HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- The Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board is temporarily boosting the minimum price of milk across the state by a few cents a gallon to soothe hurting dairy farmers.
The three-member board voted Thursday to increase the premium paid to farmers by 23 percent.
For farmers, that means getting an extra 50 cents, or $2.65, per 100 pounds of milk. For consumers, that is expected to mean paying about 4 cents extra on a gallon of milk at retail.
The higher price is effective Nov. 1 through Dec. 31.
In September, Gov. Ed Rendell asked the agency to help dairy farmers, saying Pennsylvania's milk producers were facing prices that were 40 percent lower than the prior year.
ADVERTISEMENT
Dairy prices have dropped amid low demand. Pennsylvania is the nation's fifth-largest dairy state.
