The coronavirus crisis is hitting the U.S. dairy industry hard and the National Milk Producers Federation is looking to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for help. Minnesota Milk Producers Association Executive Director Lucas Sjostrom says while USDA could use Section 32 authority to purchase additional dairy products, improving demand is a greater need.
He says the dairy industry has lost demand not only due to schools being out of session due to Covid 19 but also demand in restaurants has dropped.
Sjostrom hasn’t heard from his group’s members wanting re-opening of the Dairy Margin Coverage program but thinks allowing them to update their production history would be more helpful.
Sjostrom says Minnesota is different than other states in that their dairy producers had a very successful DMC signup with only 10 percent not taking advantage of that program. He says some other states may want a reopening of the Dairy Margin Coverage Program.
