The National Milk Producers Federation says nearly three-fourths of the nation’s milk supply is now contributing 5 cents per hundredweight to the Cooperatives Working Together program (CWT).

July marked the beginning of the third year of the program. Southeast Milk, Inc., Florida, and Bongards Creameries, Minnesota, joined this year.

Since CWT was started in 2003, it has removed approximately 1.7 billion pounds of milk from the market through a combination of herd retirements, reduced milk marketings and subsidized exports. The removals equate to about 0.5% of annual milk production.

The 2005/06 program will focus on herd retirements and subsidized exports to keep the market more in balance.

Dairy Today magazine says that could be a daunting challenge this year, with production surging some 3%.