U.S. Ag Secretary Says Re-Opening Dairy Margin Coverage Program Doesn't Make Sense
Monday, April 20th, 2020 -- 9:05 AM
(Wisconsin Ag Connection) -The nation's agriculture secretary says recent requests from lawmakers and farm groups to re-open the enrollment period for the Dairy Margin Coverage program defeats the purpose of having insurance on commodities.On Friday, Sonny Perdue told the media that offering the program to farmers who did not originally participate in the DMC would only train them to avoid enrolling in such programs again in the future. "The Dairy Margin Coverage program is an insurance program just like the safety net for crops," he said. "It doesn't make any sense to have an insurance program and allow people to retroactively decide to have coverage after they need it." In early April, Wisconsin's entire Congressional delegation signed a letter to Perdue urging him to open the program up and make payments retroactive to January 1 due to the coronavirus.
But on Friday, he explained that his agency "literally begged people" to enroll prior to the last sign-up deadline. The DMC offers reasonably priced protection to dairy farmers when the difference between the all-milk price and the average feed cost falls below a certain dollar amount selected by the farmer. Last year, producers earned more than $300 million from the program.
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