Southeast Dairy Risk Management Workshop Series 

Dairy Risk Management Education Workshops for NC, SC and VA farms were held on May 29th (Roanoke, VA) and 30th (Belmont, NC) as part of a grant collaboration with NCSU, VA Tech and Clemson Extension.  Sara Dorland was the main presenter.  Sara Dorland is the managing partner of Ceres Dairy Risk Management LLC and also manages the Daily Dairy Report. Sara Dorland’s Southeastern Dairy Risk Management Seminar Slides are available here.

As a follow-up to the workshop series, dairy producers in NC, SC and VA may also participate in monthly calls facilitated by the Center for Dairy Excellence in Pennsylvania that are focused on dairy risk management.  These calls are brief, usually lasting less than 1/2 hour, begin at noon on the last Wednesday of every month, and can be joined using the information below:

Dairy Risk Management Options Comparison Chart

LGM, DMC (formerly MPP), Dairy-RP….Get the feeling we need a handbook on translating acronyms just to know what dairy risk management options are available?  Click here for a brief summary comparison of these three policies.

 

Dairy Revenue Protection Meetings 

Recording of 9/25 Webinar/Meeting

John Newton Dairy Revenue Protection Presentation

Allen Yeatts Dairy Revenue Protection Presentation

On October 9 dairy farmers across the U.S. will have a new USDA-sponsored risk management tool in the toolbox. Dairy Revenue Protection will protect against unexpected declines in milk revenue, declines in the value of milk or declines in the state or pooled production region-indexed milk production volume.

Under Dairy Revenue Protection a farmer has only five decisions to make:
-The method to value milk in the policy
-The amount of milk production to cover
-The level of coverage (from 70 to 95 percent of the revenue guarantee)
-Which quarterly contracts he/she wishes to purchase
-The optional protection factor.

Importantly, participating dairy farmers are not precluded from participation in USDA Farm Service Agency’s Margin Protection Program. Those interested in purchasing Dairy Revenue Protection must do so through an agent selling on behalf of an approved insurance provider such as American Farm Bureau Insurance Services, Inc.   https://www.fb.org/market-intel/dairy-revenue-protection-is-here

 

On the radar…

USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) will administer the Market Facilitation Program (MFP) to provide payments to dairy producers starting September 4, 2018.  Here’s the basic scoop:

• Eligibility Requirements:  Producers must be actively engaged in dairy farming and have ownership in the milk, must have AGI for tax years 2014, 2015, and 2016 of less than $900K, meet conservation compliance provisions, and have been in operation on June 1, 2018.
• Payment will be based on historical production reported for the MPP-Dairy.  (For existing dairies, the production history is established using the highest annual milk production marketed during the full calendar years of 2011, 2012 and 2013.
• Payment calculation is based on the historical production X 50% X $0.12/cwt.
• For more information, visit https://www.farmers.gov/manage/trm.  Visit your local FSA office to complete your application.

 

 

  

Discover NC Dairy is a virtual dairy farm tour that will soon be available for dairy producers, extension agents and agricultural educators from NC State Extension.  The video kiosk version had its maiden voyage at the 90th annual NC FFA Convention in Raleigh on June 19-20, 2018.  Students and ag teachers alike were able to see videos from real dairy farms in NC and the Southeast that covered everything from the nursery to the milking parlor, and from field crops to waste management.  Later this summer, Discover NC Dairy – 360°, an immersive, virtual reality experience for participants, complete with 3-D headsets will be debuted at the Mountain State Fair in Fletcher & the State Fair in Raleigh!  This project was made possible by a Gore Innovation Grant through NC State Extension and was supported by Ag & Resource Economics & Animal Science Departments, the Dairy Alliance and NCDA&CS.  For more information, visit go.ncsu.edu/discover-nc-dairy

 

Disaster Assistance Programs from FSA 

USDA has reopened the application period for producers recovering from cattle loss and other disasters.  Signup began June 4 for the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) and Emergency Assistance for Livestock (ELAP).  FSA is now accepting new applications for losses for calendar year 2017 and 2018.  For producers who already submitted applications and received decisions on their applications for these years do not need to file again, but they can reapply if they have additional losses or if their application was disapproved because it was filed late.

Key changes in the programs were made in February that include the following:

• Removing ELAP’s $20M fiscal year funding cap, which means that FSA can pay producers’ 2017 applications in full and their 2018 applications as soon as they are approved.
• Removing the per-person and legal entity annual program payment limitation of $125,000 for LIP for 2017 and future years.  (The income limitation still applies as it did before, meaning producers with an adjusted gross income of more than $900,000 are not eligible.)
• Changing LIP to allow producers to receive a payment for injured livestock that are sold for a reduced price due to an eligible event.  Previously, the program only covered financial loss for livestock death above normal mortality.

Producers interested in LIP or ELAP should contact their local FSA office.  To apply, producers will need to provide verifiable and reliable production records and other information about their operations.  Click here for the USDA news release.

 

Risk Management Links of Interest

• May 1, 2018 Bloomberg Article – Dairy Futures & Options
• FSA’s Dairy Margin Protection Program – Update 2018
• National Milk Producers Federation – MPP Program
• American Farm Bureau Federation’s Dairy Revenue Protection Insurance
• University of Wisconsin – Livestock Gross Margin for Dairy Analyzer

 

Business Management Tools
The Dairy Profit Monitor, part of the PRO-DAIRY Program at Cornell University, is a business management program that allows dairy producers to enter herd and financial data every month online and at their convenience.  Users get an immediate report back on their business on dairy benchmarks, as well as financial parameters.  If you are a producer interested in participating in Dairy Profit Monitor, please contact Brittany Whitmire for additional information.