USDA officials say enrollment in the new Dairy Margin Coverage Insurance program has already exceeded one third of licensed U.S. dairy operations. Western Iowa Dairy Alliance Executive Director Scott Schroeder says that’s good news for the industry which has been battling tough economic conditions for the last three years.

He’s been encouraging his group’s members to enroll in the DMC program.

Of the nation’s over 37,000 licensed dairy operations, over 13,000 have enrolled. And among the states’s, Wisconsin and Minnesota have the largest enrollments with over 4100 in Wisconsin and over 1500 in Minnesota. Schroeder says those states have borne the brunt of the dairy industries economic downturn while the dairy economy in Iowa hasn’t been quite as tough.

So far dairy farms enrolled in the DMC have qualified for $145 million with $41 million of that going to Wisconsin operations.