DMC Sign-up Begins as NMPF Calls for Farm Bill

March 05, 2024

NMPF welcomed USDA’s Feb. 23 announcement that this year’s sign-up period for the Dairy Margin Coverage program would open Feb. 28 and run through April 29. Payments began yesterday for payments triggered by January’s $8.48/cwt DMC margin.

The DMC program for 2024 is improved compared to past years, due to NMPF leadership. The one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill approved in December permanently incorporated the Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage program into the underlying DMC. This important fix ensures that the 2019 production history update will move forward permanently with DMC and not need to be extended separately.

“Dairy farmers are pleased to finally have the certainty of knowing when the Dairy Margin Coverage program signup is beginning, and NMPF urges every dairy farmer to strongly consider signing up,” said Gregg Doud, NMPF president and CEO, in a statement. “We thank Congress for making this important change and are grateful for USDA’s work in rolling out this updated program for farmers.”

Still, the delay in DMC implementation – and its one-year nature – underscores the importance of approving a new farm bill, Doud said. Recent low producer margins show the critical importance of longer-term DMC reauthorization. NMPF is reaffirming its call for Congress to pass a five-year farm bill as quickly as possible. The House and Senate Agriculture Committees are continuing to develop their respective farm bill proposals.

“NMPF is eager to assist producers in any way they can with this program. We also look forward to working to ensure that farmers receive what they need even more – a new farm bill that provides certainty for the next several years, and not just 2024,” said Doud.

Dairy farmers who were enrolled in DMC in 2023 under a five-year lock-in contract received a 25 percent discount on their premiums. Those farmers will be eligible for the discount in 2024 as well. However, all dairy producers must still enroll during the 2024 DMC enrollment period.

For more NMPF resources related to the DMC program and federally backed risk management programs, visit here.


January DMC Margin Inches Up Just Four Cents Over December

March 05, 2024

The January Dairy Margin Coverage program margin remained mired below the $9.50/cwt maximum Tier 1 coverage level, gaining just 4 cents over December to come in at $8.48/cwt and generating a payment of $1.02/cwt for that maximum coverage.

The national average All-milk price in January dropped $0.50/cwt from December to $20.10/cwt, while a $0.54/cwt drop in the DMC feed cost calculation offset that decline to result in the margin’s small improvement. The feed-cost decline was mostly driven mostly by a falling soybean meal price, assisted by slightly lower corn and premium alfalfa hay prices.

End-of-February futures-based forecasts indicated that DMC margins would remain mostly above the $9.50/cwt maximum Tier 1 coverage level for the rest of 2024.


CWT Task Force Explores Program’s Future

March 05, 2024

NMPF’s task force of farmers and cooperative leaders met several times in recent weeks to consider a range of ideas as the program faces renewal this year.  The task force, formed earlier this year to consider how the CWT export assistance program should evolve in the future to better meet the needs of its members, is generating ideas to present a series of potential extensions of CWT’s current operations to the NMPF Board of Directors for consideration and approval.

Ideas discussed so far include support to develop new products in new markets, expand the range of products exported and sold in overseas markets, and improve the shipping and logistics capabilities needed to export U.S. dairy products.  The task force will continue to meet virtually in the spring to flesh out concepts and propose detailed proposals to the NMPF Board.

CWT February Committed Product Volume


NMPF Against Emissions Reporting for Manure under EPCRA

March 05, 2024

NMPF filed its own comments Feb. 13 and joined with other agriculture groups in coalition comments to EPA’s Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking weighing in on the reporting of air emissions from manure under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA).

Both sets of comments assert that Congress, the emergency response community, animal agriculture groups and the Coast Guard think that reporting air emissions from manure under a statute designed to address serious, life-threatening chemical spills is ill-advised and unnecessary. NMPF also said reporting would invade farmers’ privacy and put them at risk of being targeted by activist groups such as the Animal Liberation Front, which has been labeled a terrorist organization by the FBI.

Air emissions reporting under EPCRA has been an ongoing battle. NMPF and other agriculture groups were able to quash the notion that ammonia and hydrogen sulfide from manure were reportable under EPCRA and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act through a legislative fix in 2018 and a regulatory fix in 2019.

In January 2021, the Biden Administration issued an Executive Order instructing EPA to review and rethink its regulations. Later that same year, EPA requested a court, where legal action was ongoing, to send the rule back for review without nullifying it so the rule would remain in effect while undergoing review.

The agency’s plan to revoke the exemption it granted in 2019 was abandoned after pushback from NMPF and other agriculture groups. NMPF is cautiously optimistic that the common-sense exemption will be retained. On Feb. 14, Representatives Nick Langworthy, R-NY, and Jim Costa, D-CA, led a letter signed by 44 of their colleagues urging EPA to retain the current exemption.


Ag Groups Oppose Proposed Rodenticide Policy Changes

March 05, 2024

NMPF and other agriculture groups submitted comments to EPA on Feb. 13 strongly opposing any policy in the “Draft Biological Evaluation for the Rodenticides and the Rodenticide Strategy” that involves making rodenticides restricted-use products.

NMPF and the agriculture groups strongly supported enhancing rodenticide stewardship to mitigate risks to non-target species while raising concerns about the effectiveness of EPA’s proposed strategy.

“We are deeply concerned that assumptions made and errors in the Agency’s analysis do not support the Agency’s finding that the rodenticides are likely to adversely affect even a single individual plant or animal,” the groups said in their comments.

The groups cautioned against designating rodenticide products as restricted-use items and warned of potential hazards on farms and ranches. The comments also emphasized the critical importance of maintaining effective and affordable rodent control measures to safeguard animal welfare and food safety while preventing substantial environmental and financial losses in grain and feed.

NMPF, alongside other farm groups including the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Pork Producers Council, emphasized EPA’s need to collaborate with rodenticide manufacturers and agricultural stakeholders to conduct comprehensive studies on how specific uses of rodenticides and potential pathways of exposure could adversely impact endangered species.

NMPF has actively participated in this issue for several years alongside fellow agriculture groups opposing the proposed rodenticide ban.


NMPF Represents U.S. Dairy at WTO Ministerial

March 05, 2024

NMPF Executive Vice President for Policy Development & Strategy Jaime Castaneda and Trade Policy Director Tony Rice advocated for U.S. dairy in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, Feb. 26-29, seeking improved market access and pro-dairy policies at the World Trade Organization Ministerial.

As a recognized non-government representative at the Ministerial, NMPF joined the U.S. Coalition for WTO Reform to advise U.S. government negotiators throughout the meeting, meet with the WTO Secretariat and likeminded delegations, and raise the profile of U.S. agricultural trade priorities.

Important issues at stake include:

  • Negotiations to reform the dispute settlement system.
  • The establishment of a work plan on agriculture that includes market access as a priority.
  • Pushing back against attempts to weaken WTO agricultural rules related to public stockholding subsidies and special safeguard mechanisms that would distort trade.

Castaneda also spoke at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce organized event on the importance of WTO dispute settlement reform and highlighted the outcomes that U.S. agriculture is prioritizing at the ministerial. Castaneda and Rice also met with U.S. Dairy Export Council international staff to receive the latest updates on barriers to trade in the Middle East and North Africa regions.


FARM Program Launches New Look, Features for Database

March 05, 2024

The FARM Program launched a new user interface for its database Feb. 20.

The FARM database is used by FARM Program evaluators and participant managers to conduct evaluations and track farm progress over time within the FARM Program Areas. The new database features allow FARM Program evaluators and managers to navigate dashboards more easily as well as manage certifications, farm data and action plans. A new search feature with enhanced filtering options streamlines users’ ability to find information.

FARM will host Zoom demo sessions for evaluators and managers to walk through the new site navigation and have their questions answered in real-time. FARM database users can access the database with their existing login credentials.


NMPF Letters Urge New Market Access

March 05, 2024

NMPF helped coordinate a pair of letters in February urging policymakers to prioritize new market access, as U.S. agriculture continues to lag behind competitors in the global economy.

NMPF, USDEC and other agricultural organizations signed a Feb. 15 letter to Congress that detailed how the lack of new market access is threatening food and agriculture industry profitability. The letter called for Congress to work with and press the current and future Administrations to open more doors for U.S. agriculture exports.

Meanwhile, the newly launched Ag Trade Caucus, created by Farmers for Free Trade with support from NMPF, sent a Feb. 20 letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, urging the administration to continue to pursue agreements that address the trade barriers that are most harmful to U.S. dairy.


NMPF Testifies on Common Names

March 05, 2024

NMPF Executive Vice President for Policy Development & Strategy Jaime Castaneda testified on the need for greater action from the U.S. government to proactively negotiate common names protections with trading partners, during a Feb. 21 hearing hosted by the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) office.

The hearing highlighted the agency’s annual Special 301 process, which seeks to identify intellectual property trade abuses around the world and set up USTR’s IP priorities for the following year.

NMPF and USDEC submitted joint comments in January that complemented a more comprehensive submission from the Consortium for Common Food Names. All three organizations emphasized the urgency of the issue and highlighted the damage done to American cheesemakers when they are not allowed to use the generic terms that consumers have known and loved for generations.