Milk output in Wis., Minn. hints at positive trend

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin’s dairy industry is continuing a modest turn-around in production, and Minnesota is inching closer to its own positive reversal.

For the past few months, Wisconsin’s milk production had trailed the pace from the comparable period a year ago by a few percentage points. That changed in August, when production increased 1 percent.

New statistics show the positive trend continued last month. Wisconsin produced 2.1 billion pounds of milk in September. That was a 2 percent increase over the same period last year.

Minnesota dairy farmers harvested 714 million pounds last month. That’s a 1 percent decline, but an improvement over declines of 5 percent and 7 percent in the previous two months.

California is still the nation’s leading producer, harvesting 3.3 billion pounds. Wisconsin remains solidly in second place.