Cliff Buchan
News EditorRemember those record prices dairy farmers were receiving for milk just this summer? Local milkers do, but they are now just a memory and local farmers hope the decline wonít go any lower.
Farmers were rejoicing this summer as milk prices reached a high of $20.10 per hundred weight for May and June milk. But by late summer, the price paid farmers had tailed off to $15 per hundred weight for the equivalent of 12 gallons of milk.
ìWe knew it wouldnít last forever,î said Forest Lake dairy farmer Jeff Winberg. ì We didnít think it would drop that fast.î
Still, Winberg said, farmers today are better off than they were a year ago.
In the summer of 2003, farmers were being paid just under $10 for each 100 pounds of milk shipped to the creamery in Wisconsin.
ìIt shows how fast things can change,î Winberg said this week. ìIt (the price) had more than doubled and that was nice to see,î Winberg said of the price gain over the past year.
Consumers were also seeing the impact of the dramatic hike in the price paid to farmers as milk prices in grocery stores went up significantly this summer.
Store prices have softened some during the summer. ìIt (the price drop) doesnít follow in the stores,î Winberg said.
During conversations with other dairy farmers, Winberg said consumers need to be aware of the situation at the farm level. Winberg says he hopes the public understands dairy farmers arenít getting rich under the current pricing system.
Winberg said all dairy farmers took the milk price gains with apprehension. The extra income was nice and gave farmers a chance to pay off some bills. But not many were making long-term farm improvements based on the sudden price spike, he said.
Winberg says the price spike was the likely result of low cow numbers and a drop in milk production due to the numbers and the usual drop in production during the summer months. Why the price is falling now is more of a mystery, he said.
Winberg said he and other dairy farmers hope the price does not return to last summerís levels when the profit margin was very tight. ìMaybe it was too high before,î Winberg said of the summer price. ìWe are hoping it holds.î
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