DELAP

 Dairymen got caught looking the other way…wait a sec…let’s re-think that…it isn’t their fault they were given extremely short notice on DELAP. DELAP…stands for Dairy Economic Loss Assistance Payment. What does that mean? Well, Congress appropriated $290 million in payments through the DELAP program. Dairymen knew about the program for quite some time, but were all of a sudden informed that they had to get their paperwork in 3 days before Thanksgiving. Helping to coordinate all of these efforts is the Farm Service Agency and the County Executive Director in the Twin Falls area is Lance Phillips, with whom I spoke on the deadline day: “Since you’re the lifeline between the dairy and the feds and their payment program, are you the most popular guy in a dairyman’s life? No! Not at all! When I went to the Idaho Milk Producers, they don’t want the milk program anymore. I just got an update from our state director that said they are saying that government subsidies need to go by the wayside. This is just me personally so you can take this for what it’s worth, none of the Idaho dairymen wanted the milk program nor did they want this $290 million to go through the milk program at all. But every single one of our producers in our county signed up.”

Whether dairymen do or do not accept the program, the price is based on the Boston milk price and is adjusted monthly based on variations in feed costs.