The National Milk Producers Federation applauded the inclusion of improvements
to both the dairy Margin Protection Program and the cotton program in the
Senate Appropriations Committee mark-up of its fiscal year 2018 agricultural
appropriations bill.
"We very much appreciate the leadership of Sens. Thad Cochran (R-MS) and
Patrick Leahy (D-VT) to help address critical shortcomings in the dairy and
cotton safety net programs through the agricultural appropriations bill,"
said NMPF President and CEO Jim Mulhern. "The enhancements to the dairy
Margin Protection Program contained in the bill would strengthen the program
and help pave the way for additional necessary improvements in the upcoming
farm bill," Mulhern said.
The appropriations bill makes two important changes to the MPP that were
included in NMPF's farm bill proposal: It would reduce premiums paid by dairy
farmers for the first 5 million pounds of milk coverage in the program, as well
as change the U.S. Department of Agriculture's calculation of the actual margin
from a two-month average margin to monthly.
"By making the dairy safety net program more affordable," Mulhern
said, "this legislation will ensure that more farmers have access to
better protection against catastrophic losses, likes those we experienced in
2009 and 2012. While there is more work to do to make the MPP the effective
safety net that it was envisioned to be, these improvements are a great
start."
Mulhern lauded the work by Cochran and Leahy -- the chairman and ranking member
of the Appropriations Committee, respectively -- as well Sens. Debbie Stabenow
(D-MI) and Pat Roberts (R-KS), the leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee,
for their critical work on this issue. He said NMPF was pleased to work with
the four principals to achieve these important improvements for dairy and
cotton. "This bi-partisan collaboration is a clear affirmation of how to
get important work done," Mulhern said.
While these provisions do not resolve all the problems with the MPP, Mulhern
said enacting these changes will be a major help. "NMPF will continue to
work with Congress and the Administration through the farm bill process to
address other problems so that the MPP can truly provide real safety net
support. While the MPP remains a work in progress, this development is a major
step in the right direction."