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Dairy margin program provides extra assurance

A dairy economist is encouraging farmers to sign up for the Dairy Margin Coverage program this year even with positive price outlooks.

Bill Brooks with Northwest Missouri State University tells Brownfield the program paid dairy farmers nearly $37 million in payments last year.

“The margin coverage program only had payments the first three months of the year or those producers that have bought coverage at that $9.50 per hundredweight level, and then after that our margins were above that level and continued to increase until they peeked out in September,” he explains.

He says strong prices and low feed costs for dairy farmers this year suggests there won’t be a lot of payouts, but trade uncertainty leaves a lot of unknowns.

“Because we are exporting so much, it becomes a bigger issue for us to look at what is going on internationally, economically from of course China as a large one, but then in general other countries around the world that we’re shipping a fair amount of products to,” he says.

Enrollment for the program is now open through March 31.

Brownfield interviewed Brooks following the recent Missouri Dairy Expo where he was a featured speaker.