Congress asks the USDA to implement a dairy insurance program to pay producers $ 600 million.

Lawmakers insist that the Ministry of Agriculture accelerate the implementation of the milk margin insurance program under the 2018 Farm Law HR 2 (115). Minister Sonny Purdue said the program will begin in mid-June.

However, Congress’s efforts to save dairy products are seen as a short-term lifeline rather than as a solution to long-term problems in this sector, for which difficult times continue: the dairy sector is entering the fifth year of low milk prices. Trump's global oversupply and trade wars put pressure on producers, and farmer bankruptcies are on the rise in major dairy regions.

The Farm Bill revised the previous dairy insurance program and actually allowed smaller farmers to buy cheaper insurance policies that are more likely to initiate payments when the difference between milk prices and feed costs drops below a certain level.

Under the new U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service system, in 2019, the government will send dairy producers about $ 600 million, three times the amount paid in three years under the previous Margin Protection Program. The bill also includes other dairy incentives. Many dairy farmers are likely to take advantage of these programs to hold out for another year.