By Jerry Perkins
Des Moines Register

DECORAH, Iowa - With milk prices at a record high, organic dairy producers like Dan and Bonnie Beard might feel like their business has curdled.

That's because the Beards and other organic milk producers are receiving less money - a little more than 6 percent less - for their organically-certified milk these days than conventional dairy farmers are receiving for their milk.

But the Decorah, Iowa, couple do not begrudge their conventional counterparts a chance to make some money. "Those folks need a higher price," said Dan Beard. "Conventional milk prices have been down for a long time."

Last year, members of the Organic Valley Family of Farms cooperative, including dairy producers, were paid 60 percent more than conventional farmers, the co-op said.

The Beards, as members of Organic Valley, are being paid $18.45 a hundredweight (about 12 gallons) for their milk these days, or about $1.53 per gallon. Conventional farmers are receiving about $19.66, or about $1.60 per gallon.

Greg Welsh, marketing coordinator for Organic Valley Farms, the nation's largest organic farmers cooperative, said this is the second time that conventional milk prices have surpassed organic prices.

Chris Galen, a spokesman for the National Milk Producers Association in Arlington, Va., said conventional dairy prices crashed at the end of 2001, stayed low for most of 2002, and dropped further last year to their lowest level since 1978. When 2003 milk prices were adjusted for inflation, Galen said, they were the lowest ever.