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MINNEAPOLIS - It was a mixed bag for this past June's mailbox milk prices. According to the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), prices were up in 10 federal milk marketing orders and down in nine. California, not part of the federal order system, also saw lower prices in June.
Wisconsin and Minnesota were among the areas that posted lower average prices. Minnesota dairy farmers saw the larger price shrinkage. Their mailbox price fell 77 cents per hundredweight, to finish at $19.38. That compared to $20.15 during May of this year, and $17.01 in June of 2012.
The situation was a little better for dairy producers in Wisconsin. Their average mailbox price dropped 49 cents between May and June, to finish at $19.67. That compared to $20.16 in May, and to $16.94 during June a year earlier.
Iowa dairy farmers were also part of the downward trend. In the Hawkeye State, the June mailbox price averaged $19.74, off 47 cents from May's $20.21, and off from $16.57 in June of 2012.
The largest price decline occurred in California. Golden State producers received a mailbox average of $17.55 in June compared to $17.95 a month earlier.
Kansas, Nebraska and northern Missouri - the corn belt states, according to the AMS - lost 37 cents from their May mailbox price, to finish with a June average of $18.45. The next-largest decline - 35 cents - happened in West Texas, where the June average ended up at $18.30.
Illinois' decline was the next biggest. In the Land of Lincoln, the June average amounted to $19.73, down 26 cents from May's $19.99.
In New Mexico, the drop was 23 cents. In the Land of Enchantment, the June mailbox price ended up at $17.19, off from $17.42 a month before.
Over to the Northwest, Oregon and Washington farmers received a June mailbox average of $19.07. That was down 19 cents from the May price.
The last region to see a smaller mailbox price was western Pennsylvania. That part of the Keystone State recorded an average of $19.86 in June, off 12 cents from May's $19.98.
On the sunny side of the street, Florida - the Sunshine State - not only recorded the highest June mailbox price, but also the largest monthly increase. There, the June price averaged $22.30. That was up 63 cents from May's $21.67.
Posting the next-largest increase were the Southeast states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. Dairy farmers there were paid a mailbox average of $20.85, up 44 cents from May's $20.41.
In southern Missouri, the June mailbox average was $19.13, up 39 cents from May. Nearby, the Appalachian States - Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia - saw their mailbox prices rise an average of 37 cents, to $20.41.
Michigan recorded a higher average at $19.17, a bump of 20 cents from May. In New England, the June price averaged $20.90, a boost of 13 cents from May. Neighboring New York finished with an average mailbox price at $19.93, up a dime.
In eastern Pennsylvania, the increase was seven cents, for an average of $20.01 in June. Ohio's increase was six cents, for a June mailbox price of $19.92. Next door, in Indiana, the increase tallied five cents, giving Hoosier dairy farmers a June average at $19.31.
Despite those increases, the June average for all federal milk marketing orders was down 17 cents from May. The June average came in at $19.46, compared to $19.63 a month earlier, but up sharply from $16.21 a year earlier.
Mailbox prices are the actual, net amounts farmers see on their checks in their mailboxes. The AMS collects these prices through its federal milk order market administrator offices. Mailbox prices include all payments farmers got for milk they sold.
These prices also reflect all deductions associated with marketing that milk. There's no adjustment to 3.5 percent butterfat, so mailbox prices reflect the actual test of the milk.
This past June, the U.S. average butterfat test was 3.64 percent, while the average protein test was 3.03 percent. The amount of other solids in the milk averaged 5.75 percent.
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