Randy Mooney, National Milk Producers Federation Chair, said, “There’s no more important issue than getting the Margin Protection Program fixed.” He called it the right dairy program for dairy farmers, but added, “It’s not working.” He spoke at the joint annual meeting of the NMPF, Dairy Management, Inc., and the United Dairy Industry Association. A Milk Business dot com report said industry experts agree that Congressional changes to the original program idea hindered its ability to work as designed. The biggest question before the meeting was how to get priorities working in the new Congress next year. The National Milk Producers have put together an Economic Policy Committee to create a proposal to advance priorities, such as regional issues, margin payment structures, producer payment timing, and other issues to make the Margin Protection Program a more efficient risk management program. Paul Bleiberg is the Senior Director of Government Relations for the National Milk Producers, and he said, “There’s a strong desire to get MPP reform done early. We don’t know what the playing field is going to look like and we need to be ready for whatever happens.”
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.