Brown Announces USDA Will Soon Begin Accepting Sign-Ups for New and Improved Program that Will Assist Ohio Dairy Farmers

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will soon begin accepting sign-ups for its new and improved Margin Protection Program (MPP). As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, Brown helped revamp the program as a part of this year’s bipartisan budget deal. Brown previously fought to provide this relief to Ohio’s dairymen and said the program will provide aid to more than 86 percent of the state’s producers.

“Revamping the MPP was a victory for Ohio’s dairy farmers, who have been hard hit by excess production and tough market conditions for far too long. The news that the USDA will soon open this new program up for sign-ups means Ohio’s dairymen are one step closer to getting the relief they desperately need and deserve,” said Brown. “This will mean better and cheaper coverage for many Ohio dairy producers, which will help rural communities and local economies across the state.”

The USDA announced yesterday that its sign-up period will occur from April 9 to June 1, 2018, and the coverage will be retroactive to January of this year. Brown called this a major victory for Ohio, which is the tenth largest milk producing state in the country, producing 5,531 million pounds of milk in 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The overhauled MPP now includes a major improvement to the farm safety net for Ohio’s dairy farmers to help them recover from tough economic times. The deal reached in the bipartisan budget act substantially reduces premiums for farmers’ first five million pounds of milk, adjusted from the reduced premium cap of four million pounds of milk. This will make MPP more affordable for all farmers and make the safety net work better under current conditions. The higher cap will capture more than 86 percent of Ohio’s dairies – who produce under five million pounds per year – and also help out larger dairies who will still receive reduced premiums on their first five million pounds.

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