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DMC 2024 signup requires regulatory changes

The 2018 Farm Bill extension has put sign-up for 2024’s USDA Dairy Margin Coverage Program on hold for farmers.

American Farm Bureau Federation’s Danny Munch tells Brownfield the extension incorporated Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage Production history into the bill, but a new rule in the Federal Register needs to be published before farmers can benefit.

“Farmers originally could only use the average of 2011, 2012, and 2013 production history now could add 75 percent of the difference of 2019 production,” he explains.  “That was allowable for 2022 and 2023 after that bill was passed, but it was not officially extended past 2023.”

Munch says the signup process could be delayed by a few months, but USDA would make retroactive payments if margins meet program thresholds.

“Which actually might give some advantage to farmers who will at least see how some of the market prices have been for January,” he says.

The first available margin data for 2024 will be released at the end of February by USDA.

Last year’s enrollment process for the program was open from October 2022 through the end of January 2023.