Decreased milk production was a primary driver of the 2022 U.S. dairy economy, and The National Milk Producers Federation says production recovery will likely be a continued dominant factor in 2023. U.S. milk production was below year-earlier figures from November 2021 to June 2022. This string of decreased production hasn’t happened since September 1996 and April 2004.

Milk production recovered slightly in the last half of 2022, bringing levels up by 1.7% over the prior year. November’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report estimated that the U.S. average All-Milk price will be $25.50 per hundredweight (cwt) for 2022. 2023 estimates are pegged at $22.60 per cwt.

Read more on milk production and price forecasting here.