Dairy Industry: Information on Prices for Fluid Milk and the Factors That Influence Them

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed issues concerning the pricing and marketing of fluid milk, focusing on: (1) the factors that influence the price of fluid milk as it moves from the farm to the consumer; (2) the portion of the average retail price of a gallon of fluid milk that is received by farmers, cooperatives, wholesalers, and retailers in selected markets across the country; (3) changes in farm and retail prices and their effect on the farm-to-retail price spread; (4) the way changes in prices at any given level in the milk marketing chain are reflected in changes in prices at the other levels; and (5) different retail pricing relationships that exist in selected markets among the four kinds of milk.