National & World Ag News Headlines NMPF: Amendment to Scrap DSA Would Cost Producers Money USAgNet - 04/26/2012 The main backers of the Dairy Security Act, which has been proposed in the Senate's version of the Farm Bill, say a proposed amendment that would cut the dairy market stabilization program and replace it with a stand-alone margin insurance program would cost dairy farmers more than $400 million in additional expenses. According to a statement by the National Milk Producers Federation on Wednesday, the amendment being offered by Sen. Michael Bennet from Colorado would 'drives up the cost of the policy to farmers,' and would 'erodes the careful political and economic balance that the Senate Ag committee has created.' The DSA was based on the NMPF's 'Foundation for the Future' program, which aims to eliminate the current dairy price support program and replace it with a safety net that would pay producers a settlement when milk prices fall below profitable levels. But some farm group have been blasting the initiative because it includes supply control policies that would cap the production of dairy producers during periods of low margins. NMPF President Jerry Kozak says Bennet's amendment would not be a better solution. "It would increase the cost to dairy farmers on the margin insurance program by as much as a staggering $429 million in the next five years," Kozak said. He explains that the dairy portion of the Senate farm bill proposal replaces three existing dairy programs, and uses the budget savings from those to help pay for the Dairy Producer Margin Protection Program. A basic, $4 level of margin insurance is free to farmers, although there are up-front administrative fees tied to the volume of milk insured under the program. If a farmer wishes to insure a larger margin, the premium rates increase with the level of protection. "Under the Bennet amendment, the costs to the dairy farmer--of both the initial administrative fee, and the supplemental premium rates--are greatly increased," he says. "Dairy processors say they agree with the concept of margin insurance, but with this amendment, they're jacking up the cost of the program to farmers by millions of dollars a year, and once again shifting the risks of the marketplace away from them, onto the backs of our hard-working dairy farmers." NMPF wrote a letter to members of the Senate Agriculture Committee asking them to oppose the Bennet amendment. But other groups, like the Wisconsin-based Dairy Business Association and the International Dairy Foods Association are pushing for the change--saying the dairy industry cannot grow if the government has the ability through DSA to limit production and impose fines on producers who go over their quotas. Send this article to a friend Other National Headlines Senate to Take Up Immigration Reform Measure USDA Offers Assistance to Tornado Victims Storms Cause Minor Harm to Plains Wheat Crop MGEX Breaks AJC Daily Options Volume Record American Agri-Women to Meet in Washington, D.C. Farming Practices to Minimize Ill Effects on Bees, Other Pollinators Hoeven: No-Cost Sugar Program Serves American People Copyright © 2013 - USAgNet.com. All Rights Reserved.