James Pease, Professor, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech
It was brought to my attention that I gave an erroneous deadline for filing dairy production history information for the Dairy Margin Protection Program (MPP-Dairy) of September 28. Instead, producers have until November 28 to certify their production history and make their MPP decisions for 2014 and 2015.
MPP-Dairy is a voluntary dairy support program that pays producers if the difference between national average all milk price and national average feed costs over a two-month period during a calendar year falls below a producer-selected level between $4-$8/cwt. The producer also selects coverage for a proportion of their milk production ranging from 25-90 percent. Producers need to establish a production history (the highest annual production during 2011-2013) by September 28, 2014 and make their MPP margin and coverage selection for 2014 and 2015 by November 28, 2014. There is a $100/year administrative fee, and additional premiums apply to higher coverage levels and higher milk production history. For calendar 2014, total fees and premiums are due at the time of registration. For calendar year 2015 for MPP selections that incur a premium, at least 25 percent of the premium is due by February 1, 2015 and the remainder before June 1, 2015. For MPP information and sign-up, contact your local Farm Service Agency (FSA) office at http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/locator/app?state=va&agency=fsa.