Can I get money from the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) if I’m already receiving payments from Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) or Dairy Revenue Protection (DRP)? That’s a question we’ve received three weeks in a row during DairyLivestream presentations.

When asked during the Wednesday, May 27 DairyLivestream event, National Milk Producer Federation’s (NMPF) Jim Mulhern reassured all listeners that the only restriction to the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program would be the cap on payment amount per owner.

“This issue has sort of been like Dracula. I’ve felt like I’ve driven a wooden dagger through its heart three or four times, and it keeps popping back up,” the president and CEO of NMPF said. In making that reference, Mulhern invoked a reference to a decades-old character named Dracula, who was a vampire that could only be killed by driving a stake through its heart.

“There was a rumor early on that a producer’s participation in risk management programs was going to jeopardize or would preclude that milk from being covered by these programs,” he explained.

“The short answer is that a producer’s participation in risk management programs ranging from the dairy margin coverage program through dairy revenue protection, livestock gross margin, hedging, and futures do not preclude one’s milk coverage,” he continued. “First quarter milk production times the payment rate is covered.”

The same for all
That extends to all forms of dairy farming as well. During the webcast “Candid comments from the nation’s capital,” Mulhern also fielded questions on organic dairy producers and grazing dairies.

They will all receive payments at the same level as conventional farms. The one exception is a request NMPF has made of USDA to address low milk production in grazing herds in the first quarter.

“Their first quarter milk production is generally the lowest milk production period of the year,” Mulhern explained. “What we’ve asked the department to do is to allow a grazing producer to take 2019 actual production and divide that by four and take the one quarter of 2019 production average as a base to make the calculation on.”

That decision will be forthcoming from USDA soon.

Mulhern was joined on the Wednesday broadcast by Michael Dykes, the president and CEO of the International Dairy Foods Association, and Cornell’s Andy Novakovic. It was sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim. In addition to program payment updates, they discussed the stages of demand recovery and detailed payments for food donation efforts.

An ongoing series of events
In June, DairyLivestream will begin airing twice each month for the remainder of this year. The next broadcast will be on Wednesday, June 10 at 11 a.m. CST. Each episode is designed for panelists to answer over 30 minutes of audience questions. If you haven’t joined a DairyLivestream broadcast yet, register here. Registering once registers you for all future broadcasts.