A pair of South Dakota dairy producers are serving on a National Farmers Union committee reviewing the effectiveness of the dairy margin protection program. Mike Tornberg of Beresford and Mike Frey of Claremont have been named to the panel which is scheduled to meet later this month. Frey says the margin protection program needs tweaking as it’s not doing much to help dairy producers.
He says the margin protection program is the only safety net dairy producers have.
Frey says he and his fellow dairy producers have been struggling with costs in several areas, not just feed.
South Dakota Farmers Union leaders says that in order for an insurance program to protect dairy farmers it needs to be designed somewhere near a 50 percent loss ratio. However, the current 2016 Margin Protection Program for Dairy is closer to a 20 percent loss ratio.
