Retail milk prices have jumped as much as 75 cents a gallon in the last month – expect them to go higher still this summer.

These days it’s pricier trips to the dairy case, happier times on the farm.

The Maine Milk Commission, which sets monthly minimum prices and tracks what retailers actually charge, projects that farmers will get nearly twice as much for their milk this May as a year ago.

“I didn’t expect the price to come up this high,” said John Hemond, who has a dairy herd in Minot. “I’m surprised and happy but I’m skeptical how long it’s going to last.”

Circumstances surround supply and demand. Low prices during the last two years drove lots of farmers out of business. The next generation of so-called replacement cows aren’t coming across the border from Canada. And in some cases, fueled by pro-meat diets, farmers are getting higher prices for animals as hamburger than as milkers.

The result: Money paid to farmers per hundred pounds of milk has risen $9 since January – a 68 percent increase.

Unexpected in summer

“This is a large spike on the plus side,” said Stan Millay, executive director of the Maine Milk Commission.

It’s atypical, he added. Usually prices go down in summer as demand drops for school milk and cows produce more of it on diets of green grass.

Millay anticipates prices will peak in June. From April to May, the minimum price for a gallon of milk here moved 44 cents to $3.11.

So far, customers haven’t complained, said Caren Epstein, a Hannaford spokeswoman. Signs in the dairy case explain the increase, and sales are up compared to this time last year, she said.

It’s a reversal of fortune for the state’s farmers.

For several months last year, they got aid initiated by Gov. John Baldacci when prices dropped precariously low. At least 10 farmers went out of business. In all, 397 dairy farms split $3.9 million. Another $1 million has been used this spring, Millay said. He expects the balance of that aid, shelved while the good times last, to carry farmers into next winter.

Paying off bills

Since milk checks lag several weeks, farmers haven’t seen the benefits of the May increase yet. The money might allow him to hire more help this spring, said Hemond. “The price has come at a good time because we’re buying a lot of crop needs right now.”

John Bissell in Canton said he has grown as big as his farm will allow, with 70 cows.

“I’m just trying to pay off bills and set some money aside,” he said. “It’s helping out a lot.”

Julie-Marie Bickford, executive director of the Maine Dairy Industry Association, said she has heard fears from members that prices will go back down when the Canadian border opens back up. Dairy trade closed after a brain-wasting disease scare.

Retailers have handled the price increase differently. When the price rose 16 cents from March to April, Shaw’s, Hannaford and Wal-Mart all hung steady, according to the Maine Milk Commission. Then, from April to May, Shaw’s increased the shelf price 22 cents, Hannaford 40 cents and Wal-Mart 75 cents.

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