A new dairy margin coverage program could help producers affected by early margins. The Farm Service Agency released the March income over feed cost margin was $8.85 per hundredweight. For the third time in 2019 that margin is low enough to trigger a payment under the new Dairy Margin Coverage program. DMC covers the difference between the income over feed cost margin and the amount selected by the producer. For example, if a dairy operation that has 3 million pounds of production enrolled under the $9.50 coverage level on 95% of production, they would receive $1,543.75 for March.

The sign-up period for DMC begins on June 17th and provides coverage retroactive to January 1st, 2019. DMC is part of the 2018 Farm Bill that will replace the Margin Protection Program for Dairy. For more information, visit here.