More than 21,200 farmers have enrolled in the new dairy support program created by the 2018 farm bill, said Agriculture Undersecretary Bill Northey on Thursday. “We are announcing an extension of one week … to Sept. 27” for signup, he said at a House Agriculture subcommittee hearing. “I assume we’ll see a significant bump in the next couple of days.”
Enrollment totals are similar to last year, when roughly 70 percent of dairy farmers signed up for the now-defunct Margin Protection Program. Its replacement, the Dairy Margin Coverage subsidy, offers higher levels of coverage at a more attractive fee. Both programs are structured somewhat like an insurance policy and generate a payment when feed prices are too close to the farm-gate price of milk.
“It is a great risk management program,” said Northey. Coverage is retroactive to Jan. 1, and $230 million has been paid so far to producers. Nearly half of farmers who have enrolled in the DMC have signed up for five years of coverage; a 25 percent discount on the premium is offered for long-term enrollment.