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Dairy margin insurance critical for farmers in 2023

Razor-thin margins have triggered insurance payments to dairy farmers almost every month of 2023.

American Farm Bureau Federation’s Danny Munch tells Brownfield all farmers enrolled in the USDA Dairy Margin Coverage Program for the first time received catastrophic payments during the summer.

“For the first time in the program’s history, in both the months of June and July, the milk margin calculated under Dairy Margin Coverage was below that $4 per hundredweight catastrophic coverage level—so very tight margins,” he says.

He says feed costs are becoming more manageable after harvest, but if prices remain high and farmers experience program delays in 2024…

“Then the situation is going to be a bit more dire, where any lag of enrollment time where folks aren’t getting their payments can have a big impact on the bottom line, especially as farmers have much higher interest expenses and managing and paying down their operating expenses for the next year,” he shares.

Through October, USDA has paid dairy farmers in the program nearly $1.3 billion. 

Data for November will be released in Friday’s USDA Agricultural Prices Report.