NMPF’s senior vice president Chris Galen discusses why farmers not already enrolled in the Dairy Margin Coverage program should consider using the risk management tool this year. DMC is one of several options, including Livestock Gross Margin and Dairy Revenue Protection programs, that can be used in tandem. The deadline for producers to sign up for the USDA program is Monday, March 31.
Tag: dairy safety net
Dairy Poised for an Action-Packed 2025
By Paul Bleiberg, Executive Vice President, Government Affairs, National Milk Producers Federation
2024 was a tumultuous year on the political front, and 2025 promises to be just as eventful on the policy front.
The 2024 election resulted in President-elect Donald Trump winning a second term while Republicans simultaneously won control of the U.S. Senate and held their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. With a governing trifecta in hand next year, Republicans are poised to put their stamp on many significant issues, several of which have direct implications for dairy farmers.
Picking up where this year left off, a new farm bill remains on the congressional to-do list. Lawmakers enacted a one-year extension before adjourning for the year, paving the way for House Agriculture Committee Chairman GT Thompson of Pennsylvania and incoming Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman of Arkansas to lead their respective panels in drafting long-term farm policy legislation next year.
This year’s House and Senate farm bill frameworks included numerous dairy priorities, such as requiring USDA to conduct mandatory manufacturing cost surveys every two years, prioritizing common food name protection in trade discussions, and allowing schools to serve nutrient-dense whole milk. This year’s extension ensures that the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program continues without disruption as the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) advocates for a new five-year farm bill next year that meets dairy’s needs.
Republicans will also turn their attention to extending the expiring provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, one of President-elect Trump’s signature first-term accomplishments. NMPF will urge Congress to continue several pieces of the 2017 law, including the Section 199A domestic manufacturing tax deduction that allows agricultural cooperatives to pass the proceeds directly back to their farmer-owners. Congress is likely to complete this process using the tool known as budget reconciliation, which allows for the consideration of certain tax and spending legislation not subject to the Senate’s 60-vote filibuster requirement.
Finally, Congress will need to address an overall government funding deadline in early 2025. This year’s draft House and Senate agriculture funding bills included several NMPF-backed provisions, including House language to reverse the reduction in the maximum monthly milk allotment in USDA’s final foods package rule for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Senate language mirroring the Innovative FEED Act to allow the Food and Drug Administration to review animal feed additives in a more efficient manner. While a short-term funding extension will require the new Congress to complete the full-year bills, the bills drafted this year will likely serve as the starting point for final negotiations next year.
Beyond these priorities, Congress and the incoming Trump Administration are likely to address major issues ranging from environmental policy to labor to trade. At each step of the way, NMPF will advocate for dairy farmers and the cooperatives they own as they seek to provide the U.S. and the world with wholesome, nutritious, and sustainably-produced milk and dairy products.
lve harmful barriers to trade, and promote the U.S. dairy industry as the global supplier of choice.
This column originally appeared in Hoard’s Dairyman Intel on Dec. 26, 2024.
January DMC Margin Inches Up Just Four Cents Over December
The January Dairy Margin Coverage program margin remained mired below the $9.50/cwt maximum Tier 1 coverage level, gaining just 4 cents over December to come in at $8.48/cwt and generating a payment of $1.02/cwt for that maximum coverage.
The national average All-milk price in January dropped $0.50/cwt from December to $20.10/cwt, while a $0.54/cwt drop in the DMC feed cost calculation offset that decline to result in the margin’s small improvement. The feed-cost decline was mostly driven mostly by a falling soybean meal price, assisted by slightly lower corn and premium alfalfa hay prices.
End-of-February futures-based forecasts indicated that DMC margins would remain mostly above the $9.50/cwt maximum Tier 1 coverage level for the rest of 2024.
NMPF’s Galen Urges DMC Signup
NMPF Senior Vice President Chris Galen detailed improvements to the Dairy Margin Coverage program in an interview with the National Association of Farm Broadcasters. “We encourage people to look at the dairy margin coverage program if they’re not already covered or to make adjustments in their coverage levels, because you don’t know what’s going to happen with either milk prices or feed costs,” he said.
NMPF Secures Continued DMC Production History Boost in Farm Bill Extension
NMPF worked closely with the House and Senate Agriculture Committees last month to finalize a one-year farm bill extension that was signed into law Nov. 17 as part of a larger government funding bill.
The extension continues the successful Dairy Margin Coverage program for 2024. At NMPF’s urging, it also incorporates the 2019 partial production history update, previously known as Supplemental DMC, into the underlying DMC safety net.
Through 2023, Supplemental DMC offered payments to those producers whose DMC production history was below five million pounds, but whose actual production had increased to that level by 2019. Eligible farmers received payments totaling 75 percent of the difference between their actual 2019 production and their DMC production history. Enactment of the farm bill extension now converts this supplemental program into a base production history update within DMC, ensuring it will continue going forward without requiring a separate extension.
Congress’s move also funds those programs that did not have a budget “baseline” to ensure that they would be funded into the next farm bill. This includes the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, which was created in the 2014 Farm Bill with NMPF’s support to leverage both private and public resources to maximize agricultural research needs.
NMPF thanked congressional leaders for their work on the extension and reinforced the importance of passing a five-year farm bill as soon as possible. “We commend House and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairs Glenn Thompson and Debbie Stabenow, as well as Ranking Members David Scott and John Boozman, for their bipartisan work to finalize this farm bill extension as part of the congressional spending agreement President Biden signed today,” NMPF president and CEO Jim Mulhern said in a statement. “With this bill passed, we stand ready to work closely with the House and Senate Agriculture Committees to deliver a strong, five-year farm bill as swiftly as possible.”
Overcoming challenges is what we do
By Randy Mooney, Chairman, NMPF Board of Directors
We’ve had a lot of achievements this year, but it’s also been a challenging time.
A year ago, costs on the farm were extremely high, but we had prices that would cover that. This year, costs are still high, but prices are down. That’s a lot of stress on the farm. And we’re also dealing with problems that we’ve dealt with for years.
There are labor problems; you just can’t find anybody to work. Supply chain disruptions are closer to the farm this year. It’s milk trucks getting milk off the farm; it’s feed trucks bringing feed into the farm. It’s getting simple parts that we took for granted we could get anytime we wanted to. There are geopolitical issues and extreme weather events.
We have challenges all the time, but it just seems like we continue to have more. It seems like we’re in the eye of a storm. But as farmers, we always anticipate a moment before the dawn, before things turn, before things get good again.
One of the things I’ve learned is that a lot of the world is envious of what we have.
They’re envious because we have the Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program, a self-governing program. We have a government that recognizes what we’re doing with sustainability — it’s not being mandated down from the top.
We’re taking care of our own. Today, we produce more milk using fewer and fewer natural resources. We’re revitalizing rural communities. For every dollar generated in dairy farming, it turns over three to seven times in local communities, generating $750 billion in the United States. That‘s pretty impressive.
We’re nourishing families around the world through milk’s unbeatable nutritional value. I’ve dairy farmed for a long time, through good times and bad times, but there’s never been a time that I haven’t laid my head down on my pillow at night and been proud of what I accomplished on my farm. We’re putting the most nourishing, most nutritious product known to man in that milk tank. And when that truck leaves, I know I’ve done something good.
Our ability to evolve how we work and adapt our resiliency is becoming more and more important. This year, we came together as an industry to unite around issues that helped build that resiliency. NMPF worked with member co-ops, farm bureaus, and state dairy organizations to come to consensus on the most substantial issues. Even going back to 2021, when you talk about Federal Milk Marketing Order modernization, we’ve worked hard to get these things done. Nobody knows what the outcome’s going to be, but you telling your story has made a difference.
Beyond that, we’re going to get a farm bill passed — we’re going have an extension. We’ve been working to implement the next version of FARM, FARM 5.0, that goes into effect in July. We also will work on promoting dairy’s sustainable nutrition. Dairy offers the most complete nutritional package available, and what’s amazing is that as we produce more milk, we’ll continue to use fewer natural resources. That’s the definition of sustainable nutrition.
For years, we’ve talked about sustainability in terms of environmental stewardship and how that translates into financial value for farms. Now, the financial values are there. You take solar panels, wind, methane digesters, and a lot of things happen on a farm that’s generating electricity to run your farms and to run your neighbor’s households. We’re there now. What we need is conservation funding in the farm bill through USDA grants through state and federal programs. There’s real money available to help us continue to do that, and we will.
No imitation food from a nut, a bean, or grain can hold a candle to dairy’s nutritional package. We all know that. That’s why it’s important to keep fighting the fight on plant-based alternative labeling. In the guidance that was issued earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recognized and admitted that plant-based alternatives are nutritionally inferior to real dairy.
Dairy protein plays a critical role in feeding people around the world, and it can’t be replaced by alternatives, including plant-based. Consumers have the right to understand how they’re nourishing their families, and we’re going to continue to advocate for the Dairy PRIDE Act to try to get that passed in Congress.
We’re going to continue to fight for more flavored milk in schools and higher fat levels, especially for those children whose main source of nutrition is through the school milk program. Milk is essential to their diets, and we’re not going to give up that fight. We’re all part of an industry that’s doing remarkable things. We are winning.
This has been adapted from Chairman of the NMPF Board of Directors Randy Mooney’s speech at the National Milk Producers Federation annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., on Nov. 14, 2023. This column originally appeared in Hoard’s Dairyman Intel on Nov. 22, 2023.
NMPF Statement on Farm Bill Extension in Funding Law
From NMPF President & CEO Jim Mulhern:
ARLINGTON, VA – “We commend House and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairs Glenn Thompson and Debbie Stabenow, as well as Ranking Members David Scott and John Boozman, for their bipartisan work to finalize this farm bill extension as part of the congressional spending agreement President Biden signed today.
“Along with continuing critical programs for dairy farmers, the legislation allows the Dairy Margin Coverage program to continue operating without the uncertainty of a potential disruption. DMC is an important and effective safety net for dairy farmers nationwide. This legislation includes the 2019 production history update as part of the program, and we look forward to 2024 DMC sign-up in the coming weeks.
“With this bill passed, we stand ready to work closely with the House and Senate Agriculture Committees to deliver a strong, five-year farm bill as swiftly as possible.”
NMPF’s Doud Discusses Dairy’s Future
Incoming NMPF President & CEO Gregg Doud explains NMPF’s role in Washington policy formulation and dairy farmer priorities, including a new farm bill, Federal Milk Marketing Order modernization, integrity in plant-based labeling and dietary guidelines that maximize the benefits of dairy, in an interview with RFD-TV. He also emphasized the importance of international trade and global issues to U.S. dairy’s future. “We need to look five, 10 years ahead and see what this industry needs,” he said.
NMPF Thanks USDA for Disaster Assistance Application Extension
ARLINGTON, VA – The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) thanked the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for extending the application deadline for critical, long-awaited financial assistance for dairy farmers affected by natural disasters.
The Milk Loss Assistance program administered by the Farm Service Agency will compensate eligible dairy farms and processors for milk dumped due to qualifying disaster events in 2020, 2021 and 2022, including droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, excessive heat, winter storms and smoke exposure.
“We are grateful to USDA for giving dairy farmers extra time to enroll in the Milk Loss Program,” said Jim Mulhern, president and CEO of NMPF. “This essential program will compensate producers for milk dumped due to disasters over several years. This extension will allow farmers more time to prepare their applications and fully benefit.”
The Milk Loss Program will help farmers and, in certain cases, cooperatives, recover losses previously overlooked by disaster assistance. Affected dairy farmers and cooperatives are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible. For eligibility and application information, as well as details about how payments will be calculated, visit USDA’s original Milk Loss Assistance program announcement.
Milk Prices on the Rise
Butter Buoys Milk Prices as Inflation Ebbs
NMPF Board of Directors Approves Comprehensive Farm Bill Recommendations
NMPF’s Board of Directors approved June 7 a suite of farm bill policy priorities covering the commodities, conservation, trade, and nutrition titles, working to enhance federal support for producers and expand access to nutritious dairy products for consumers at home and abroad.
With the current farm bill set to expire Sept. 30, Congress is working to enact a new bipartisan five-year farm bill. NMPF’s recommendations will aid in enacting an on-time farm bill that provides dairy producers the certainty they need as they manage their risks and resources while seeking market opportunities at home and abroad.
“The farm bill is crucial both to dairy farmers seeking to effectively manage their risk and to the consumers who benefit from the nutritious products dairy farmers work every to provide,” said Randy Mooney, chairman of NMPF’s board and a dairy farmer outside Rogersville, MO. “We stand ready to work with lawmakers as they craft this complex, extremely important legislation that touches everyone.”
In the Commodities title:
NMPF seeks to build on its successes in the last farm bill to strengthen the dairy safety net and provide producers with access to a range of risk management tools. NMPF’s board voted to support continuing the Dairy Margin Coverage safety net while updating the program’s production history calculation. The board also voted to prioritize improving the Livestock Gross Margin-Dairy and Dairy-Revenue Protection programs should new funding become available.
The board also voted to seek farm bill language to direct USDA to conduct mandatory plant cost studies every two years to provide better data to inform future make allowance reviews. This would complement the near-term make allowance update NMPF is pursuing through its Federal Milk Marketing Order initiative via the USDA hearing process announced last week. Similarly, the board also voted to pursue restoring the previous “higher of” Class I mover in the most expeditious manner possible, either administratively via the FMMO process or legislatively through the farm bill, in which the mover was last changed in 2018.
In the Conservation title:
NMPF is advocating for policies that better position the dairy industry to meet its voluntary, producer-led goal of becoming greenhouse gas neutral or better by 2050. NMPF’s board voted to support maintaining robust funding for voluntary conservation programs, such as the Environmental Quality Incentives Program that supports dairy farmers in their ongoing land and water resource management efforts, with additional emphasis on feed and manure management both of which are major areas of opportunity in sustainability. The board also voted to seek relief from program payment limitations that prevent the family farmers that produce most of the nation’s milk supply from fully using these programs.
In the Trade title:
NMPF will support policies recognizing the growing importance of trade for U.S. dairy, with exports accounting for one-sixth milk of all U.S. milk production, a share expected to grow. NMPF’s board voted to support enhancing funding for trade promotion programs like the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development program, which promote American-made dairy and agriculture products that compete with heavily subsidized foreign products and return well over $20 in export revenue for every dollar invested.
The NMPF board also voted to seek language to protect common food names, as embodied in the bipartisan, bicameral SAVE Act that would establish an official list of common food and beverage names and direct USDA and the U.S. Trade Representative to prioritize this issue in international trade negotiations.
In the Nutrition title:
NMPF will support policies that reflect dairy’s role as an excellent source of 13 essential nutrients, some of which are under-consumed, according to the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is vital to linking the food we produce as farmers to families across the country facing difficult circumstances. NMPF’s board voted to support the enhancement of federal nutrition programs to provide nutritious dairy products to beneficiaries. NMPF also supports the bipartisan Dairy Nutrition Incentives Program introduced in the Senate to encourage SNAP participants to choose healthful dairy products at the grocery store.
