News

Most funding cut from Missouri dairy act

Missouri’s dairy farmers won’t be getting financial assistance under a state law meant to reimburse them for most of their federal Margin Protection Program insurance premiums.

Dave Drennan, head of the Missouri Dairy Association, says the governor’s budget cut of more than $1-Million dollars for the Dairy Revitalization Act is a huge blow, “Without the state reimbursement, our folks are apprehensive about the new federal program. This is the third sign-up we’ve held and so, they’re sitting there – they have ‘til December 16th to make a decision and we now know that we’re not going to get any support from the state.”

Drennan tells Brownfield Ag News, the governor kept $200-thousand dollars in place for dairy scholarships as part of the law, but the reimbursement would have had a big impact, “To buy up more coverage so that when we have a drought or we have a collapse in milk prices like we’ve been going through they would have some support. That’s an expense that we’re not in a good situation right now to afford without some assistance.”

Governor Jay Nixon cut the budget to allow for tax breaks for farmers who received disaster payments. The state legislature voted to override the Governor’s veto of that bill. Drennan says the governor’s estimate of the fiscal impact is well below that of Dr. Scott Brown’s with the University of Missouri.