USDA’s Dairy Margin Protection Program (MPP) presents dairy farmers with two critical decisions: whether to participate, and if so, at what level? Farm Credit East has released a report that examines key provisions in the program and reviews the impact of MPP for selected years. In addition, the financial cooperative recently held a webinar that reviewed the decision tools available and talked strategies for making the MPP work for different operations.
There are a number of tools and resources available to help Northeast dairy producers make this important decision. We encourage producers to use this report, review the webinar recording and use all other tools available to make an educated decision that works for their operation,” said James Putnam, executive vice president, Farm Credit East.
The report looks at three coverage levels, for four different farm sizes, and what the MPP results would be, using historical data. When deciding what coverage options to choose, producers can use the report to consider the results for the size closest to their own.
Some key provisions of the Dairy Margin Protection program include: what amount of coverage to choose – producers can cover between 25 and 90 percent of their production; and what level of protection to opt for – producers can protect income-over-feed-cost margins between $4.00 and $8.00 per hundredweight.
The associated webinar features three dairy policy experts that go into further detail to explain the rules and procedures behind the new Dairy Margin Protection Program; to discuss price and margin forecasting and expectations; and to review the decision tools available.
In addition to the report and webinar, another tool available to producers is the Program on Dairy Markets and Policy’s decision tool, which is available at: Dairymarkets.org/MPP.
To view the full report, The Dairy Margin Protection Program: Impact by Farm Size, visit FarmCreditEast.com. To view the webinar recording, The Dairy Margin Protection Program: Procedures, decision tools and strategies, visit FarmCreditEast.com/webinars.
