Episode notes
Of the $3.98 you pay for a gallon of milk, the farm keeps about $1.97. Once it becomes cheese or ice cream, your cut of the dairy basket drops to 25 cents on the dollar.
The Bullvine Podcast breaks down USDA's farm-share numbers and the gap nobody puts on the June Dairy Month banner: fluid milk returns about half the retail price to the farm, but the total dairy basket sat at just 25% in 2024. We trace where the rest goes, why the celebration started as a 1937 surplus dump, and why a Wisconsin law firm is now targeting your 15-cent checkoff.
What You'll Learn
- Why a $3.98 retail gallon only sends $1.97 back to your tank
- How to run your own farm-share math before the next co-op meeting
- Why fluid milk's checkoff return of $1.63 per dollar lags cheese and butter
- What the Wisconsin checkoff lawsuit could ...
Keywords
dairy farmer share milk dollardairy checkoff lawsuitfarm-to-retail price spreadJune Dairy MonthClass III price 202615 cents checkofffluid milk benefit-cost ratio