---

Minneapolis - Dairy farmers' mailbox prices continued their upward trend last November. They were up again in all reporting areas, according to the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), in its February report.
As usual, farmers in Florida received the highest average mailbox price. They got $24.57 per hundredweight, up from $23.89 in October, but down from $25.43 in November of 2012.
Of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, farmers in the Hawkeye state were paid the highest November average. Iowa dairy producers got $21.87. That was up 84 cents from October, but down 84 cents from $22.71 a year earlier.
Wisconsin farmers saw a November average of $21.50. While that was 86 cents higher than October's $20.64, it was $1.41 lower than the $22.91 they were paid a year earlier.
In Minnesota, the November average came in at $21.39. That was 82 cents higher than the October average, but $2.15 under the price in November of 2012.
The second-highest price in all the reporting areas came in the Southeastern states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. There, the November mailbox price finished at $23.50, up $1.34 from October.
The third-highest mailbox price came in two areas. The New England states - Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont - saw a November average at $23.14. So did the Appalachian states - Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. In New England, the November average was up 72 cents compared to October. And in the Appalachian states, the November price was 29 cents higher than the October average.
Southern Missouri posted the next highest price, $22.45. That was a jump of 54 cents from October.
Farmers in eastern Pennsylvania received $22.21 in November. That was 76 cents more than a month earlier.
New York dairy producers were paid an average of $22.11 for their November milk. Their price rose 83 cents from the month before.
Ohio farmers got the next highest average price. Buckeye state dairymen received $22.06, up 69 cents from October.
Farmers in western Pennsylvania were paid $22.05 in November. That was 88 cents higher than during October.
The next-highest mailbox price went to farmers in Illinois. They were paid $21.98, up from $21.08 a month earlier.
Indiana dairy farmers received $21.47 in November, up 71 cents from October. Farmers in Oregon and Washington were close behind, at $21.45, up from $20.73 in October.
Michigan was next in line, with a November average of $21.24 up 73 cents from the month before. In the Corn Belt states of Kansas, Nebraska and northern Missouri, dairymen received an average of $20.92 in November, up 86 cents.
In western Texas, the November mailbox price averaged $20.70, up from $19.85 in October. And in California, the November mailbox price averaged $19.94, up from $19.26 in October.
Once more, New Mexico dairy farmers had the distinction of receiving the lowest mailbox prices in the 48 contiguous states. They were paid an average of $19.61 in November, 74 cents more than they were paid in October.
Across all federal milk marketing orders, November's mailbox price averaged $21.65. That was up 82 cents from October's $20.83, but down 62 cents from the $22.27 average in November of 2012.
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 November, the U.S. average butterfat test was 3.87 percent, while the average protein test was 3.24 percent. The amount of other solids in the milk averaged 5.71 percent.
[[In-content Ad]]

---