A dairy economist says this summer is not the first time dairy farmers have had at least three months of negative producer price differentials deducted from their milk checks, but it has been the largest amount.

Marin Bozic with the University of Minnesota tells Brownfield in 2003, farmers experienced five months of negative PPDs, averaging to about an 80-cent deduction. During that period again in 2012, producers had another five-month stretch of negative PPDs, averaging in the 80-cent range.  This year, it’s more than four times greater.

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