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Vilsack says USDA’s ability to help dairy farmers is limited
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, says his ability to help struggling dairy farmers is limited. During a Senate Ag Committee hearing Wednesday, Vilsack said, “We would have liked to have done more but the reality is that the CCC (Commodity Credit Corporation) capacity has been limited. Reductions have been made in the appropriations process in terms of how much CCC resource we can use. We’ve also had the flexibility that we once had reduced and eliminated.”
Vilsack recently announced 11-million dollars in Margin Protection Program payments, but told the committee coverage decisions by farmers made this year’s payments smaller than they could have been. He told the committee, “If farmers in 2016 had purchased the same level of coverage as they did in 2015, those payments would have been 40-million dollars, but for whatever reason, farmers made the decision in 2016 to reduce the level of coverage.” He confirms more farmers bought only catastrophic coverage this year. Vilsack also says his agency needs to do more to educate farmers about MPP and the changes from a payment system to an insurance system.
Vilsack told the Senate Ag Committee hearing he’s bound by rules set by Congress within the Commodity Credit Corporation, and has used every dime available. The Secretary told the committee he will take a look at whatever additional resources Congress gives USDA after October 1st.
Last month, Vilsack told Brownfield in an exclusive interview the Margin Protection Program could be improved in the 2018 Farm Bill by taking a more regional approach that takes feed costs into consideration.
The MPP payments made barely covered the premium and administration expense. With the dairy markets as bad as they are, and no help from MPP, why waste our money?