Milk prices are the driving force behind the success of dairymen no matter what country you are in. Robust milk prices ensure dairies are able to maintain positive revenue, stay in business, and grow. We want to hear about milk prices in your town or province. Please respond to this post and share the cost of milk in your area.

Truck after truck after truck after truck! That’s what you’ll see in the video below as California truckers deliver export containers to the Port of Long Beach. ACX has an intermodal division devoted to providing professional import export trucking services to and from Central California and Southern California.

ACX Intermodal is a member of the California Trucking Association. We use the Varipro™ tracking system, so we always know where your cargo is. We have zero service-call failures, and we are proud that we always accomplish what we say we can accomplish. In addition to incredibly great customer service, ACX Intermodal has a proven track-record of efficient equipment utilization, and we are skilled at developing street-turn opportunities.

Waiting for port clearance? No problem! We have a secure yard near the Southern California ports to accomodate your containers. No matter what you are importing or exporting, ACX Intermodal delivers!

Call ACX Intermodal today for import and export trucking services and street-turn opportunities. (310) 515-5339

Midwest flooding, high fertilizer costs, and fewer planted acres are driving up the price of corn. The inflated commodity price is killing the profit in ethanol (not such a bad thing) and driving up the cost of feeding a family. From chicken to beef to milk, it is all tied to the price of corn. In addition, farmers are returning to crops with lower input costs and higher returns, making corn even more expensive. Consumers will have to endure these continuous food cost increases as we watch what little corn we have be converted for fuel tanks.

To help stabilize feed costs, Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (MAFF) announced a $415 million subsidy. Compound feed costs have seen significant increases due the the doubling cost of corn. According to the USDA Gain Report, the money will help absorb feed cost surges and will last until March 2009. Nearly 75% of imported corn to Japan is used for miscellaneous livestock feed, and almost all corn is imported from the United States. The subsidy represents more than 16.5% of the total cost of corn used for feed according to USDA.

The corn subsidy is good, but where is the hay subsidy? Forage commodities have experienced the same volatile prices as corn, yet there is no subsidy to help the Japanese dairy farmer buy hay. Unlike corn, the hay imported by Japan is used almost exclusively for dairy cows. If hay can not be subsidized, the dairy farmer should at least be allowed to raise the price of the milk he produces so he can afford to stay in business. Japan already has a butter shortage; no dairies means no milk, cheese, chocolate, cream, desserts, cookies, etc. 

With a 16.5% subsidy for roughage products, Japan’s hay importers would recoup more than ¥7,000 per metric ton of of quality hay.