Milk loss
The American Relief Act, 2025, provides up to $1.65 million in Milk Loss Program (MLP) payments to eligible dairy operations for milk losses due to a qualifying weather event in 2023 and/or 2024.
Overview
The Milk Loss Program allows eligible dairy operations to receive payments for milk that was dumped or removed without compensation from the commercial milk market due to qualifying weather events that inhibited the delivery of milk or the storage of milk due to disaster events for the 2023 and 2024 calendar years.
Eligibility
Dairy operations that dumped or removed milk, without compensation, from the commercial milk market due to a qualifying weather event that impacted the delivery or storage of milk (e.g., power outages, impassable roads, infrastructure losses, etc.) during calendar years 2023 and 2024 may be eligible for assistance.
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.
The days that are eligible for assistance begin on the date the milk was removed or dumped and for concurrent days milk was removed or dumped. Once the dairy operation restarts milk marketing, the dairy operation is ineligible for assistance unless after restarting commercial milk marketing, additional milk is dumped due to the same qualifying disaster event. The duration of yearly claims is limited to 30 days per year for 2023 and 2024.
How to Apply
To apply for MLP, producers must submit all of the following:
FSA-376, Milk Loss Program Application
Milk Marketing Statement from 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.
If not previously filed with FSA, applicants must also submit all the following items within 60 days of the MLP application deadline:
• Form AD-2047, Customer Data Worksheet
• Form CCC-902, Farm Operating Plan for an individual or legal entity
• Form CCC-901, Member Information for Legal Entities (if applicable)
• Form FSA-510, Request for an Exception to the $125,000 Payment Limitation for Certain Programs (if applicable). This form must be on file for all applicable program years to be eligible for the payment limitation exception.
• A highly erodible land conservation (sometimes referred to as HELC) and wetland conservation certification (Form AD-1026 Highly Erodible Land Conservation (HELC) and Wetland Conservation (WC) Certification) for the MLP producer and applicable affiliates.
MLP Payout Calculation
The final MLP payment is determined by factoring the MLP payment calculation by the applicable MLP payment percentage.
The calculation for determining MLP payment is:
• (Base period per cow average daily milk production × the number of milking cows in a claim period × the number of days milk was dumped in a claim period) ÷ 100 × pay price per hundredweight (cwt.).
For MLP payment calculations, the milk loss base period is the first full month of production before the dumping or removal occurred.
The MLP payment percentage is 75% for all producers; however, if the $1.65 million in MLP funding does not meet the application demand, payments will be prorated based on the sum of eligible payments and available funds.
Payment Limitation and Adjusted Gross Income
Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) limitations do not apply to MLP; however, the payment limitation for MLP is determined by the person’s or legal entity’s average adjusted gross farm income (income derived from farming, ranching and forestry operations). Specifically, a person or legal entity, other than a joint venture
or general partnership, cannot receive, directly or indirectly, more than $125,000 in payments under MLP if their average adjusted gross farm income is less than 75% of their average AGI or more than $250,000 if their adjusted gross farm income is at least 75% of their average AGI.
The relevant tax years for establishing a producer’s AGI are:
2019, 2020, and 2021 for the 2023 program year.
2020, 2021, and 2022 for the 2024 program year. FACTSHEET • NOVEMBER 2025 USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
To request the increased payment limitation, participants must file form FSA-510 complete with participant’s certification their average adjusted gross farm income is at least 75 percent of their average AGI and a certification from a Licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) or Attorney that the participant meets the requirements.
Attribution of payments apply to MLP and payments to a legal entity are tracked through four levels of ownership, attributed, and limited to persons or legal entities that hold an ownership interest in the legal entity. For more information, see the Direct Attribution information on the Payment Limitations web page.
For More Info
USDA launched the 2023/2024 Supplemental Disaster Assistance public landing page where the status of USDA disaster assistance and block grant rollout timeline can be tracked. Additional USDA disaster assistance information can be found on farmers.gov, including the Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster-at-a- Glance fact sheet, and the Loan Assistance Tool.
