New MILC Fiscal Year Approaches
September 4, 2009
New MILC Fiscal Year Approaches
The approach of Fiscal Year 2010, which begins October 1, means that some dairy producers may have some paperwork to fill out at their FSA office.
The Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program has a cap of 2.895 million pounds of eligible milk per year. Producers large enough to be affected by this have had the option of picking a month to begin applying their eligible milk. If the election for FY 2009 is not changed, it becomes the default for 2010.
Producers who chose a specific start month last year, and who want to change it either to or from October for this year, have until September 14th, 2009 to do so. This is based on the MILC rule that a start month election must be made by the 14th of the month before the previously chosen month or the desired start month, whichever is earlier.
NMPF estimates that the average MILC payment rate for the eight months from February through September 2009 will be $1.60, and that about 50% of U.S. milk production during those months will have been eligible to receive payments.
For more information, go to the USDA/FSA MILC website at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=prsu&topic=mpp-mi.
