Dairy farmers have more time to apply for the Milk Loss Program (MLP), an assistance program designed for operations who had to dump or remove milk without compensation from the commercial milk market due to qualifying weather events. The USDA recently announced that it will provide more time for eligible dairy farmers to apply, moving the deadline to Monday, October 30, 2023.
The program, which is administered under the Farm Service Agency (FSA), provides service to dairy operations that faced these weather events during 2020, 2021 and 2022.
“Frequent and widespread weather-related disasters over the past three years have impacted U.S. dairy. These producers continue to face supply chain issues, high feed and input costs, labor shortages, and market volatilities,” says FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux. “The reality for dairy producers is that cattle are milked at least twice a day, producing on average, six to seven gallons of milk per cow, per day. That milk must go somewhere, and when it can’t get where it needs to go and can’t be stored due to circumstances beyond a producer’s control we need to help. The Milk Loss Program will help offset the economic loss by producers left with no other choice but dumping their milk during disasters.”
Eligible weather events covered under the program include:
- Droughts
- Wildfires
- Hurricanes
- Floods
- Derechos
- Excessive heat
- Winter storms
- Freeze (including a polar vortex)
- Smoke
Tornadoes will also be considered a qualifying disaster event. However, only during the year 2022.
The milk loss claim period is each calendar month that milk was dumped or removed from the commercial market. Each MLP application covers the loss in a single calendar month. Milk loss that occurs in more than one calendar month due to the same qualifying weather event requires a separate application for each month.
To apply for MLP, producers must submit:
- FSA-376, Milk Loss Program Application
- Milk marketing statement from the:
- The month prior to the month milk was removed or dumped.
- Affected month.
- Detailed written statement of milk removal circumstances, including the weather event type and geographic scope, what transportation limitations occurred and any information on what was done with the removed milk.
Dairy farmers can sign up for MLP beginning Sept. 11 and running through Oct. 30, 2023. Affected producers are encouraged to sign up as soon as possible.
