US deal a boost for dairy

Some of the uncertainty has been taken out of the global dairy industry by last week's US Congress deal to avert the "fiscal cliff".

The deal included measures to avoid automatic tax increases and spending cuts and extended dairy price support programs under the 2008 US Farm Bill for another nine months.

Had those programs ended on December 31 as scheduled, subsidies would have reverted to 1949 levels, possibly doubling the retail milk price.