$18 price would do for the long term, but for dairy farmers to wipe out current debt, prices in the $20-$21 range would be required, at least for a while….
After historically high prices in 2008, the bottom dropped out of the dairy industry in 2009. One of the main reasons for the ride downward was the end of drought conditions in Australia and New Zealand, and the general decline in the worldwide demand for cheese because of the recession. Milk consumption tends to remain consistent in the face of varying economic conditions, officials say…
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