The countdown is on.

Over the course of the next 60 days, dairy farmers must determine if they will sign up for the 2018 Farm Bill’s signature dairy program — Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC).

By the end of this week, USDA will deliver two more tools to help dairy producers reach a final decision on participating in the DMC Program:

1. Premium reimbursements: By May 1, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) will begin offering reimbursements to eligible producers for MPP-Dairy premiums paid between 2014 to 2017.

2. Decision tool: By May 1, the Office of the Chief Economist has entered into an agreement with the University of Wisconsin to develop a Dairy Margin Coverage decision tool that will be available to producers.

Next on the calendar
Beginning June 17, dairy farmers should be able to sign up for the DMC program at local FSA offices. At that time, dairy farmers can select coverage retroactive to January 1, 2019.

It’s anticipated that USDA will issue retroactive DMC payments for the first half of the year beginning the week of July 8.

Learn about all your options
The Hoard’s Dairyman team assembled a number of articles to help everyone get up to speed on the program. All the articles can be found on our website under Dairy Margin Coverage Program.

For your convenience, here are links to the seven articles:

Dairy provisions stronger in the new farm bill

Dairy farmers receive a stronger safety net

Dairy farmers — help is on the way

Ailing dairy economy has become a priority

We are working to stabilize milk prices

An important decision just got easier to make

The latest milk price forecasts and DMC margins