The Dairy Margin Coverage Program and with other federal risk management programs have served farmers well during the coronavirus crisis and will continue to offer effective aid, as long as farmers participate, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson said.

“Dairy now has, I think, the best safety net of any part of agriculture, especially for small dairy farmers,” said Peterson, a Democrat from Minnesota, in the podcast released today. “They, no doubt, have the best safety net that there is right now, if they utilize it.”

The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement is in effect, boosting opportunities for dairy producers. But enforcement vigilance will be necessary to make sure the deal meets its potential, said Shawna Morris, vice president for trade at the National Milk Producers Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council.

Dairy prices have rebounded dramatically because farmers quickly adjusted their milk production and consumers boosted retail demand as government purchases kicked in to help offset lost food-service sales, said Peter Vitaliano, chief economist for the National Milk Producers Federation.

“That has resulted in a very, very rapid change in the market price outlook,” Vitaliano said in an NMPF podcast released today. “The markets currently are looking like there’s going to be a very strong rebound, and prices will get to a more normal level in the second half of this year,” he said.

Higher milk prices and effective federal policies – both encouraged by dairy’s unity in responding to the coronavirus crisis – are dramatically turning around dairy-farmer fortunes and presenting opportunities to build on positive lessons learned, according to James “Cricket” Jacquier, a member of the NMPF’s executive committee and chairman of the board for Agri-Mark.

Far-reaching dairy sustainability goals, including a pledge for net-zero emissions by 2050, go hand-in-hand with economic opportunity for dairy farmers, said Krysta Harden, executive vice president, global environmental strategy, for Dairy Management Inc. and Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy.

This week farmers received welcome relief from the Trump Administration through its Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, for which farmers can sign up starting May 26 – but that may not be Washington’s last work on farm aid this year. More assistance may be on the way, even though the details and timing remain unclear, according to Paul Bleiberg, vice president for government relations at the National Milk Producers Federation.

The economic and health risks of coronavirus have many dairy producers on edge – but staying focused on the task at hand and remembering the value that dairy farming provides can help carry farmers through, says Emily Yeiser-Stepp, vice president at the National Milk Producers Federation and director of National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management, a.k.a. the FARM Program.

Lags in timing for milk payments have kept many dairy farmers from feeling the worst effects of the coronavirus crisis’s effects on their revenues – but that will soon change, said Leroy Plagerman, a dairy farmer in Whatcom County, in the northwest corner of Washington. One of the biggest challenges dairies face is “just the challenge of the uncertainty, and not knowing how long this is going to last, and where we end up on the other side,” said Plagerman, who also is a director of the Northwest Dairy Association, a.k.a. Darigold, in an NMPF podcast.

Catastrophically low milk prices may decline further in May and June, making all-hands-on-deck efforts to find solutions for all dairy producers necessary, Peter Vitaliano, chief economist for the National Milk Producers Federation, says in a new NMPF podcast.

Congress’s move to replenish two coronavirus-related assistance programs that are available to dairy businesses may help keep some dairies afloat – but application windows may close fast, said Claudia Larson, government relations director at the National Milk Producers Federation.

Congress’s latest $484 billion coronavirus aid package replenishes two new small business loan programs that were overwhelmed by demand when first offered – the Paycheck Protection Program, which allows qualified banks to offer low-interest loans that can later be forgiven, and Economic Injury Disaster Loans, a parallel program operated by the Small Business Administration.