ARLINGTON, VA – The National Milk Producers Federation
(NMPF) commended Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and leading congressional
dairy advocates for providing $100 million in additional, targeted payments
under the Pandemic Market Volatility Assistance Program that will aid
medium-sized and larger producers who missed out on equitable payments during
the first round of assistance in 2021.
“While losses due to
the combination of unforeseen market circumstances and an inadequate Class I
pricing system have not been fully remedied, USDA and congressional efforts
will aid thousands of dairy producers who otherwise would have absorbed losses
created by policies that didn’t work for them,” said Jim Mulhern, president and
CEO of NMPF. “It’s not every day that lawmakers step up and resolve a problem
that could have been left to lie. We never gave up, and we’re pleased that
others didn’t either.”
NMPF singled out for
praise, along with Vilsack, Reps. Sanford Bishop (D-GA); Jim Costa (D-CA);
David Valadao (R-CA); Kat Cammack (R-FL); Josh Harder (D-CA); Kim Schrier
(D-WA); and Andy Harris (R-MD) as well as Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and
Patty Murray (D-WA) for their efforts, which directly reflect their dedication
to the dairy farmers who live in their districts and nationwide. “The
leadership of these lawmakers, and others, were critical in ensuring that
available USDA funds were directed toward their best use – making life fairer
for dairy farmers,” Mulhern said. “It’s heartening to see such effective
leadership for our industry on Capitol Hill as well as in the administration.”
In this round of
payments, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will make PMVAP payments
to eligible dairy farmers for fluid milk sales between 5 million and 9 million
pounds from July through December 2020. This level of production was not
eligible for payment under the first round of the PMVAP, which capped payments
at 5 million pounds during that same period. Payment rates will be identical to
the first round of payments, which distributed $250 million in assistance to
25,000 dairy farmers.
USDA will again
distribute monies through agreements with independent handlers and
cooperatives, with reimbursement to handlers for allowed administrative costs.
USDA will contact handlers with eligible producers to notify them of the
opportunity to participate.
NMPF will continue in its efforts to remedy
losses among dairy farmers of all sizes, as well as for those farmers unable to
receive program funds because their milk was not pooled on a Federal Milk
Marketing Order but still endured similar price losses.