Dairy prices entered the summer with a bearish tone as cheese and milk powder prices dropped to the lowest level since February. Milk supply growth continues but is slowing heading into mid-year. High energy and gas prices have started to impact demand for some dairy products with softness noted in food service sales. This isn’t likely going to get better anytime soon, and could be a drag on prices in the second half of the year. Corn prices have followed oil prices down with

A lot has been said about beef prices in 2026, and there has been a lot of productive discussion about what is driving them. Some point to historically tight cattle supplies. U.S. cattle inventories are at their lowest since the 1950s, and federally inspected cattle slaughter through May is 1.12 million head below the same period in 2025 and 2.56 million head below 2022, the cyclical peak for the current cattle cycle. Others argue that exceptionally strong consumer demand is

For U.S. dairy producers, the second half of 2026 is shaping up to be a classic story of supply and demand: Historically strong on-farm margins are driving an explosion in milk production, which in turn is poised to drag commodity prices down through the rest of the year. That was the bearish warning delivered by Betty Berning, contributing dairy economist at HighGround Dairy, during her market forecast at the 2026 HighGround Dairy Conference in Chicago. “Farmers are going to