WASHINGTON, D.C. (RFD-TV News) —Enrollment is open for USDA’s Dairy Margin Coverage program.
USDA Undersecretary Richard Fordyce says producers should review their enrollment status to make sure they have completed the necessary steps for this year.
“Three different buckets. If you’ve not signed up in the past, you want to learn more about it, go to the Farm Service Agency office in your county, talk to the people there. They’re going to be able to inform you on how to do it and really what the program is. Secondly, if you enrolled last year, but you enrolled just for one year, you’re going to need to go back in and re-enroll in the program. The third group of folks are those folks that took that five-year election. You still need to go in again, verify that you’re still milking and sign the application for this year. It’s really risk management from a margin perspective, almost record enrollment last year. We’re anticipating additional enrollment this year.”
Dairy farmers have raised concerns about how well the program reflects current conditions, and Fordyce says USDA is looking into those questions.
“Number one, try to understand, right, why is it not triggering? Are we using the right numbers, for example, maybe on that feed component side? But we’re going to dig into that.”
Fordyce has spent several months traveling farm country and listening to producer feedback on the program. He says those conversations are important for understanding what farmers and ranchers are dealing with each year.
