Dairy Profits Fall After Record-high 2014

CALDWELL (AP) — The low price of milk last year may have been good for consumers, but it was bad for Idaho dairies' profits.

The Idaho Statesman reports that dairy revenue across Idaho has fallen 27 percent. Experts say if the price of milk could fall another 20 percent from today's level, possibly pushing dairies into the red.

The drop comes after dairy profits in the state reached nearly $2 billion in 2014, just below a record high set in 2013.

As milk prices plunged in 2015 Idaho's overall agriculture revenues fell 9 percent. In 2014 milk made up 37 percent of all of Idaho's agriculture receipts. As revenue dropped in 2015, Idaho's other crops didn't grow enough to make up the difference.

Idaho is the country's third-largest milk producer after California and Wisconsin.