ARLINGTON, Va. — “We applaud the U.S. House of Representatives for taking steps to address the needs of dairy producers in the disaster aid package it approved.

Thanks to the efforts of Agriculture Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, with support from ranking member Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., the House bill will eliminate the existing $20 million annual cap on the Livestock Gross Margin program, enabling the U.S. Department of Agriculture to offer coverage to more farmers in the current LGM program and provide new risk management options for dairy producers.

“As the bill moves forward, dairy farmers still badly need changes to the ineffective dairy Margin Protection Program (MPP), and we strongly urge the Senate to include such changes when it takes up the disaster bill. We support the efforts of Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., to include MPP improvements in the final supplemental spending bill.

“Combined, these actions can help pave the way for making final fixes to the dairy safety net program in the upcoming 2018 farm bill.” ❖