Dairy farmers have been dissatisfied with the current program, but the National Milk Producers Federation is still evaluating the Farm Bureau proposal and has no position on it, a National Milk spokesman said.
«Dairy Revenue Protection (Dairy-RP) is a concept plan of insurance, developed by the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Farm Bureau Insurance Services and other collaborators, which would allow dairy farmers to purchase risk management protection against declines in quarterly revenue from milk sales, i.e. unexpected declines in milk prices, unexpected declines in milk production or both,» John Newton, the Farm Bureau director of market intelligence, noted in the article.
Dairy-RP would function similarly to crop revenue protection polices in that the revenue guarantee would be based on futures prices, expected production and market-implied risk, and would be priced using actuarially appropriate methods, Newton added.
The concept plan was presented to the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation for approval to be offered to dairy producers.
Chris Galen, a spokesman for the National Milk Producers Federation, said in an email, «We are still evaluating the Farm Bureau’s Dairy Revenue Protection program, and don’t have a position on it.»
«In principle, we support risk management tools for dairy farmers that complement or enhance current public (i.e. the dairy Margin Protection Program) or private programs,» Galen said. «We are supportive of ways to increase the risk management options available to dairy farmers.»
Source: The Hagstrom Report
Link: http://www.thefencepost.com/news/farm-bureau-has-dairy-revenue-plan-national-milk-has-no-position/