Dairy Margin Coverage sign-up underway

WASHINGTON — Dairy producers can now enroll for 2023 coverage through the Dairy Margin Coverage program, an important safety net program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that helps producers manage changes in milk and feed prices.

Last year, USDA’s Farm Service Agency took steps to improve coverage, especially for small- and mid-sized dairies, including offering a new Supplemental DMC program and updating its feed cost formula to better address retroactive, current and future feed costs.

These changes continue to support producers through this year’s sign-up, which ends Dec. 9.

“Dairy producers are the backbone of many agricultural communities across rural America,” FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux said.

“Dairy Margin Coverage provides critical assistance to our nation’s small- and mid-sized dairies, helping make sure they can manage the numerous and often unpredictable uncertainties that adversely impact market prices for milk.

“This year showed why enrolling in DMC makes good business sense. Early in the year, some economists predicted that DMC would not trigger any payments for the calendar year, but then fast forward to now, when we’re starting to see payments trigger and a return on investment.”

DMC is a voluntary risk management program that offers protection to dairy producers when the difference between the all-milk price and the average feed price — the margin — falls below a certain dollar amount selected by the producer.

So far in 2022, DMC payments to more than 17,000 dairy operations have triggered for August for more than $47.9 million. According to DMC margin projections, an indemnity payment is projected for September, as well.

At 15 cents per hundredweight for $9.50 coverage, risk coverage through DMC is a relatively inexpensive investment.

DMC offers different levels of coverage, even an option that is free to producers, aside from a $100 administrative fee. Limited resource, beginning, socially disadvantaged or a military veteran farmers or ranchers are exempt from paying the administrative fee, if requested.

To determine the appropriate level of DMC coverage for a specific dairy operation, producers can use the online dairy decision tool at https://tinyurl.com/yj8fbvr2.

Supplemental DMC

Last year, USDA introduced Supplemental DMC, which provided $42.8 million in payments to better help small- and mid-sized dairy operations that had increased production over the years, but were not able to enroll the additional production.

Supplemental DMC coverage is applicable to calendar years 2021, 2022 and 2023. Eligible dairy operations with less than 5 million pounds of established production history may enroll supplemental pounds.

For producers who enrolled in Supplemental DMC in 2022, the supplemental coverage will automatically be added to the 2023 DMC contract that previously established a supplemental production history.

Producers who did not enroll in Supplemental DMC in 2022 can do so now. Producers should complete their Supplemental DMC enrollment before enrolling in 2023 DMC.

To enroll, producers will need to provide their 2019 actual milk marketings, which FSA uses to determine established production history.

DMC Payments

Additionally, FSA will continue to calculate DMC payments using updated feed and premium hay costs, making the program more reflective of actual dairy producer expenses.

These updated feed calculations use 100% premium alfalfa hay rather than 50%. The benefits of these feed cost adjustments were realized in the recent August 2022 margin payment as current high feed and premium hay costs were considered in payment calculations.

More Information

In addition to DMC, USDA offers other risk management tools for dairy producers, including the Dairy Revenue Protection plan that protects against a decline in milk revenue — yield and price — and the Livestock Gross Margin plan, which provides protection against the loss of the market value of livestock minus the feed costs.

Both DRP and LGM livestock insurance policies are offered through the Risk Management Agency. Producers should contact their local crop insurance agent for more information.

For more information on DMC, visit https://tinyurl.com/2yjamznt or contact your local USDA Service Center.