Dairy and beef producers learned key points about the dairy and livestock provisions in the 2014 farm bill during an informational meeting hosted by Georgia Farm Bureau on March 24.
The meeting featured presentations by UGA experts on all of the farm bill's titles. Dr. Tommie Shepherd covered the dairy provisions and Dr. Curt Lacy reviewed livestock provisions.
The bill's dairy provisions renewed the Dairy Promotion & Research Program, the Dairy Indemnity Program and the Dairy Forward Pricing Program and added Dairy Producer Margin Protection and the Dairy Product Donation Program.
The bill, signed into law by President Obama in February, eliminated the Dairy Price Support Program, the Dairy Export Incentive Program, Federal Milk Marketing order (FMMO) Review Commission and the Milk Income Loss Coverage (MILC).
The Dairy Margin Protection Program (DMPP) is a revenue insurance-style instrument based on the margin between the all milk price (the national average price per hundredweight received for all milk sold in the U.S.) and average feed costs. Payments will be triggered when that margin falls below $4 for two consecutive months. There is no premium for producers who enroll at the $4 margin level, and producers have the option of paying progressively higher premiums for higher margins up to $8. There premiums increase after the first 4 million pounds of milk produced in a calendar year.
All U.S. dairy operations are eligible. There is an annual administrative fee of $100 and DMPP cannot be used in conjunction with the Livestock Gross Margin Program.
The Dairy Product Donation program will be triggered when the margin between the all milk price and feed costs falls below $4 for two consecutive months. The USDA will purchase manufactured dairy products for three months or until margins exceed $4, and the purchased product will be donated to food banks or feeding programs. The program will be suspended if U.S. prices exceed international prices by more than five percent.
UGA Extension Livestock Economist Curt Lacy reviewed the livestock provisions of the farm bill, noting that funding for the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP), the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) and the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-raised Fish (ELAP) were restored and funded retroactively to Oct. 1, 2011. The programs are administered through the Farm Service Agency, and total of payments under the disaster programs cannot exceed $125,000 per person or entity.
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