MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Dairy production in Wisconsin and Minnesota continues to outpace last year's harvest, but the rate of increase is slowing.

Dairy farmers in both states have been outperforming 2009 harvests by 2-3 percent. Last month, however, the improvement was 1-2 percent.

Wisconsin remains the nation's second-leading milk producer. The state produced 2.3 billion pounds of milk in July. That was up 2 percent from July of last year.

Minnesota dairy farmers harvested 794 million pounds, a 1 percent increase.

Total production nationwide rose 3 percent for the 23 major milk-producing states. That translates to a total yield of 15.3 billion pounds.

California remains the nation's leader in milk production. Dairy farmers there produced 3.4 billion pounds of milk last month.

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Online:

USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service: http://www.nass.usda.gov/

Copyright 2010 The AP