Dairy producers have the opportunity to enroll in the Farm Service Agency’s Dairy Margin Protection Program now through Nov. 20.
MPP is a risk-management tool available to all dairy producers that allows them to protect their economic risk from low milk prices, high feed prices or a combination of both. The difference between the milk price and the cost of feed needed to produce that milk is the “margin” protected via this program.
MPP essentially allows a dairy farm to ensure it has enough cash flow to survive an industrywide poor economic situation. It is only one tool that can be used to manage the economic risk of producing milk.
The University of Wisconsin-Extension and FSA will offer a workshop open to dairy producers who have not finalized their MPP plans. The workshop will be held from 10:15 a.m. to noon Friday, Nov. 6, at the Chase Town Hall, 8481 County Road S, Sobieski. It is 3 miles east of state Highway 32 on County Road S or 7 miles west of U.S. Highway 41 on County S.
Producers will learn about the MPP program and analyze their farm’s best fit if they decide to enroll. Scott Reuss, UW-Extension agriculture agent, and FSA personnel will lead the discussion.
The margins a farm can choose to protect against range from $4 to $8. To put that in perspective, the calculated margin in the last four years has fluctuated between $3 and $15, with the average being about $8.50. The premiums paid by a farm will vary according to the level of coverage and the amount of milk protected, which can be up to 90 percent of the farm’s highest actual production in the previous three years.
A significant portion of this workshop will cover analyzing the cost versus potential return and risk coverage at differing margin levels.
Pre-registration is not required for this free workshop.
For information, contact the FSA office at 920-829-5406 or Reuss at 715-732-7510 or scott.reuss@ces.uwex.edu.
Dairy producers also can access information at dairymarkets.org/MPP.
Categories
