RMA Will Not Penalized Producers That Dumped Milk

Last week, the USDA’s Risk Management Agency announced that milk producers will not be inappropriately penalized if their milk must be dumped because of recent market disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, RMA is extending inspection deadlines, waiving inspection requirements and authorizing more crop insurance transactions over the phone and electronically to help producers during the crisis.

That decision will allow dairy farmers participating in those risk management programs not to lose coverage on any milk that can’t be marketed and will be helpful in mitigating some of the catastrophic damage many dairies face due to supply-chain disruption caused by the coronavirus crisis.

“The market realities of the COVID-19 era demand solutions, and USDA’s decision is a balm for thousands of dairy farmers participating in these important risk-management programs,” said National Milk Producers Federation President and CEO Jim Mulhern. “We commend USDA’s decision and look forward to discussing further actions that can provide immediate relief for all dairy farmers, as outlined in our joint plan developed with the International Dairy Foods Association that we sent to the department earlier this week. Together, we can make a real difference for dairy, and we are pleased with USDA’s action here.” 

Many state and local governments, including Washington, Oregon and Idaho, have issued “stay-at-home” orders and have shut down non-essential businesses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in market disruptions and preventing in-person crop insurance transactions.

Specifically, RMA
is:

• Allowing dumped
  milk to be counted as milk marketings for the Dairy Revenue Production (DRP) or
  actual marketings for the Livestock Gross Margin for Dairy (LGM-Dairy)
  programs;
• Allowing phone
  and electronic transactions for 2021 crop year sales and reporting dates,
  including options and endorsements;
• Extending the
  deadline for some perennial crop Pre-Acceptance Inspection Reports (PAIRs);
• Waiving the
  2021 crop year inspection requirements for the Nursery and Nursery Value Select
  (NVS) programs in certain cases.

“Dairy Revenue Protection is a vital risk management tool for our dairy farmers, especially during times like these, and USDA wants to ensure producers continue to get the coverage they purchased. RMA is making some further adjustments to assist the crop insurance industry and America’s farmers and ranchers,” RMA Administrator Martin Barbre said. “We will continue to make adjustments as needed to ensure that the Federal crop insurance program continues to serve the risk management needs of our nation’s producers during this unprecedented time.”

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