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Less than a Month Left to Sign up for MPP in 2016

September 8, 2015

There’s less than a month left for dairy farmers to sign up at their local Farm Service Agency office for 2016 coverage under the dairy Margin Protection Program. The second enrollment period under the new federal dairy safety net program closes September 30th.

To help farmers make decisions, NMPF has updated tools at www.FutureforDairy.com, a website serving as a clearinghouse for MPP information. Included are a brochure explaining the program and its importance to dairy farmers and a calculator allowing farmers to estimate future margins based on their forecasts of feed and milk prices.

MPP helps protect against the kind of catastrophic losses that many farmers experienced in 2009 and again in 2012. It allows farmers to insure the difference between milk prices and feed costs. Producers insure their operations on a sliding scale, deciding both how much of their production to cover and the level of margin to protect.

Through the first six months of 2015, the program has issued payments in each of the three bi-monthly coverage windows for those who elected the maximum $8 margin coverage.