With roughly six months to go before a new Farm Bill is due, some of the nation’s youngest ag professionals are making their voices heard about what they want to see within that legislation.
One dairy producer in New York says she wants to see updates to the Dairy Margin Coverage Program.
“If we could see some updating in the Dairy Margin Coverage Program, the production levels are very outdated. The Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage Program, I believe, there could be some updating as far as production concerns. Operations are not nearly the same now as they were 10 years ago. I think that seeing an update in that program would be very, very beneficial to dairy farmers,” said Valerie Lavigne.
When it comes to the paperwork required on today’s ag operations, one producer says he would like to see that process simplified.
“I would say ease of the loan application process. It’s such a different process to go through, and as a young farmer, it’s hard to show who owns what, or who has what, or who’s doing what because a lot of it is the parents or the grandparents. So, to focus on that in the application process would be great,” said Matt Fimon.
Earlier this month, FSA Administratior Zach Ducheneaux said improving this process is a top priority. Just recently, the Agency released their new loan application which went from nearly 30 pages down to 13. FSA says more updates are expected to come this year.
