News

Dairy Margin Protection Plan signups delayed

The USDA has delayed signing up dairy farmers for the Margin Protection Program. The widely-criticized program has had sign-up periods extended until late in the year for a few years, but this is the first time the beginning of the sign-ups has been delayed.

The USDA was scheduled to begin accepting MPP signups on July 3rd but postponed accepting them until September 1st. saying the change would allow county offices to concentrate on national acreage reporting, emergency grazing requests, and LFP applications.

Most producers have been unsatisfied with the MPP as a safety net, and most have not bought in at higher coverage levels due to poor program payouts. There are efforts in Congress to make some changes to the MPP program in the 2018 federal budget that would help farmers.