FOOD & AGRICULTURE
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
The sharp drop in milk prices is taking a toll on dairy producers, but Agriculture Department economists say farmers have been slow to reduce output. “Milk prices are dramatically lower than a year earlier and are expected to erode the expansion in milk output as 1991 progresses,” the department’s Economic Research Service said. Milk output per cow in the first quarter of 1991 was up 2% from a year earlier, but high feed costs relative to milk prices are expected to trim this production rate in the second half of the year. Returns to farmers above feed-concentrate costs are expected to drop more than 20% to the lowest level since the late 1970s.
