{"id":72566,"date":"2016-08-29T05:25:35","date_gmt":"2016-08-29T09:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=72566"},"modified":"2016-08-27T22:29:43","modified_gmt":"2016-08-28T02:29:43","slug":"usda-to-purchase-surplus-cheese-for-food-banks-and-families-in-need-continue-to-assist-dairy-producers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=72566","title":{"rendered":"USDA to Purchase Surplus Cheese for Food Banks and Families in Need, Continue to Assist Dairy Producers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"USDA_Logo\"<\/a>Department Also Will Extend Margin Protection Program for Dairy Enrollment Deadline<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced plans\u00a0to purchase approximately 11 million pounds of cheese from private inventories to assist food banks and\u00a0pantries across the nation, while reducing a cheese surplus that is at its highest level in 30 years. The\u00a0purchase, valued at $20 million, will be provided to families in need across the country through USDA\u00a0nutrition assistance programs, while assisting the stalled marketplace for dairy producers whose\u00a0revenues have dropped 35 percent over the past two years.<\/p>\n

“We understand that the nation’s dairy producers are experiencing challenges due to market conditions\u00a0and that food banks continue to see strong demand for assistance,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom\u00a0Vilsack. “This commodity purchase is part of a robust, comprehensive safety net that will help reduce a\u00a0cheese surplus that is at a 30-year high while, at the same time, moving a high-protein food to the tables\u00a0of those most in need. USDA will continue to look for ways within its authorities to tackle food\u00a0insecurity and provide for added stability in the marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

USDA received requests from Congress, the National Farmers Union, the American Farm Bureau and\u00a0the National Milk Producers Federation to make an immediate dairy purchase. Section 32 of the\u00a0Agriculture Act of 1935 authorizes USDA to utilize fiscal year 2016 funds to purchase surplus food to\u00a0benefit food banks and families in need through its nutrition assistance programs.<\/p>\n

USDA also announced that it will extend the deadline for dairy producers to enroll in the Margin\u00a0Protection Program (MPP) for Dairy to Dec. 16, 2016, from the previous deadline of Sept. 30. This\u00a0voluntary dairy safety net program, established by the 2014 Farm Bill, provides financial assistance to\u00a0participating dairy producers when the margin \u2013 the difference between the price of milk and feed costs\u00a0\u2013 falls below the coverage level selected by the producer. A USDA web tool, available at\u00a0www.fsa.usda.gov\/mpptool, allows dairy producers to calculate levels of coverage available from MPP\u00a0based on price projections.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 4, USDA announced approximately $11.2 million in financial assistance to U.S. dairy\u00a0producers enrolled in MPP-Dairy, the largest payment since the program began in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy supporting a strong farm safety net, expanding credit options and growing domestic and foreign\u00a0markets, USDA is committed to helping America&#39;s dairy operations remain successful,” said Vilsack.<\/p>\n

While USDA projects dairy prices to increase throughout the rest of the year, many factors including\u00a0low world market prices, increased milk supplies and inventories, and slower demand have contributed\u00a0to the sluggish marketplace for dairy producers.<\/p>\n

USDA will continue to monitor market conditions in the coming months and evaluate additional actions,\u00a0if necessary, later this fall.<\/p>\n

Since 2009, USDA has worked to strengthen and support American agriculture, an industry that\u00a0supports one in 11 American jobs, provides American consumers with more than 80 percent of the food\u00a0we consume, ensures that Americans spend less of their paychecks at the grocery store than most people\u00a0in other countries, and supports markets for homegrown renewable energy and materials.<\/p>\n

USDA has\u00a0also provided $5.6 billion in disaster relief to farmers and ranchers; expanded risk management tools\u00a0with products like Whole Farm Revenue Protection; and helped farm businesses grow with $36 billion\u00a0in farm credit.<\/p>\n

The Department has engaged its resources to support a strong next generation of farmers\u00a0and ranchers by improving access to land and capital; building new markets and market opportunities;\u00a0and extending new conservation opportunities. USDA has developed new markets for rural-made\u00a0products, including more than 2,500 biobased products through USDA’s BioPreferred program; and\u00a0invested $64 billion in infrastructure and community facilities to help improve the quality of life in rural\u00a0America.<\/p>\n

For more information, visit\u00a0www.usda.gov\/results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Department Also Will Extend Margin Protection Program for Dairy Enrollment Deadline The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced plans\u00a0to purchase approximately 11 million pounds of cheese from private inventories to assist food banks and\u00a0pantries across the nation, while reducing a cheese surplus that is at its highest level in 30 years. The\u00a0purchase, valued at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23679,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agfarming","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/62285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}