“Dairy and cotton have been targeted as the two commodity programs for improvements in the next Farm Bill,” said Paul Bleiberg, senior director of government relations for the National Milk Producers Federation. “The goal is to improve the Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy) so it’s an effective safety net that also does not incentivize more milk production,” he said.
“The House Ag Committee wants to maintain free catastrophic coverage for all dairy farmers and provide better risk management options,” Bleiberg (shown at left in the image) went on to explain speaking to the 800 people attending the joint annual meeting of the National Milk Producers Federation, the United Dairy Industry Association, and the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board at its gathering in Anaheim, Calif. That catastrophic coverage level could go from $4 to $5 in an updated MPP-Dairy program.Make dairy a crop
“The National Milk Producers Federation is urging USDA to designate milk as a ‘crop’ under the USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA),” Bleiberg explained when discussing further policy updates. “This action would lift the $20 million cap on LGM-Dairy (Livestock Gross Margin) enabling the development of more dairy risk tools.
