Enrollment Deadline for Dairy Risk Management Programs Extended

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced an enrollment extension for important dairy risk management programs. The deadline to apply for Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) and Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage (SDMC) is now March 25. Dairy producers are being encouraged to enroll as soon possible for the programs to help mitigate economic risk.

“Over the past two years, American dairy farmers have faced unprecedented uncertainty, from the ongoing pandemic to protracted natural disasters. As producers continue to manage these interconnected challenges, FSA has tools at the ready to provide critical support,” FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux said in a press release. “We are encouraging dairy operations to take advantage of the extended deadline and join the 8,969 operations that have already enrolled for 2022 coverage. At 15 cents per hundredweight at the $9.50 level of coverage, DMC is a very cost-effective risk management tool for dairy producers.”

So far, enrollment for DMC this year is less than half of 2021 where producers received more than $1 billion in payments. Authorized by the 2018 Farm Bill, DMC provides dairy producers with support when margins between feed costs and milk prices reach a particular threshold. SDMC is available for smaller and mid-sized operations that have been unable to enroll additional production. The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) was among the groups to thank USDA and Secretary Tom Vilsack for extending the signup period for the dairy risk management programs.

“DMC offers cost-effective margin protection for small and medium-sized producers and inexpensive catastrophic coverage for larger dairies. It provides critical protection against unforeseen market disruptions – and if the past two years have shown anything, it’s that unforeseen market disruptions can happen,” NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern. “We urge all producers to sign up for DMC protection, part of a suite of NMPF-supported, federally backed risk-management that also includes the Dairy-RP and LGM-Dairy programs.”