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MINNEAPOLIS - Wisconsin was the only state or region to not see a lower mailbox milk price this past March. Mailbox prices were down in all reporting areas except for the Badger State, according to the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS).
In Wisconsin, the mailbox price stayed steady from February, at an average of $19.52 per hundredweight. The March price a year earlier was $1.95 lower, at $17.57.
For Minnesota, this past March, the mailbox price was $19.37, down two cents from February. But the Minnesota price was up $1.78, compared to the $17.61 that March of 2012 delivered.
In all, 10 reporting areas recorded higher mailbox prices than Wisconsin this time around. Twelve areas recorded higher prices than Minnesota.
As usual, producers in Florida got the highest mailbox price, $21.96, in February. Dairy farmers in New Mexico received the lowest mailbox price of any area, including California. In New Mexico, the March price averaged $17.01. California - not a part of the federal milk marketing order system - saw a March average of $17.05, the second lowest of all reporting areas.
Next to Florida, the highest price this past March was $20.65, in New England. The Southeast states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi were next highest, at $20.43.
The fourth-highest March price was $20.08, in the Appalachian states of Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Eastern and western Pennsylvania each recorded mailbox prices of $19.90. Ohio was next, with $19.83, followed by New York, at $19.74.
Illinois dairy producers saw an average of $19.67 in March. That was off from $19.82 in February, and up from $17.55 during March of 2012. Iowa dairy farmers got a March average of $19.55, down from $19.79 in February, but up from $17.40 a year earlier.
In the Hoosier State, Indiana's March mailbox price averaged $19.32. That was down from $19.54 in February, but up from $19.61 during March of the year before. In southern Missouri, the March price was $19.00, compared to $19.35 in February, and $15.64 a year earlier.
Michigan farmers got $18.95 as a mailbox average this past March. That was down from $19.27 the month before, but up from $16.73 a year earlier. In Washington and Oregon, the March average was $18.66, and in Kansas, Nebraska and northern Missouri it was $18.51, down from $18.87 in February.
Western Texas dairymen received a mailbox average of $18.11. For all federal orders, the March average finished at $19.30. That was down 26 cents from February, but $2.06 higher than in March of 2012.
"Mailbox" prices are the actual, net amounts farmers see on their checks. 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 March, the U.S. average butterfat test was 3.81 percent, while the average protein test was 3.15 percent. The amount of "other solids" in the milk averaged 5.75 percent.
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