Ag News: March Milk Production Down
**March milk production falls despite more per cow milk output, while cheese exports are on the rise.
Milk production in March fell by 0.4% but the 23 major dairy states saw a drop of just 0.1%.
Agweb.com reports, the latest data from the USDA shows that cow numbers are down 86,000 head since last year, as well.
Exports of cheese in February were the second highest per month amount achieved since March 2014.
**For nearly 50-years, the world has celebrated April as Earth Month, and in the past 55-years, U.S. pig farmers have made massive strides in building environmental sustainability through more efficient use of feed, water, land and energy.
According to agrimarketing.com, a recent University of Arkansas study that found continuously improving production practices and evolving technology have helped pig farmers become even more environmentally responsible, making better use of natural resources and gradually decreasing their environmental footprint.
**Farm supplier CHS has dozens of loaded barges trapped on the flood-swollen Mississippi River near St. Louis, about 500 miles from the company's two Minnesota distribution hubs.
Agriculture.com reports, the barges can't move, or get crucial nutrients to corn farmers for the spring planting season, because river locks on the Mississippi have been shuttered for weeks due to high waters.
These transportation woes are the latest headache for a U.S. ag sector reeling from years of slumping profits and the U.S.-China trade war.