Following the announcement of the fifth round of government purchasing for the Farmers-to-Families Food Box program milk futures went up. The program was announced on January 4 and deliveries will take place through the end of April. USDA will once more deliver boxes containing fresh produce, fluid milk, and dairy products, as well as meat and seafood. Up until now, the Agency distributed 133 million food boxes to support American farmers and families.
Bid solicitation
The bid solicitation was sent to more than 200 organizations that have received Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) in previous rounds. USDA underlines that the bigger variety of cheese will be acceptable. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture will purchase $1.5 billion worth of food for nationwide distribution.
The American dairy production
Comparing the period of January-November 2019/2020 the production of skimmed milk powder rose by 11.2% from 230 to 256 thousand tonnes. For NDM the increase was at the level of 2.7% (from 765 to 786 thousand tonnes). Growths were also noted for butter and cheese production, 5.8% and 0.4% respectively. On the other hand, decreases in production were in WMP, lactose as well as whey powders — WPC 80, WPI. The most significant drop was in lactose — from 514 to 470 (-8.6%).
