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Millions of dollars yet to be claimed by dairy farmers
Only a quarter of the more than 21,000 dairy farmers who enrolled in the Dairy Margin Protection Program have utilized repayment funds made available in the 2018 Farm Bill.
USDA Undersecretary Bill Northey says the last report he’s seen included $5 million distributed as cash payments to about 1,400 producers and $14 million for 4,000 producers who have chosen to use their credits to cover the new Dairy Margin Coverage Program premiums.
“I think we’ll likely see both those numbers grow.”
Northey says in some cases, farmers may no longer milk cows but are still eligible for a cash repayment.
“I believe that we had had about $70 million worth of premium credits that was available and had been earned by producers.”
About 40,000 dairy farmers can enroll in the new Dairy Coverage Program. Signup ends September 20th.
Farmers who were enrolled in MPP from 2014 through 2017 are able to receive repayments equal to the difference between the total amount of premiums paid by the dairy operation for each applicable calendar year of coverage and the total amount of payments made to the MPP-Dairy participating dairy operation for that applicable calendar year.
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