Title: Dairy Risk Management Act of 2018
Policy area: Agriculture and Food

Summary:
Dairy Risk Management Act of 2018
This bill reauthorizes and modifies the Department of Agriculture (USDA) Margin Protection Program for dairy producers, which is a voluntary program that pays participating dairy operations when a formula-based national margin (the difference between milk prices and feed costs) falls below a producer-selected insured margin.
The bill changes the name of the program to the Dairy Risk Management Program and modifies coverage levels and premiums.
With respect to other USDA dairy programs, the bill:

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5462 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5462

  To amend the Agricultural Act of 2014 to provide support for dairy 
                   producers, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 10, 2018

 Mr. Peterson introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Agricultural Act of 2014 to provide support for dairy 
                   producers, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Dairy Risk Management Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. DAIRY RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM FOR DAIRY PRODUCERS.

    (a) Review of Data Used in Calculation of Average Feed Cost.--Not 
later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture 
of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, 
Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a report evaluating the extent to 
which the average cost of feed used by a dairy operation to produce a 
hundredweight of milk calculated by the Secretary as required by 
section 1402(a) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9052(a)) is 
representative of actual dairy feed costs.
    (b) Corn Silage Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to 
the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a 
report detailing the costs incurred by dairy operations in the use of 
corn silage as feed, and the difference between the feed cost of corn 
silage and the feed cost of corn.
    (c) Collection of Alfalfa Hay Data.--Not later than 120 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture, 
acting through the National Agricultural Statistics Service, shall 
revise monthly price survey reports to include prices for high-quality 
alfalfa hay in the top five milk producing States, as measured by 
volume of milk produced during the previous month.
    (d) Registration of Multiproducer Dairy Operations.--Section 
1404(b) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9054(b)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ``If'' and inserting 
        ``Subject to paragraph (5), if''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(5) Certain multiproducer dairy operation exclusions.--
                    ``(A) Exclusion of low-percentage owners.--To 
                promote administrative efficiency in the dairy risk 
                management program, a multiproducer dairy operation 
                covered by paragraph (3) may elect, at the option of 
                the multiproducer dairy operation, to exclude 
                information from the registration process regarding any 
                individual owner of the multiproducer dairy operation 
                that--
                            ``(i) holds less than a five percent 
                        ownership interest in the multiproducer dairy 
                        operation; or
                            ``(ii) is entitled to less than five 
                        percent of the income, revenue, profit, gain, 
                        loss, expenditure, deduction, or credit of the 
                        multiproducer dairy operation for any given 
                        year.
                    ``(B) Effect of exclusion on dairy risk management 
                payments.--To the extent that an individual owner of a 
                multiproducer dairy operation is excluded under 
                subparagraph (A) from the registration of the 
                multiproducer dairy operation, any dairy risk 
                management payment made to the multiproducer dairy 
                operation shall be reduced by an amount equal to the 
                greater of the following:
                            ``(i) The amount determined by multiplying 
                        the dairy risk management payment otherwise 
                        determined under section 1406 by the total 
                        percentage of ownership interests represented 
                        by the excluded owners.
                            ``(ii) The amount determined by multiplying 
                        the dairy risk management payment otherwise 
                        determined under section 1406 by the total 
                        percentage of the income, revenue, profit, 
                        gain, loss, expenditure, deduction, or credit 
                        of the multiproducer dairy operation 
                        represented by the excluded owners.''.
    (e) Relation to Livestock Gross Margin for Dairy Program.--Section 
1404(d) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9054(d)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``but not both'' and inserting ``but not on 
        the same production'';
            (2) by striking ``or the'' and inserting ``and the''; and
            (3) by striking ``margin protection program'' and inserting 
        ``dairy risk management program''.
    (f) Production History of Participating Dairy Operators.--
            (1) Continued use of prior dairy operation production 
        history.--Section 1405(a)(1) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 
        U.S.C. 9055(a)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the 
        following new sentence: ``The production history of a 
        participating dairy operation shall continue to be based on 
        annual milk marketings during the 2011, 2012, or 2013 calendar 
        year notwithstanding the operation of the dairy risk management 
        program through 2023.''.
            (2) Adjustment.--Section 1405(a) of the Agricultural Act of 
        2014 (7 U.S.C. 9055(a)) is amended--
                    (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ``In subsequent 
                years'' and inserting ``In the subsequent calendar 
                years ending before January 1, 2019''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by inserting ``, as 
                applicable'' after ``paragraph (2)''.
            (3) Limitation on changes to business structure.--Section 
        1405 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9055) is amended 
        by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(d) Limitation on Changes to Business Structure.--The Secretary 
may not make dairy risk management payments to a participating dairy 
operation if the Secretary determines that the participating dairy 
operation has reorganized the structure of such operation solely for 
the purpose of qualifying as a new operation under subsection (b).''.
    (g) Dairy Risk Management Payments.--
            (1) Election of coverage level threshold and coverage 
        percentage.--Section 1406 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 
        U.S.C. 9056) is amended--
                    (A) in subsection (a), by striking ``annually''; 
                and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following new 
                subsection:
    ``(d) Deadline for Election; Duration.--Not later than 90 days 
after the date of the enactment of this subsection, each participating 
dairy operation shall elect a coverage level threshold under subsection 
(a)(1) and a coverage percentage under subsection (a)(2) to be used to 
determine dairy risk management payments. This election shall remain in 
effect for the participating dairy operation for the duration of the 
dairy risk management program, as specified in section 1409.''.
            (2) Additional coverage level thresholds for certain 
        producers.--Section 1406(a)(1) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 
        (7 U.S.C. 9056(a)(1)) is amended by inserting after ``or 
        $8.00'' the following: ``(and in the case of production subject 
        to premiums under section 1407(b), also $8.50 or $9.00)''.
            (3) Election of production history coverage percentage.--
        Section 1406(a)(2) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 
        9056(a)(2)) is amended by striking ``beginning with 25 percent 
        and not exceeding'' and inserting ``but not to exceed''.
    (h) Premiums for Participation in Dairy Risk Management Program.--
            (1) Premium per hundredweight for first 5 million pounds of 
        production.--Section 1407(b) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 
        U.S.C. 9057(b)) is amended--
                    (A) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the 
                following new paragraph:
            ``(2) Producer premiums.--The following annual premiums 
        apply:

 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
           ``Coverage Level                     Premium per Cwt.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
$4.00                                  None
$4.50                                  $0.002
$5.00                                  $0.005
$5.50                                  $0.008
$6.00                                  $0.010
$6.50                                  $0.017
$7.00                                  $0.041
$7.50                                  $0.057
$8.00                                  $0.090
$8.50                                  $0.120
$9.00                                   $0.170'';
------------------------------------------------------------------------

                and
                    (B) by striking paragraph (3).
            (2) Technical correction.--Section 1407(d) of the 
        Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9057(d)) is amended in the 
        subsection heading by striking ``Time for'' and inserting 
        ``Method of''.
    (i) Conforming Amendments Related to Program Name.--
            (1) Heading.--The heading of part I of subtitle D of title 
        I of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (Public Law 113-79; 128 Stat. 
        688) is amended to read as follows:

     ``PART I--DAIRY RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM FOR DAIRY PRODUCERS''.

            (2) Definitions.--Section 1401 of the Agricultural Act of 
        2014 (7 U.S.C. 9051) is amended--
                    (A) by striking paragraphs (5) and (6) and 
                inserting the following new paragraphs:
            ``(5) Dairy risk management program.--The terms `dairy risk 
        management program' and `program' mean the dairy risk 
        management program required by section 1403.
            ``(6) Dairy risk management payment.--The term `dairy risk 
        management payment' means a payment made to a participating 
        dairy operation under the program pursuant to section 1406.''; 
        and
                    (B) in paragraphs (7) and (8), by striking ``margin 
                protection'' both places it appears.
            (3) Calculation of actual dairy production margin.--Section 
        1402(b)(1) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 
        9052(b)(1)) is amended by striking ``margin protection'' and 
        inserting ``dairy risk management''.
            (4) Program operation.--Section 1403 of the Agricultural 
        Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9053) is amended--
                    (A) in the section heading, by striking 
                ``establishment of margin protection'' and inserting 
                ``dairy risk management'';
                    (B) by striking ``Not later than September 1, 2014, 
                the Secretary shall establish and administer a margin 
                protection program'' and inserting ``The Secretary 
                shall continue to administer a dairy risk management 
                program''; and
                    (C) by striking ``margin protection payment'' both 
                places it appears and inserting ``dairy risk management 
                payment''.
            (5) Participation.--Section 1404 of the Agricultural Act of 
        2014 (7 U.S.C. 9054) is amended--
                    (A) in the section heading, by striking ``margin 
                protection'';
                    (B) in subsection (a), by striking ``margin 
                protection program to receive margin protection 
                payments'' and inserting ``dairy risk management 
                program to receive dairy risk management payments''; 
                and
                    (C) in subsections (b) and (c), by striking 
                ``margin protection'' each place it appears.
            (6) Production history.--Section 1405 of the Agricultural 
        Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9055) is amended--
                    (A) in subsection (a)(1)--
                            (i) by striking ``margin protection 
                        program'' the first place it appears and 
                        inserting ``dairy risk management program''; 
                        and
                            (ii) by striking ``margin protection'' the 
                        second place it appears; and
                    (B) in subsection (c), by striking ``margin 
                protection''.
            (7) Payments.--Section 1406 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 
        (7 U.S.C. 9056) is amended--
                    (A) in the section heading, by striking ``margin 
                protection'' and inserting ``dairy risk management'';
                    (B) by striking ``margin protection'' each place it 
                appears and inserting ``dairy risk management''; and
                    (C) in the heading of subsection (c), by striking 
                ``Margin Protection''.
            (8) Premiums.--Section 1407 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 
        (7 U.S.C. 9057) is amended--
                    (A) in the section heading, by striking ``margin 
                protection'' and inserting ``dairy risk management'';
                    (B) in subsection (a), by striking ``margin 
                protection program'' and inserting ``dairy risk 
                management program''; and
                    (C) in subsection (e), by striking ``margin 
                protection'' both places it appears.
            (9) Penalties.--Section 1408 of the Agricultural Act of 
        2014 (7 U.S.C. 9058) is amended by striking ``margin 
        protection'' both places it appears and inserting ``dairy risk 
        management''.
            (10) Administration and enforcement.--Section 1410 of the 
        Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9060) is amended by striking 
        ``margin protection'' each place it appears and inserting 
        ``dairy risk management''.
    (j) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (k) Duration.--Section 1409 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 
U.S.C. 9059) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``margin protection'' and inserting ``dairy 
        risk management''; and
            (2) by striking ``2018'' and inserting ``2023''.

SEC. 3. CLASS I SKIM MILK PRICE.

    (a) Class I Skim Milk Price.--Section 8c(5)(A) of the Agricultural 
Adjustment Act (7 U.S.C. 608c(5)(A)), reenacted with amendments by the 
Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, is amended by striking 
the third and fourth sentences, including the table, and inserting the 
following new sentence: ``Throughout the 2-year period beginning on the 
effective date of this sentence (and subsequent to such 2-year period 
unless modified by amendment to the order involved), for purposes of 
determining prices for milk of the highest use classification, the 
Class I skim milk price per hundredweight specified in section 
1000.50(b) of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor 
regulation), shall be the sum of the adjusted Class I differential 
specified in section 1000.52 of such title 7, plus the adjustment to 
Class I prices specified in sections 1005.51(b), 1006.51(b), and 
1007.51(b) of such title 7 (or successor regulation), plus the simple 
average of the advanced pricing factors computed in sections 
1000.50(q)(1) and 1000.50(q)(2) of such title 7 (or successor 
regulation), plus $0.74.''.
    (b) Effective Date and Implementation.--
            (1) Effective date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) 
        shall take effect on the first day of the first month beginning 
        more than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
            (2) Implementation.--Implementation of the amendment made 
        by subsection (a) is not subject to any of the following:
                    (A) The notice and comment provisions of section 
                553 of title 5, United States Code.
                    (B) The notice and hearing requirements of 
                paragraphs (3) and (4) of section 8c of the 
                Agricultural Adjustment Act (7 U.S.C. 608c), reenacted 
                with amendments by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement 
                Act of 1937.
                    (C) The order amendment requirements of section 
                8c(17) of such Act (7 U.S.C. 608c(17)).
                    (D) A referendum under section 8c(19) of such Act 
                (7 U.S.C. 608c(19)).

SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF DAIRY FORWARD PRICING PROGRAM.

    Section 1502(e) of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 
(7 U.S.C. 8772(e)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``2018'' and inserting 
        ``2023''; and
            (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ``2021'' and inserting 
        ``2026''.

SEC. 5. EXTENSION OF DAIRY INDEMNITY PROGRAM.

    Section 3 of Public Law 90-484 (7 U.S.C. 450l) is amended by 
striking ``2018'' and inserting ``2023''.

SEC. 6. EXTENSION OF DAIRY PROMOTION AND RESEARCH PROGRAM.

    Section 113(e)(2) of the Dairy Production Stabilization Act of 1983 
(7 U.S.C. 4504(e)(2)) is amended by striking ``2018'' and inserting 
``2023''.

SEC. 7. REPEAL OF DAIRY PRODUCT DONATION PROGRAM.

    Section 1431 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 9071) is 
repealed.
                                 <all>