The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) has been working diligently to support and maintain these successes which will benefit dairies across the country once they come to fruition. After the previous congress extended the 2018 Farm Bill, the congressional agriculture committees got creative and worked to include key farm-related resources in this budget package. In addition, as had long been expected, the tax-writing committees are renewing and improving key policies first enacted in 2017.
Thanks to the work of the Agriculture Committee Chairmen Glen “GT” Thompson, R-PA, and John Boozman, R-AR, the bill includes multiple provisions to strengthen dairy and farm policy. NMPF is poised to secure a long-term reauthorization of the Dairy Margin Coverage program with an updated production history calculation as well as critical resources for USDA to conduct mandatory dairy manufacturing cost surveys every two years to better inform future milk pricing deliberations.
The pending bill includes new investments for dairy priorities including conservation, trade, and animal health. It ensures increased long-term funding for popular, oversubscribed conservation programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. The package also provides new trade promotion funding based on current programs that return well over $20 in export revenue for every dollar invested in the programs. Finally, it boosts funding for animal health programs that help to prevent, control, and eradicate animal diseases, such as last year’s outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in dairy cattle.
On the tax side of the ledger, House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-MO, and Senate Finance Chairman Mike Crapo, R-ID, have worked to provide farmers and cooperatives with greater certainty. As family-owned businesses who unite to form co-ops, dairy farms are uniquely situated within the American business landscape. NMPF is pleased that the bill makes permanent the Section 199A tax deduction, enabling dairy farmer-owned cooperatives to continue either passing the deduction back to their farmer owners or reinvesting it in their cooperatives. The bill also includes an expectation for the Treasury Secretary to establish distinct emission rates for specific manure feedstocks, including dairy manure, so that energy projects fueled with dairy-derived renewable natural gas can generate greater revenue for the dairy farmer.
NMPF has been proud to work alongside the many voices in Congress and the agriculture community who have worked tirelessly to support America’s farmers and their cooperatives within the reconciliation bill. But these wins are not yet fully cemented into law, so dairy remains committed to sharing the stories of farm families as an essential component of guiding these policy successes across the finish line.
