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FarmFirst supports proposed Dairy Margin Coverage changes

A dairy cooperative is supporting proposed changes to the Dairy Margin Coverage program.

Jeff Lyon with FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative tells Brownfield the Dairy Farm Resiliency Act would make two major changes. “One has to do with making changes to production histories to update those so they more accurately reflect production levels where dairy farms are at, and then the other one is to make an incremental increase from the five million pound volume at tier one up to about six million pounds.”

Lyon says the Dairy Margin Coverage program has been effective, but needs the updates.  He is concerned about if Congress will agree to the changes. “Part of the challenge will be how much money will be available, because if you doing production history or looking at increasing volume for tier one, that will add cost to the program, so we’ll have to look and see what happens with that.”

Lyon says the triggers for supplemental payments producers received a few years ago might get added to the new farm bill, and the Dairy Farm Resiliency Act would take it a step further.

The legislation is co-sponsored by House members Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin, Elissa Slotkin from Michigan, Marc Molinaro from New York, and Abigail Spanberger from Virginia.