Milk prices have sagged again for dairy farmers and the state is planning a hearing to discuss raising the minimum prices processors must pay. The hearing will involve only milk bound for cheese plants.
A gallon of reduced-fat milk was selling for $3.29 at one central San Joaquin Valley store this week. The recent downswing in milk prices is not so welcome to dairy farmers in and near Stanislaus County. The minimum prices they get from processors, adjusted each month by state regulators, have dropped about a third from strong levels last year.
Farmers hope for relief through a June 3 hearing in Sacramento called by Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. She will consider an extra adjustment on top of the monthly minimums in an effort to help farmers cover feed and other costs.
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