Program on Dairy Markets and Policy

The Bipartisan Budget Act made changes to the Margin Protection Program including an increase in the volume of milk in Tier 1 and a substantial reduction to premium rates in Tier 1. We have updated our MPP Decision Tool to reflect those changes. Signup for 2018 is retroactive to cover the entire calendar year and will take place through June 1, 2018.

Farm Credit East has posted a recording of a jointly sponsored webinar with DMaP containing detailed information and analyses of this year's MPP.

There is a new Information Letter Which looks at Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations Permits on Public Notice ‐ Dairy Cattle (CAFOs). The purpose of this is to provide a new leading indicator for future growth of milk supply in the United States.

Offically it's Spring and things are supposed to be coming up...Production is up. Stocks are up. Milk price up—maybe. Mark and Bob talk about the markets we face as we work our way through March. The outlook video is about 10 minutes long and you can access it here or from the Podcast section of the web site.

There is a new Briefing Paper describing changes to the Margin Protection Program (MPP) with example calculations for the new program parameters. The Farm Service Agency still has implementation rules to finalize, but the major parameters of the changes are known. We will update the MPP Decision Tool as soon as FSA has finalized those rules.