Documentation
Scope
The data set currently contains one dozen (12) tables describing
various facets of the U.S. dairy industry. All of the tables
include data compiled from a variety of sources including USDA
agencies and individual States. Four (4) of the tables
contain monthly data, one (1) contains quarterly data, and the
remaining seven (7) contain annual data.
Sources
The primary sources of data for the tables:
Updates
The timing of updates is linked to releases of reports by the
sources listed above. In general, the target date for posting
annual tables containing the most recent revised annual data is
during the June-August period. Updated monthly tables are
posted at various dates toward the end of each month. The one
quarterly table is updated soon after revised data for the ending
month of the quarter is available.
Historic data
Previously published historical dairy data is available in a Dairy Yearbook accessible through the USDA Economics, Statistics and Market Information
System (ESMIS), a collaborative project between the Albert R.
Mann Library at Cornell University and several agencies of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. The Yearbook contains data on
production, supply, use of milk and manufactured dairy products,
wholesale and retail price indexes, prices received by farmers,
milk production costs, and regional shares of U.S. milk production
among other information. The archived Yearbook was last updated in
September 2005.