Dairy producers can begin signing up for 2027 Dairy Margin Coverage on Oct. 5, with an enrollment deadline of Dec. 18 — Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the window during a Sept. 30 visit to World Dairy Expo.

The new schedule marks a sharp contrast with the 2026 sign-up period, which ran just over a month and forced producers to make fast decisions on one of the government's core risk-management tools for dairy. DMC pays an indemnity when the difference between the national all-milk price and average national feed cost falls below a producer-selected coverage level.

The program operates under rules reauthorized through 2031 by the Working Families Tax Cut Act, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill. Changes that took effect with the 2026 program year expanded the volume of milk eligible for Tier 1 protection from 5 million to 6 million pounds, allowed farmers to update production histories to better reflect current operations, and provided a 25% premium discount for farmers who enroll through 2031.

Enrolled farmers last saw an indemnity payout in January and February. With feed costs rising, additional indemnity payments are expected this fall.

Rollins spent several hours at World Dairy Expo meeting dairy farmers and industry officials before traveling to the Case IH plant in Racine, Wis., for an event. She addressed several policy questions during the visit, including the possibility of new base acres for alfalfa and grass hay.

USDA completed its first base acre expansion in two decades this year, adding up to 30 million new base acres nationwide for the Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs. Alfalfa was not a covered commodity in the expansion, but farmers could include up to 15% of their farm's total tillable acreage planted to eligible non-program crops, including alfalfa, between 2019 and 2023. Grass hay was excluded entirely.

The base acre change came through the One Big Beautiful Bill. Rollins said she would be open to revisiting additional base acres for grass hay, though she offered no concrete details on how it might happen.

"I think it's a really important point and especially as we're looking to rebuild cattle herds, rebuild dairy herds, and really get back to where we're hoping to be very soon," she said.

Rollins also discussed the prospect of a third port of entry for Mexican cattle along the southern border. USDA began a phased reopening of the ports on Aug. 24 after a 15-month shutdown triggered by the New World screwworm outbreak. Before the outbreak, more than 1.5 million head of Mexican cattle crossed into the U.S. annually.

Douglas, Ariz., was the first port reopened, followed by Santa Teresa, N.M., on Sept. 24. A third port, Columbus, N.M., could reopen within a month if confirmed live screwworm cases remain low — only three active cases are being reported now, Rollins said.

A facility in Mexico that opened this past summer could produce 100 million sterile flies by the end of the year, she said, and an additional sterile fly facility in south Texas could open by next spring.

"The containment strategy is working while we build those new facilities," Rollins said. "The resumption of trade continues. It will take us a while to get back to that 1.5 million head crossing, maybe a couple of years. Until then we will just keep building up."

Producers weighing 2027 coverage decisions have until Dec. 18 to enroll, and rising feed costs suggest the margin calculus behind those elections will look less favorable than it did last winter.