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The enrollment period for the 2024 Dairy Margin Program year begins Feb. 28, 2024, and ends April 29, 2024. For those who sign up for 2024 DMC coverage, payments may begin as soon as March 4, 2024, for any payments that triggered in January 2024.
DMC continues to offer protection to dairy producers when the difference between the all-milk price and the average feed price (the margin) falls below a certain dollar amount selected by the producer.
FSA has revised the regulations for DMC to allow eligible dairy operations to make a one-time adjustment to established production history. This adjustment will be accomplished by combining previously established supplemental production history with DMC production history for those dairy operations that participated in Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage during a prior coverage year. DMC has also been authorized through calendar year 2024. Congress passed a 2018 Farm Bill extension requiring these regulatory changes to the program. Read more.
Decision Tool
The DMC decision tool has been enhanced and was developed in partnership with representatives from the University of Minnesota and University of Wisconsin to help producers determine the level of coverage under a variety of conditions that will provide them with the strongest financial safety net.
Enrollment Reports
Updated DMC enrollment reports will be posted to this webpage at 2 PM eastern on the first Monday of each month. The first enrollment report for the 2023 program year is available on this webpage.
The 2018 Farm Bill authorized the new Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program, which is a voluntary risk management program for dairy producers. DMC replaces the Margin Protection Program for Dairy (MPP-Dairy).
Program at a Glance
The program provides:
Benefits
At a milk margin minus feed costs of $9.50 or less, DMC payments are possible depending on the level of coverage chosen by the dairy producer.
2024 DMC Program Year
Payments triggered in January and February. The August margin rate is $13.72.
2023 DMC Program Year
Payments triggered in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October and December. The December margin rate is $8.44.
2022 DMC Program Year
Payments triggered in August and September.
2021 DMC Program Year
Payments triggered in January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November.
2020 DMC Program Year
Payments triggered for March, April, May, September and December.
2019 DMC Program Year
Payments triggered in January, February, March, April, May, June and July
Who is Eligible?
To be eligible for DMC, a dairy operation must:
Dairy operations may consist of one or more dairy producers who are in the business of commercially producing and marketing milk as a single unit.
Dairy producers who are members of the dairy operation must share in the risk of producing milk and make contributions to the dairy operation that are at least commensurate with their share of the proceeds of the operation.
Dairy operations must be in compliance with highly erodible land and wetland conservation provisions. For more information, visit fsa.usda.gov/compliance. Adjusted gross income provisions do not apply to DMC.
Producers may have more than one dairy operation, but they must be separate and distinct in order to have a separate contract.
How it Works
To participate in DMC, dairy producers:
FSA has revised DMC regulations to extend coverage for calendar year 2024, which is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2024, and to provide an adjustment to the production history for dairy operations with less than 5 million pounds of production. In previous years, smaller dairy operations could establish a supplemental production history and receive Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage. For 2024, dairy producers can establish one adjusted base production history through DMC for each participating dairy operation to better reflect the operation’s current production.
For 2024 DMC enrollment, dairy operations that established supplemental production history through Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage for coverage years 2021 through 2023, will combine the supplemental production history with established production history for one adjusted base production history.
For dairy operations enrolled in 2023 DMC under a multi-year lock-in contract, lock-in eligibility will be extended until Dec. 31, 2024. In addition, dairy operations enrolled in multi-year lock-in contracts are eligible for the discounted DMC premium rate during the 2024 coverage year. To confirm 2024 DMC lock-in coverage or opt out in favor of an annual contract for 2024, dairy operations having lock-in contracts must enroll during the 2024 DMC enrollment period.
DMC offers different levels of coverage, even an option that is free to producers, minus a $100 administrative fee. The administrative fee is waived for dairy producers who are considered limited resource, beginning, socially disadvantaged or a military veteran. To determine the appropriate level of DMC coverage for a specific dairy operation, producers can use the online dairy decision tool.
How to Apply
The enrollment period for the 2024 Dairy Margin Program year began Feb. 28, 2024, and ends April 29, 2024.
FSA has revised the regulations for DMC to allow eligible dairy operations to make a one-time adjustment to established production history. This adjustment will be accomplished by combining previously established supplemental production history with DMC production history for those dairy operations that participated in Supplemental Dairy Margin Coverage during a prior coverage year. DMC has also been authorized through calendar year 2024. Congress passed a 2018 Farm Bill extension requiring these regulatory changes to the program. Read more.
More Information
Dairy Margin Coverage
This DMC decision tool can be used to help you look at and think about what your opportunities are.
Note on Sequestration: DMC indemnity payments will be reduced by a certain percentage (5.7 percent for 2023; 5.7 percent for 2022; 5.7 percent for 2021; 5.9 percent for 2020; 6.2 percent for 2019) due to a sequester order required by Congress and issued pursuant to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. FSA will reduce DMC indemnity payments by the applicable sequestration percentage before distribution to participating operations.
Enrollment, Production, and Payments Updates
For both DMC (for calendar year 2023) and Supplemental DMC, the enrollment period opened Oct. 17. and closed Dec. 9, 2022.
Review 2023 and previous program year reports
Prices
Read the details on how the prices below are used in the DMC calculation.
A change to use premium and supreme alfalfa hay will be used in the feed cost calculation for DMC
Month | Corn ($/bu) | Premium Alfalfa Hay ($/ton) | Soybean Meal ($/ton) | All Milk ($/cwt) | Final Feed Costs for DMC($/cwt) | Milk Margin Above Feed Costs for DMC($/cwt) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
January | 4.74 | 274.00 | 378.40 | 20.10 | 11.62 | 8.48 |
February | 4.36 | 278.00 | 363.63 | 20.60 | 11.16 | 9.44 |
March | 4.36 | 271.00 | 362.17 | 20.70 | 11.05 | 9.65 |
April | 4.39 | 260.00 | 357.68 | 20.50 | 10.90 | 9.60 |
May | 4.51 | 276.00 | 388.65 | 22.00 | 11.48 | 10.52 |
June | 4.48 | 256.00 | 384.10 | 22.80 | 11.14 | 11.66 |
July | 4.24 | 237.00 | 364.30 | 22.80 | 10.47 | 12.33 |
August | 3.84 | 236.00 | 343.40 | 23.60 | 9.88 | 13.72 |
September | ||||||
October | ||||||
November | ||||||
December |
Month | Corn ($/bu) | Premium Alfalfa Hay ($/ton) | Soybean Meal ($/ton) | All Milk ($/cwt) | Final Feed Costs for DMC($/cwt) | Milk Margin Above Feed Costs for DMC($/cwt) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
January | 6.64 | 328.00 | 482.40 | 23.10 | 15.16 | 7.94 |
February | 6.80 | 324.00 | 500.53 | 21.60 | 15.41 | 6.19 |
March | 6.67 | 314.00 | 484.40 | 21.10 | 15.02 | 6.08 |
April | 6.70 | 315.00 | 457.25 | 20.70 | 14.86 | 5.84 |
May | 6.54 | 317.00 | 423.58 | 19.30 | 14.47 | 4.83 |
June | 6.49 | 310.00 | 413.46 | 17.90 | 14.25 | 3.65 |
July | 6.22 | 288.00 | 443.15 | 17.40 | 13.88 | 3.52 |
August | 5.73 | 282.00 | 438.80 | 19.70 | 13.24 | 6.46 |
September | 5.21 | 288.00 | 411.07 | 21.00 | 12.56 | 8.44 |
October | 4.93 | 278.00 | 416.16 | 21.60 | 12.16 | 9.44 |
November | 4.66 | 271.00 | 464.27 | 21.70 | 12.12 | 9.58 |
December | 4.80 | 275.00 | 440.60 | 20.60 | 12.16 | 8.44 |
Month | Corn ($/bu) | Premium Alfalfa Hay ($/ton) | Soybean Meal ($/ton) | All Milk ($/cwt) | Final Feed Costs for DMC($/cwt) | Milk Margin Above Feed Costs for DMC($/cwt) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
January | 5.57 | 262.00 | 421.21 | 24.20 | 12.66 | 11.54 |
February | 6.10 | 266.00 | 480.96 | 24.70 | 13.72 | 10.98 |
March | 6.56 | 269.00 | 493.98 | 25.90 | 14.35 | 11.55 |
April | 7.08 | 271.00 | 476.70 | 27.10 | 14.81 | 12.29 |
May | 7.26 | 274.00 | 441.28 | 27.30 | 14.79 | 12.51 |
June | 7.37 | 277.00 | 445.93 | 26.90 | 14.98 | 11.92 |
July | 7.25 | 333.00 | 467.87 | 25.70 | 15.78 | 9.92 |
August | 7.24 | 343.00 | 510.90 | 24.30 | 16.22 | 8.08 |
September | 7.09 | 342.00 | 473.94 | 24.40 | 15.78 | 8.62 |
October | 6.50 | 348.00 | 468.68 | 25.90 | 15.19 | 10.71 |
November | 6.49 | 331.00 | 436.75 | 25.60 | 14.71 | 10.89 |
December | 6.58 | 327.00 | 462.85 | 24.70 | 14.94 | 9.76 |
Month | Corn ($/bu) | Premium Alfalfa Hay ($/ton) | Soybean Meal ($/ton) | All Milk ($/cwt) | Final Feed Costs for DMC($/cwt) | Milk Margin Above Feed Costs for DMC($/cwt) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
January | 4.24 | 206.00 | 439.24 | 17.50 | 10.60 | 6.90 |
February | 4.75 | 211.00 | 427.28 | 17.10 | 11.13 | 5.97 |
March | 4.89 | 210.00 | 410.02 | 17.40 | 11.14 | 6.26 |
April | 5.31 | 211.00 | 413.36 | 18.40 | 11.63 | 6.77 |
May | 5.91 | 226.00 | 421.03 | 19.20 | 12.53 | 6.67 |
June | 6.00 | 230.00 | 378.18 | 18.40 | 12.37 | 6.03 |
July | 6.12 | 232.00 | 365.23 | 17.90 | 12.43 | 5.47 |
August | 6.32 | 238.00 | 358.21 | 17.70 | 12.67 | 5.03 |
September | 5.45 | 244.00 | 343.55 | 18.40 | 11.71 | 6.69 |
October | 5.02 | 247.00 | 325.43 | 19.70 | 11.16 | 8.54 |
November | 5.27 | 246.00 | 358.73 | 20.80 | 11.66 | 9.14 |
December | 5.47 | 253.00 | 399.53 | 21.80 | 12.27 | 9.53 |
Month | Corn ($/bu) | Premium Alfalfa Hay ($/ton) | Soybean Meal ($/ton) | All Milk ($/cwt) | Final Feed Costs for DMC($/cwt) | Milk Margin Above Feed Costs for DMC($/cwt) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
January | 3.79 | 210.00 | 300.11 | 19.60 | 9.15 | 10.45 |
February | 3.78 | 210.00 | 295.28 | 18.90 | 9.10 | 9.80 |
March | 3.68 | 205.00 | 312.38 | 18.00 | 9.05 | 8.95 |
April | 3.29 | 209.00 | 295.39 | 14.40 | 8.56 | 5.84 |
May | 3.20 | 211.00 | 288.56 | 13.60 | 8.44 | 5.16 |
June | 3.16 | 201.00 | 288.66 | 18.10 | 8.27 | 9.83 |
July | 3.21 | 192.00 | 291.25 | 20.50 | 8.21 | 12.29 |
August | 3.12 | 192.00 | 290.18 | 18.80 | 8.11 | 10.69 |
September | 3.41 | 192.00 | 319.99 | 17.90 | 8.64 | 9.26 |
October | 3.61 | 194.00 | 367.11 | 20.20 | 9.23 | 10.97 |
November | 3.79 | 200.00 | 387.83 | 21.30 | 9.66 | 11.64 |
December | 3.97 | 203.00 | 396.68 | 18.50 | 9.96 | 8.54 |
Month | Corn ($/bu) | Blended Alfalfa Hay ($/ton) | Soybean Meal ($/ton) | All Milk ($/cwt) | Final Feed Costs for DMC($/cwt) | Milk Margin Above Feed Costs for DMC($/cwt) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
January | 3.56 | 201.00 | 314.92 | 16.60 | 8.89 | 7.71 |
February | 3.60 | 202.50 | 306.83 | 16.80 | 8.89 | 7.91 |
March | 3.61 | 198.50 | 306.38 | 17.50 | 8.84 | 8.66 |
April | 3.52 | 209.00 | 304.26 | 17.70 | 8.88 | 8.82 |
May | 3.63 | 213.00 | 297.52 | 18.00 | 9.00 | 9.00 |
June | 3.98 | 205.00 | 324.75 | 18.10 | 9.47 | 8.63 |
July | 4.16 | 196.00 | 310.77 | 18.70 | 9.43 | 9.27 |
August | 3.93 | 193.50 | 296.42 | 18.90 | 9.05 | 9.85 |
September | 3.80 | 192.50 | 295.57 | 19.30 | 8.89 | 10.41 |
October | 3.84 | 192.00 | 309.48 | 19.90 | 9.02 | 10.88 |
November | 3.68 | 191.00 | 303.13 | 21.00 | 8.79 | 12.21 |
December | 3.71 | 187.50 | 299.59 | 20.70 | 8.75 | 11.95 |