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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Dairy farmers in most of the United States received $17.24 per hundredweight for their milk this past March. That's the average "mailbox" price, or the net amount on producers' checks.
The USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) collects these "mailbox" prices by way of its federal milk order market administrator offices. Mailbox prices include all payments farmers got for the milk they sold. The prices also reflect all deductions associated with marketing that milk. There's no adjustment to 3.5 percent butterfat. All prices reflect the actual test of the milk.
The March numbers are the most recent available. The March U.S. average is down 68 cents from the $17.92 average this past February.
A year ago, the March average mailbox price stood at $20.50. The February average a year ago was $18.94.

Florida highest
Florida posted the highest March average mailbox price: $19.54. That was down from $20.23 in February and down from $21.58 a year ago.
California had the lowest average mailbox price, at 14.99. That was off from $15.22 in February, and off from $18 in March of 2011.

Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa
In Minnesota, the March average finished at $17.61. That was down from $18.60 in February, and down from $20.36 in March of 2011.
For Wisconsin, the March mailbox price averaged $17.57. That was down 59 cents from February's $18.16, and down $3.21 from March of last year.

Iowa, South Dakota
Iowa dairy farmers received an average mailbox price in March of $17.40. That compares to $18.02 in February, and to $20.76 a year earlier.
The March average mailbox price in Illinois was $17.55, down from $18.27 in February, and down from $21.20 in March of last year. Indiana's March average came in at$16.91, off from $17.78 in February, and off from $20.44 last March.
In Michigan, the March mailbox price averaged $16.73, down from $17.60 a month earlier, and down from $20.14 a year earlier. Ohio farmers got an average of $17.82 in March, $18.34 in February, and $20.97 in March of 2011.
Over in the Keystone State, the western Pennsylvania March average stood at $17.83, down from $18.34 the month before, and down from $21.28 a year earlier. Eastern Pennsylvania farmers received 17.92 this past March, $18.60 in February, and $20.80 during March of 2011.
New York's March mailbox price averaged $17.33, compared to $17.87 in February, and $20.01 a year earlier. The states that make up New England saw a March mailbox average of $18.46. That was down from $19.06 in February, and down from $21.33 in March of 2011.
The Appalachian states averaged $17.62 in March, $19.12 in February, and $21.13 in March of 2011. The Southeast saw an average March mailbox price of $18.47, $19.29 in February, and $21.07 in March of 2011.
Southern Missouri put up an average mailbox price of $15.65 in March, $17.05 in February, and $19.85 a year earlier. Meanwhile the Corn Belt states - northern Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska - had a March average of $16.65. The February average was $17.49, and the March 2011 average was $20.47.
In West Texas - which is really all of the Lone Star State but for an area in the northeast - the March number was $15.92. For February it was $16.57, and for March of last year it was $20.10. New Mexico's March average wound up at $15.11, compared to $15.73 in February, and $19.07 a year earlier.
Oregon and Washington averaged $16.76 this past March. The February average was $17.26, and the March, 2011 average was $20.37.[[In-content Ad]]

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