By  E. W. Lang

$66 Billion Farm Aid Requested - $30 Billion Available

Class IV Milk Futures for the rest of this calendar year average $14.62 per cwt., an increase of 43 cents since Friday, last. Oddly, Class IV Futures also increased 43 cents over this week's four trading days to average $12.58 from April through December.

This increase in milk price is even after weekly losses of 14 and 10 cents on block and barrel cheese, such that at their current $1.05 and $ 1.00 per lb. prices are in line with late 2000 cheese prices on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Butter lost three cents this week to close at $1.25 per lb. Butter was last this low during the first half of 2009.

Milk-Feed indices for the next couple months are as low as we have seen since 2009, as well. Dairy Margin Coverage payments will likely be significant for the next seven months, certainly.

Dairy cows slaughtered through March 28 of this year were down 5.9% from a year ago, owing to stronger milk prices early this year. The week of March 28 alone saw dairy cow slaughter up 1.2% from a year earlier, and I suspect the month of April will be up something well north of 3% once totals are in, assuming the major plants don't shut down for lack of staff. One slaughter house out west currently requires a reservation four weeks out to be killed.

On the government subsidy front, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue have offered some insight into what farmers may and may not expect to get from taxpayers going forward. This was fully reported, and reported well on dtnpf.com.

I've shared the interesting and sobering parts here, and feel led to remind all of agriculture that when pigs become hogs, they get slaughtered.

The aid price tag from individual commodities is overwhelming the funds set aside for USDA

Farmers are going to get paid out by USDA on a per-acre or per-animal basis. In the case of dairy, it's going to be so much per hundredweight. That should come out in the next week or two, but there will be some direct help for farmers and it will not have to be paid back. That's coming directly out of USDA.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, passed last month by Congress, includes $9.5 billion for livestock, dairy, local and regional markets and specialty crops. The act also provided a $14 billion increase in funds for the Commodity Credit Corp (CCC) which won't be available until after June 30. $6 billion is currently in the CCC.

In just a short period of time the dairy industry asked for $6 billion, the cattle industry has asked for $6 billion, the pork industry asked for $2 billion, the ethanol industry asked for $5 billion and specialty crops asked for $6 billion. Local and regional direct-sale producers have asked for roughly $1 billion in aid as well.

"The corn and soybean guys asked me to run some numbers and what they are talking about is $30 billion to $40 billion," Peterson said. "So you can see what the problem is. All of these are worthwhile and worthy things, but I don't know where the money ($56 to 66 billion) is going to come from to do this.