[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4896 Introduced in House (IH)]

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114th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4896

   To amend the Agricultural Act of 2014 to require the Secretary of 
Agriculture to use data from each State to calculate average feed cost 
      and actual dairy production margins, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 11, 2016

 Mr. Gibson (for himself, Mr. Courtney, and Mr. Welch) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Agricultural Act of 2014 to require the Secretary of 
Agriculture to use data from each State to calculate average feed cost 
      and actual dairy production margins, 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 Margin Insurance Location 
Calculation Act of 2016'' or the ``Dairy MILC Act of 2016''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Section 1403 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 
        9053) established the margin protection program to protect 
        dairy producers from harmfully low actual dairy production 
        margins and ensure sustainable dairy production in every region 
        of the United States.
            (2) However, the margin protection program omits factors 
        such as energy, transportation, and labor prices in calculating 
        average feed cost.
            (3) Such omitted factors contribute to variation in the 
        feed prices paid by dairy producers.
            (4) Section 1402 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 
        9052) uses the average national feed cost to calculate the 
        actual dairy production margin used by the margin protection 
        program.
            (5) A recent analysis by Farm Credit East showed that the 
        average price of feed paid by producers in the Northeast could 
        be 20 percent higher than the average national feed cost.
            (6) Data from each State on average feed prices, average 
        energy prices, average transportation prices, and average labor 
        prices are therefore necessary to accurately calculate average 
        feed cost.
            (7) The Secretary of Agriculture should use data from each 
        State on the feed prices paid by dairy producers to calculate 
        the actual dairy production margin to better protect dairy 
        farmers from harmfully low actual dairy production margins.

SEC. 3. CALCULATION OF AVERAGE FEED COST.

    (a) In General.--Section 1402(a) of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 
U.S.C. 9052(a)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(a) Calculation of Average Feed Cost.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall calculate the 
        average feed cost using, from each of the 50 States and each 
        territory or possession of the United States specified in 
        section 1401(11), the following data:
                    ``(A) The price of corn for a month.
                    ``(B) The price of soybean meal for a month.
                    ``(C) The price of alfalfa hay for a month.
            ``(2) Further considerations.--For the purpose of 
        calculating the average feed cost under paragraph (1), the 
        Secretary shall also take into consideration energy costs, 
        transportation costs, and labor costs.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall take 
effect on the first day of the first consecutive 2-month period (as 
defined in section 1401 of the Agricultural Act of 2014 (7 U.S.C. 
9051)) that begins after 180 days after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
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