The popular Dairy Margin Coverage program signed up more than 22,000 dairy farmers and paid out more than $302 million in its first year. Chris Galen with the National Milk Producers Federation says the DMC payments are more than $300 million more than what farmers would have received under the MPP according to an analysis of USDA data.
Galen says the stronger dairy safety net enacted last year in the farm bill included dairy-quality alfalfa into the feed-cost calculation, which better reflected expenses and adjusted margins. And farmers knew they would be receiving a payment when they signed up.
With 2020 signup beginning on Oct. 7, that success is worth keeping in mind as farmers weigh the program’s affordable cost versus its proven benefits.
He says NMFP encourages farmers who haven’t already signed up for all five years of DMC to re-new their sign up for 2020, and for farmers who decided not to participate in the 2019 program to consider it in the future.
Wisconsin signed up the largest number of farmers, while California enrolled the highest production volume of any state
