California Ag Network

Tag: Milk

  • California Milk Advisory Board Offers Opportunity For Student Ambassadors With International Audiences


    The California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB) has announced the return of its student internship program where young agriculture ambassadors will represent Real California Milk internationally. Applications are now open for summer representatives in  CMAB’s partner countries.

    The interns, selected from students enrolled in agriculture-related programs at colleges and universities throughout the state, will be chosen based on academic achievement, connection to the dairy industry and a willingness to travel abroad and learn more about international dairy sales and marketing, as well as a plan to work in the California dairy industry in the future.

    Over the six-week period, interns will spend time with CMAB marketing organizations overseas in order to gain a better understanding of these markets, consumer buying habits and promotional efforts on behalf of California’s dairy industry.

    “Over the last decade, the CMAB has worked closely with partners in Mexico and Asia to develop markets for California dairy products. This program is focused on providing insight into international marketing for future leaders who will work in the dairy business and one day serve on dairy industry boards and lead industry groups,” said Glenn Millar, Vice President of International Business Development for the CMAB.

    Interested candidates must submit a completed application, essay, and other requirements by Friday, November 14, 2024. Additional information is available here.

    California is the nation’s leading milk producer, and makes more butter, ice cream and nonfat dry milk than any other state. California is the second-largest producer of cheese and yogurt. California is the leading U.S. state in dairy production. Its family dairy farms are focused on delivering the wholesome goodness of California milk while creating a more sustainable future for dairy in the state.

    About Real California Milk/California Milk Advisory Board

    The California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB), an instrumentality of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, is funded by the state’s dairy farm families who lead the nation in sustainable dairy farming practices. With a vision to nourish the world with the wholesome goodness of Real California Milk, the CMAB’s programs focus on increasing demand for California’s sustainable dairy products in the state, across the U.S. and around the world through advertising, public relations, research, and retail and foodservice promotional programs. For more information and to connect with the CMAB, visit RealCaliforniaMilk.com.

  • Depooling—Should I Be Scared?

    Modesto, Calif., (April 30, 2018) – Depooling has been praised and vilified; its impact has been exaggerated and understated. And a lot of producers are left wondering: what does it mean to me? One thing sure is certain, it is very different than what we have in California. Class 3, 4a and 4b plants can make the decision to depool on a yearly basis. But, they usually don’t because if they do, California still requires them to pay minimum class prices. Therefore, in 2017 only 2.7% of California milk was Grade A milk not pooled. This number represents milk shipped to a non-pool plant but also milk shipped out of state and producer-handler exempt milk. Two things make the decision to opt outside the pool very different in the California system.

    The first one, as I mentioned, is that even if you elect to be a non-pool plant, you are still required to pay the minimum class prices. For example, if a cheese maker elects to operate outside of the California pool, he can enter into a contract with its Grade A shipper, but he is still required to at least pay the minimum class price. In a California FMMO, said cheese maker could enter into a contract that is agreeable to both parties, but no minimum price would be required by USDA. Second, if you own quota in California, you must ship Grade A milk to a pool plant once at least every 60 days to keep your quota. In fact, as testified at the FMMO hearing, “a proportionate amount of monthly quota entitlement will be lost for any milk shipped directly to a nonpool plant”. As a reminder, under a California FMMO, this would not be the case. As per the Quota Implementation Plan (QIP), all Grade A milk under the order would be assessed for quota, regardless of whether it is pooled or not. Therefore, a quota holder would be indifferent as to whether his milk is pooled or not for quota payment purposes.

    Under the California system, less than 3% of milk goes to nonpool plants. Under a California FMMO, that percentage would change drastically. While there is no way to determine exactly how much, USDA estimated that on average 42% of manufacturing milk (ie. milk other than Class I) would not be pooled. According to Dr. Stephenson’s analysis, around 56% of manufacturing milk would not be pooled. Looking at 2017, he found that taking such volumes out of the pool for the year would result in a minor negative price impact on pooled milk (-4 cents/cwt). Most of the Class IV, due to its lowest price relative to Class III, would have had an incentive to remain in the pool. To give you an example, in 2017 under the California system, Class 4a averaged below the overbase price 75% of the time. This means producers shipping to Class 4a plants benefited from the pool as the price they received was higher than if they otherwise had not been pooled.

    Going back to USDA’s proposed California order, if handlers tried to come in and out of the pool in opportunistic ways (ie try to maximize pool draws and avoid pool contributions within the repooling rules, which are explained in the next paragraph), the impact would be slightly different. While I found that some months could have wider swings, on average monthly depooling could result in the pooled milk price to decline by a range of 5-10 cents per hundredweight. The reason for the decline is that a handler is likely to take milk out of the pool if the class price it is required to pay is higher than the return it would get from being in the pool. Therefore, taking higher valued milk outside the pool reduces the blend price for those left in the pool. As a reminder, Class I milk is always part of the pool.

    To prevent wide swings of milk volumes jumping in and out of the pool on a monthly basis, USDA proposed repooling rules for the California order. What this means is that if a handler elects to take milk outside the pool in a given month, the next month he can only repool 125% of the previous month.

  • USDA California Crop/Weather Report

    Sacramento, Calif., (August 1, 2017) – The weather last week was hot and dry across the State. The summer monsoon across the southwest desert helped trigger some showers across the deserts last week, while additional pockets of moisture found their way into the Sierras and managed to produce a few scattered showers throughout the week. Rainfall was limited to Monday through Thursday across the interior deserts and parts of the central and northern Sierras. A few monsoon showers and thunderstorms dropped up to half an inch of rain in places across the desert, with most areas receiving around a tenth of an inch. A stray thunderstorm near Alturas in the northeastern corner of the State dropped nearly half an inch of rain. Snow cover continued to dissipate across the State; however, some areas of the Lassen Volcanic National Park still had nearly ten feet of snow in some areas.

    Temperature highs were in the 60s to 80s along the coast, 70s to 90s in the mountains, 90s to 100s, in the valley, and 90s to 110s in the desert. Temperature lows were in the 30s to 50s in the mountains, 50s to 60s along the coast, 60s to 70s in the valley, and 60s to 80s in the desert.

    Wheat was harvested for grain and shaft baled for straw. Alfalfa fields were being irrigated, cut, and baled. Corn and sorghum for silage were cultivated and irrigated. The corn silage crop was in various stages of development, from already tasseling to developing ears. Cotton continued to be irrigated, cultivated, and was growing well. Cotton was blooming and forming bolls. Black-eyed beans continued to be irrigated and cultivated.

    Mid-season peach, nectarine, pluot, and plum harvest continued.  Some harvested stone fruit orchards were pruned and topped. Table grapes were harvested and vineyards irrigated. Wine grapes were maturing well.  Valencia orange harvest continued but was winding down due to high temperatures and fruit availability.

    Walnut, almond, and pistachio orchards continued to be irrigated. Mechanical and chemical weed control continued in orchards.  Harvest preparation was underway in almond orchards. Almond harvest began in the warmer regions of Kern County. Pistachios were beginning to split. Navel Orange Worm sprays and fertilizers were applied to pistachios. Walnuts were sizing well.

    In Colusa County, triple digit heat impacted the harvest of vegetables, including processing tomatoes and honeydew melons.  The processing tomato harvest was somewhat erratic, interrupting the smooth flow of ripe tomatoes to the canneries.    The melon packing sheds were affected by the inconsistent flow of fruit.  In San Joaquin County, harvest was ongoing for honeydew melons, watermelons, cantaloupes, onions, and fresh vegetable crops.  Farmers’ Market vegetables continued to be harvested and offered for sale.   In Monterey County, mid-year harvest and production slowed for two weeks.  It was expected to pick back up with more harvesting and preparation for the third or last rotation of the year.  All commodities, lettuces, brassicas, and spinach were in production.  Asparagus was finished and artichokes will pick up again in August.  In Fresno County, harvest continued for both organic and conventional tomatoes with lower yields than expected.  Quality was reported as very good.  Onions, carrots, and lettuce seed were harvested.  Soil was prepared for yellow peppers.  In Tulare County, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and peppers were picked by certified producers and sold at the local Farmers’ Markets.  Yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, Bell peppers, green chili peppers, and cucumbers were harvested and shipped domestically.  Sweet corn harvest continued and was sold at roadside stands and local Farmers’ Markets.  Melons were irrigated and prepared for the upcoming harvest.  In Kings County, the tomato harvest continued with a decent harvest reported.  Tomatoes were sprayed with fungicide and pesticide.

    The decline in nutritional quality of rangeland grasses and forbs continued. Range and dryland pasture conditions across the state were reported as fair to very poor. Wildland fires burned some north state pastures and ranges.  Elevated temperatures continued to impact milk production. Bees were active in melon and sunflower fields.