By  E. W. Lang

Class III Milk Futures for the last three months of 2022 closed out the week at an average price of $20.62 per cwt., a loss of $1.57 over the five days of trading.  That’s a loss in value of just over seven percent and is reflective of the decline in Class IV Milk and cheese.  The Class III Milk-Feed Index lost over 11% this week, and averages $9.51 per cwt for the 4th quarter of 2022.  That is subsidy territory for milk producers who are signed up for the Dairy Margin Coverage program administered by the United States Department of Agriculture. 

Butter ended the week at $2.93 per lb., not far off of the recent record $3 per lb.  This improves our all-milk price here in the Midwest a little, but helps out California more, as more milk out there goes into butter than it does in most other parts of the United States. 

New crop corn lost 19 cents per bushel at $6.04 and October Soybean Meal lost $11 per ton at $391.  Hay in Dyersville, Iowa, was called “off $10 to $20” with the top price at public auction on large squares of alfalfa at $305 per ton for one lot at 211 RFV.   Top Holstein cows at Premier in Withee, Wisconsin, were $1850 to $2900 per head.  The auction included one parlor/free tall herd.  Top Springing Heifers were selling for $1500 to $2500 per head. 

Fertilizer prices, generally, are ticking down a little since April 1.  Urea is down 11% in that time but remains 58% higher than it was a year ago.

Holsteins originated in the Dutch provinces of North Holland, and their government wants to administer some changes.  Some of the country's farmers are in an uproar over the government's environmental plans. Many face what they say is an impossible ultimatum: sort out pollution or sell off your farm.

"There is an agenda to make Holland a different country. They want to change the whole landscape,” one farmer said.   "More nature, more solar panel fields. They need ground from farmers for building houses and industry.”

The problem involves nitrogen, and climate activists blame the pollution on the intensive agriculture model of the Netherlands, which has by far the highest livestock concentration in the European Union. With a reputation for high-tech farming, the tiny nation is the world's second-largest agricultural exporter after the United States – and we have 237 times more land. Dutch agriculture and horticulture account for 10% of the national economy and 17.5% of exports. 

Anyway, Dutch farmers are protesting en masse over there, and their government insists they will be fairly compensated for the land and capital that are confiscated in the interest of the climate, or socialism, if you will. 

I wonder if these climate activists may live to see a day when their climate actions create a country that is no longer able to feed itself, much as was the case after World War II, even after their government declared neutrality. 

I should add here that the only thing worse than genetically bastardized seed, use of commercial fertilizer and chemicals is a world with low yields of wholesomely produced, drought and disease intolerant food. This contributes to hoarding and limited distribution where certain classes, cultures and nations can starve to death by famine, designed and weaponized or not.     

Fifty miles east of here is Pella, Iowa, home of Vermeer Manufacturing and Lely-North America.  Pella was for years surrounded by Holstein herds owned by post-war Dutch immigrants, though that generation has now retired from milking.   Many had left their own war-torn country with no money and no prospects, then ended up here where they enjoyed economic and social opportunity, then delivered value to their community and society in general.  

We sold Reg. Holstein bulls to many of them for years.  The very first and very last bull we sold was to Wm. Ver Hoef and Son, RR 4, Pella, Iowa.  That was over a period of 29 years, by the way, and a sales record of some kind, I suppose.  Bill and Mrs. Ver Hoef came to the United States after the war and didn’t speak English.  They milked cows for another dairyman until they were able to milk their own Holstein cows on their own farm. 

There are people alive in Holland today that remember when food was scarce.  It’s unfortunate to see that modern farming and abundant food production is regarded as a threat to all by a ruling culture that has never been hungry.