Cooperatives Applaud USDA for Payments
MADISON, Wis. (December 17, 2009) – Cooperative Network applauds the USDA for cutting through the red tape and politics to get the Dairy Economic Loss Assistance Payments (DELAP) out to dairy producers. The DELAP program provides $290 million for direct payments to eligible dairy producers. These dollars will provide some relief for the cash-strapped dairy industry.
According to the USDA, eligible producers will receive a one-time direct payment based on the amount of milk both produced and commercially marketed by their farm during the months of February through July 2009. Production information from these months will be used to estimate a full year's production for a farm to calculate the payments, using a six million pound per dairy farm limit. A national per hundred weight payment rate will be determined by dividing the available funding of $290 million, divided by the total pounds of eligible milk production approved for payment. The DELAP program will be run by the Farm Service Administration which has 56 offices in Wisconsin and 72 in Minnesota.
“This has been a very difficult year for dairy producers but cooperatives have worked with their member-owners to revolve equities to get more money into producer’s hands,” said Bill Oemichen, Cooperative Network president and CEO. “Cooperative Network has advocated for the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program which has helped many dairy producers. We are happy to see the DELAP program provide even more assistance.”
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